Review: Murder on the Orient Express at Theatre Royal Newcastle

“This is a fantastic piece of theatre…”

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie, Theatre Royal Newcastle

by Kay Wilson

This play was one of the best productions I’ve seen at the theatre. Ever.

The enormous success of the show is even more impressive when you realise the story, as with so much of Agatha Christie’s work, has been told so many times since it was published in 1934. This performance felt fresh and was spell-binding throughout.

It starts with a spine-tingling scene at the station, gloomy lighting and a wisp of smoke to represent the train’s steam. The main characters are pictured briefly, gathered up and standing in formation, swaying, as if already in their carriage – a taste of what was to come. Possibly because of the lighting and very little stage sound, the atmosphere felt intense straight away and the audience’s attention was absolutely rapt. You could hear a pin drop.

The set design by Mike Britton worked really well as we meet the characters in more detail in a dining room and the tables move in circles, allowing each one to be centre stage in turn. We were able to eavesdrop, as does Hercule Poirot (very well played by Michael Maloney) on all their private lives, or what they decide to share to others. The secret and public personae of Agatha Christie’s characters often keep you guessing and the larger-than-life personalities are no exception here.

I won’t spoil any of the plot, but right from the outset there is a breadcrumb trail of clues that make you think and then they build up to more than coincidences as any good whodunnit should.

Creating a version of the Orient Express in the middle of a theatre stage was going to be a challenge and I was intrigued to see how it was going to be achieved. It turned out the design of train itself, and how the train sets were used in general, was masterful. I loved the look of it with all the Art Deco splendour expected for a Poirot mystery. There was an element of a Carry On farce too with the use of the carriage sliding doors, which lightened the tone nicely, before it all became grisly.

The whole cast were great but I particularly enjoyed the performance of Christine Kavanagh, as Helen Hubbard, and Simon Cotton, as Samuel Ratchett, which ramped the tension up before the murder.

As Poirot unpicks the clues from the action and drama, the audience is carried along. The train is miles from anywhere, caught in a snowdrift with a dead body, a murderer and no means of communication. Even from this century’s viewpoint you can relate to the feeling of panic and claustrophobia.

I enjoyed the shifting tone of the production as there was a tense atmosphere for most of the time, but also some great humour. The running gag of saying Poirot was French and being corrected (he was actually Belgian) worked well. There were also a good few one-liners which gave the audience a laugh and nicely shifted the mood for a short while, before ramping up the sense of menace again.

The finale, with the revelation of who had committed the murder, was excellent. Coincidentally, I had seen both films and had no recollection of what the conclusion was, so that announcement was a great surprise to me.

David Suchet – famous as Poirot – was always going to be a hard act to follow but Michael Maloney’s performance captured a detective who was charming and able to laugh at his own pomposity. When a waiter doesn’t recognise him but talked about the famous Poirot it was good fun.

Last year, I saw the director Lucy Bailey’s And Then There Were None, another Christie adaption. Her vision for this play is delivered just as beautifully as that production. This is a fantastic piece of theatre that entertains but also makes you think about good and evil, retribution and how far ordinary people could go for revenge. I recommend you go for the performances, gripping plot and the set design wizardry.

Murder on the Orient Express plays at Newcastle Theatre Royal until Saturday 18 January. Tickets are available here.

Kay Wilson is a North East-based writer. She won Runner-Up in the Self-Published category at the Comedy Women in Print awards for her debut novel, The Stand-Up Mam. It was inspired by her own experience of performing comedy for two years and charts the adventures of a perfect mother who does stand-up. It transforms her but blows up family life. Described as ‘hilarious and heart-warming’, signed copies can be bought at The Bound bookshop, Whitley Bay. The novel is also available on Amazon here. Kay has a website which promotes extraordinary women and gives updates on her writing life.