REVIEW: 'Murder on the Orient Express' at The New Theatre
The luxurious Orient Express has rolled into Cardiff this week, as Ken Ludwig's stage adaptation of Agatha Christie's famous murder mystery opened at the New Theatre last night (Tuesday 4 March).
You're probably familiar with the much retold 90-year-old story from the queen of crime fiction.
It's winter 1934, and a snow drift in the Yugoslav mountains halts the famous train's journey from Istanbul to Calais.
One of the passengers is found stabbed to death in their locked compartment, but luckily the world's most famous detective, Hercule Poirot, is on board and is tasked with cracking the case before the (allegedly incompetent) Yugoslav police make it through the snow.
It's a large-scale story, with an array of characters, and an opulent setting in a spectacular landscape, which explains why it has been so successful on the big screen - notably Sidney Lumet's star-studded 1974 film and Kenneth Branagh's lavish 2017 version.
So, adapting it for the confines of the stage is a challenge, but Ken Ludwig has done a wonderful job, not least by cleverly combining some of the original characters to reduce the cast.
The set design by Mike Britton plays a huge role in the play's success too, with brilliantly engineered train carriages, which open up and are shown from all angles to suit the action.
The furniture and fittings look genuinely luxurious, and the costume design is absolutely stunning, with clothes which shout of the expensive lifestyle some continued to enjoy during the Great Depression.
Lighting (by Oliver Fenwick), sound (Mic Pool), and video (Ian William Galloway) play key roles too.
This is one of Agatha Christie's cleverest stories, with a final twist, which will come as a shock if you've somehow managed to avoid the book and its various adaptations.
Poirot's detective work - investigating, observing, pestering - gradually uncovers the uncomfortable truth and the horrific backstory which motivated the bloody murder.
It's pretty disturbing stuff, but as so often with Christie stage adaptations these days, at times it plays for laughs. There's some almost farcical interplay while Poirot and others stand over the recently discovered body in blood-soaked sheets, which seemed a little ill-judged.
But the play manages to keep itself firmly on track as it moves from the darkest to the lightest of tones - and the laughs do help lift the mood in what is otherwise a very gloomy tale.
That's largely due to a brilliant cast, led by Michael Maloney, who is excellent as Poirot - a character much more complex than the absurdly fussy persona he presents when off duty.
When he's working, he's stubborn and persistant. He's accused of lacking emotion in his insistence that the rule of law is all that matters (we're reminded, indirectly, that this is the year Hitler became dictator of Germany), yet this case tests that resolve to breaking point. It's a moving insight into the depth and humanity of the man - qualities that are sometimes overlooked in other productions.
The rest of the cast is faultless, too, and includes many familiar faces - Bob Barrett, Mila Carteri, Rebecca Charles, Debbie Chazen, Simon Cotton, Jean-Baptiste Fillon, Christine Kavanagh, Paul Keating, Iniki Mariano, Rishi Rian, Alex Stedman, Jasmine Raymond, and Beth Tuckey.
This is a top quality production in every department - cleverly written, stunningly designed, and brilliantly acted. It's a thoroughly appealing new version of a classic whodunnit.
Murder on the Orient Express is directed by Lucy Bailey. It runs at the New Theatre until Saturday (8 March). You can get tickets online here or by calling the box office: 0343 310 0041.
Review by Andy Weltch
We received free tickets for this performance in exchange for an honest review
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