Agatha Christie’s Verdict
Theatre Royal, Glasgow
Until: Saturday 13 August
Performance reviewed: Monday 8 August
Rating: * * *
Agatha Christie, creator of Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, and ‘Queen of Crime’ is known for her ‘whodunits’. She has also written a few plays, including Witness for the Prosecution, which toured last year, and this production – Verdict.
Verdict is unlike Christie’s traditional works in that it’s not a ‘whodunit’. We know ‘whodunit’ because the murder happens in front of our eyes, we also know why the murder was committed.
Produced by Bill Kenwright for the Agatha Christie Theatre Company, Verdict stars a fantastic cast including Lyndon Ogbourne, evil Nathan Wylde from Emmerdale, as student Lester Cole. Elizabeth Power as Mrs Roper adds comic relief to some otherwise tense moments. Sixties pop star Mark Wynter plays Dr Stoner with Drop the Dead Donkey‘s Robert Duncan as émigré Professor Karl Hendryk.
All of the action takes place in Professor Hendryk’s flat in Bloomsbury, London, with the first act setting the scene, allowing us to get to know each of the characters. Professor Hendryk’s wife, Anya (Cassie Raine), is wheelchair-bound and feels she is a burden on her husband and cousin Lisa Koletzky (Susan Penhaligon) who care for her. Professor Hendryk is an unlikely heartthrob as three women – his wife, Lisa, and pretty young student Helen Rollander (wonderfully played by Holly Goss) all have romantic feelings towards him. Feelings which lead one of them to commit murder.
The scene-setting nature of the first act inevitably slows the pace down and I found it tedious at times, however the pace picks up in the second act when the traditional Agatha Christie twist in the tale happens and the source of the mystery, the jury’s verdict, keep the audience’s attention.
The humour still appeals, over fifty years after its first performance, but Verdict only ran for 250 performances in London’s West End, unlike The Mousetrap, a traditional Christie ‘whodunit’ with a secretive plot that has been running continuously since 1952.
Christie wanted a break from the norm with Verdict, focusing instead on the psychology of relationships. However, although it is thought-provoking and features a great cast, it just doesn’t have the drama it so desperately needs to keep the audience’s attention.
Verdict is at the Theatre Royal, Glasgow until Saturday 13 August. For tickets please visit: Verdict Tickets
