2014 Agatha Christie Festival: Part 4 - Theatre & Film Outings

Torquay

I was browsing through the Agatha Christie website last night and noticed there's going to be a production of Witness for the Protection at Leeds Civic Hall - so I've booked some tickets! It's set in a court room and the audience also sit in the courtroom (jury box, press box etc), while the actors act out the play around you. Sounds amazing - I cannot wait!!!

Speaking of the theatre, there were a couple of Agatha Christie plays on during the Agatha Christie Festival last year. There were also a couple of film events too - of course we booked to see them all!

One of the plays was Black Coffee which was performed by The Agatha Christie Theatre Company. We've quite a few of their productions over the years and they're always really good.

Princess Theatre, Torquay

Black Coffee was performed at the Princess Theatre, in Torquay and is one of the few plays that features Hercule Poirot. Apparently, Christie didn't like the portrayal of Poirot on stage so she wrote him out of the other plays she adapted from her books. It's a shame she never got to see David Suchet as Poirot, as I think he was the best.

I quite enjoyed the play. It was set the library of Sir Claud Amory - Poirot is summoned to see him but when he and Hastings arrive Sir Claud is already dead! It's up to Poirot and Hastings to find out who-dunnit.





The other play we went to see was The Unexpected Guest, performed Bijou Theatre Productions. The play was shown at the Palace Theatre in Paignton, which isn't far from Torquay. I quite enjoyed this play too. I think the plot was better compared to Black Coffee, although I did have an inkling from the start about who the murderer was, and I turned out to be right!

Walled Garden, Greenway

The National Trust hosted a special evening film screening of Evil Under the Sun in the walled garden at Greenway. The setting was perfect for an outdoor evening event. We took our chairs, blankets, drinks and snacks, and as the sun set, we settled down to watch the film.

It was the version from 1982 with Peter Ustinov as Hercule Poirot. It's set on a island in the Adriatic Sea, rather than on Burgh Island, but the plot is pretty much the same. It was on television the other week so we watched it again, and it brought back some nice memories.

Another part of the Agatha Christie Festival was the Mystery Film Event, hosted by John Curran. This took place in the Spanish Barn again, at Torre Abbey. John Curran guaranteed 99% of Agatha Christie fans would not have seen this film before, as it had not been shown on television before. And he was right, we'd never seen this film before.

The film was Lord Edgware Dies from 1934, with Austin Trevor as Hercule Poirot and Richard Cooper as Captain Hastings. Austin Trevor did not make a good Poirot. He was tall, slim and spoke with a very odd French accent. It seemed a bit comical, but it was quite close to the story.

At this point in the week we had been up to quite a bit but there were still a few more things to come, including A Garden Party to Die for and a Murder Mystery Dinner....