Enjoying Agatha

 Last week I had a great night out with friends - watching a performance of the stage version of Death on the Nile - which is currently touring. It's a long tour, so if it comes to a theatre near you, I recommend it. 

One of the attractions for me was actor Mark Hadfield as Poirot. Not a well known name generally but a long term favourite of mine from his time with the RSC. From rather hazy memory, it put me in mind of when Peter Ustinov played the part rather than TV's more recent David Suchet. I enjoyed his performance. and those of the rest of the cast who worked well together as a striking ensemble. 

Casting, set, costumes were all good and it was interesting to see where the plot had been adjusted to accommodate a stage setting, including a large and menacing sarcophagus that had its own part to play. You can't reproduce the river Nile on the stage (although I have been to performances that incorporate bodies of water, with greater and lesser degrees of success, as anyone who booked a seat at the National Theatre's production of Way Upstream will testify.) This one went for the feeling of sun and sand rather than water, and it worked. It added to the enjoyment of the evening to have these different elements drawing it away from various film iterations. 

Of course this production made me think of the research I did for Masquerade on the Riviera which was my own excursion into Egyptology and a bit of homage to Dame Agatha.    

The other thing that the performance provoked was a scamper through those film versions once I got home - hence the realisation that Mark Hadfield reminded me of Ustinov. That was a particularly star studded performance featuring, amongst others, David Niven, Angela Lansbury and Maggie Smith. The theatre production stood up to my memories of seeing that in the cinema - although it was screened in 1978 so some things were a bit hazy. 

The question has been asked often - what is the enduring appeal of Christie? I don't have an answer, but suspect the combination of a puzzle and a strong 'atmosphere', whether that is desert, train or country vicarage, has a lot to do with it. But when it comes down to it, Agatha Christie was a story teller - and human beings love stories.