Review: Murder and mystery aplenty on board Agatha Christie classic (From Gazette Series)

Review: Murder and mystery aplenty on board Agatha Christie classic

3:18pm Tuesday 24th January 2012 in What's On By Alexandra Womack

Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Nile

Theatre Royal Bath

A CLASSIC from the Queen of crime arrived in Bath last night with all the melodrama and mystery you would expect from Agatha Christie.

This Bill Kenwright production, the only licensed company to perform Christie’s original stage plays, of Murder on the Nile, better known as the book and Peter Ustinov film Death on the Nile, brings the edge-of-your-seat tale of a murderous couple to a new wave of theatre goers.

Simon (Ben Nealon) and his new wife, the very wealthy Kay (Susie Amy) board a paddle steamer for a Honeymoon cruise of the Nile in the colonial age of the 1930s.

Distressed by Simon’s jilted fiancée Jacqueline (Chloe Newsome) persistent following of the pair, Kay and Simon are dumbfounded when she appears on the boat alongside other passengers, Kay’s uncle Cannon Pennefather (Denis Lill), outspoken socialist William Smith (Max Hutchinson), persecuted Jewish Dr Bessner (Mark Wynter) and the wonderfully snooty Miss ffoliot-ffoulkes (Kate O’Mara) and her obliging niece Christina (Jennifer Bryden).

When Kay is found shot in the head in her cabin, the finger is immediately pointed in Jacqueline’s direction but with a water-tight alibi, the murderer looks to have got away scot-free.

Cannon Pennefather takes over the role as investigator, as Hercule Poirot does not feature in the stage version, and although lacking the finesse of the Belgium case-cracker, Lill (familiar to millions as Cassandra’s dad in Only Fools and Horses) is a calming force among his hysterical fellow passengers.

There is little any performer could do to ruin these fantastically farcical scenes of deceit and duplicity and this highly experienced cast certainly do the story justice.

Susie Amy, who starred as Chardonnay in the trivial TV series Footballers’ Wives, is perfectly cast as the demanding daughter of one of England’s wealthiest businessmen. Kate O’Mara is equally well suited to the role of an eccentric British spinster who enjoys a few tipples each evening and her perfectly timed one-liners and put-me-downs had the audience in fits.

Mark Wynter’s impeccable accent made for a very convincing vexed doctor and Ben Nealon, best known for his role as Lt Forsythe in Soldier, Soldier, had the whole theatre believing him to be the heartbroken husband with his wailing and worrying over who shot his wife.

Last but by no means not least, Chloe Newsome can take much of the praise for her blithe portrayal of one of Christie’s best-known villainesses. Newsome is at ease switching between a revengeful reject and a desperate victim herself.

The paddle ship set is also something to behold. This is Bath doing what it does best, staging the best of British.

Murder on the Nile is on at Theatre Royal Bath until Saturday, January 28. For tickets call the box office on 01225 448844.