Season 67 Play 3 – A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie
Directed by
Cast
Inspector Craddock – Peter Hall
Letita Blacklock – Patricia Henny
Dora Bunner – Muriel Thomas
Patrick Simmons – James Margerrison
Julia Simmons – Kathryn Mitchell
Mitzi – Gabrielle Cross
Phillipa Haymes – Rosie Crabb-Wyke
Mrs Swettenham – Joann Holbrough
Edmund Swettenham – David Pedrick
Rudi Scherz – Josh Longbottom
Sargeant Mellors – Gordon Lakin
Synopsis
An announcement in the local paper states the time and place when a murder is to occur in Miss Blakelock’s victorian house. The victim is not one of the house’s several occupants but an unknown and unexpected visitor. What follows is a classic Christie puzzle of mixed motives, concealed identities, a second death and a determined inspector grimly following the twists and turns. Miss Marple is, of course, on hand to provide the final solution, at some risk to herself, in a dramatic conclusion.
Directors Notes
2014 must be my Agatha Christie season as I have now directed two of her plays since September. I directed Go Back for Murder at Keighley Playhouse in October. which was based on her earlier story of ‘Five Little Pigs’; however, in the play she cut out her famous sleuth, Poirot. Tonight’s production of A Murder is Announced has been adapted for the stage by Leslie Darbon and I am pleased to say it retains Miss Jane Marple as in the original book.
A Murder is Announced is an intriguing play with many twists and turns and plenty of red herrings. It takes place in Chipping Cleghorn, a quiet village nestling in the 1940s’ English countryside. A strange announcement appears in the local newspaper: a murder is to take place at 7.30pm at Little Paddocks, home to kindly Letitia Blacklock. The ensuing crime is investigated by Inspector Craddock, who is not pleased at first by what he sees as the interference of elderly Miss Jane Marple. However, the mystery is only unravelled by her keen mind as she puts herself at some risk in a dramatic confrontation just before the final curtain.
The murderer is on good terms with everyone in the village and has no history of family madness. Yet perhaps the eyes of an outsider, such as Miss Jane Marple, are clearer and so she is able to see a number of untoward facts about the murderer. The play suggests that perhaps we do not know people as well as we think we do. Are they as we believe them to be? In life, nothing is as it seems.
I am sure you will agree that this is a great cast and backstage team who have all worked hard to bring this super play to life. It has been a pleasure working with all of them.
