Murder on the Orient Express 🚋

#PRInvite #Gifted | It was ‘all aboard’ last night for a packed His Majesty’s Theatre, as the Orient Express pulls in with a carriage load of secrets and speculation. See if you can find the clues, and stay on the right track, with the latest Agatha Christie tour, ‘Murder on the Orient Express’.

Star rating: ★★★

The stage adaptation of Agatha Christie’s ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ has railed its way into Aberdeen this week; and where Poirot appears, a murder mystery is never far behind. Though the show itself is not part of Aberdeen Performing Arts’ Granite Noir - an annually packed programme of ‘criminally good’ writing talent across several venues - ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ is the perfect way to kickstart the festival - the perfect partner in crime, if you will. The play was conjured by Ken Ludwig in 2015, making its debut in 2017. The production has been revised several times internationally, and heads out on a U.K. and Ireland tour until May 2025. This is a show bound to have audiences guessing until the very end of the line.

‘Murder on the Orient Express’ originated as a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie in 1934. 91 years on, the Orient Express still operates its luxury train service, allowing passengers to explore the world in style. The novel, which received a mixed reception from critics, was featured in the Mystery Writers of America’s The Top 100 Mystery Novels of All Time list, securing a spot in Entertainment Weekly’s list of the Nine Great Christie Novels also. Yet, despite ‘The Murder on the Orient Express’ being part of a slew of Christie plays to arrive in Aberdeen recently, amongst ‘The Mousetrap’ and ‘A Mirror Crack’d’, this is my first encounter with Christie’s work - even if this is slightly shameful to admit.

The story is inspired from Christie’s own travels through the Middle East on the Orient Express, where she recognised the diversity of its passengers, who later became caricatures for her latest murder mystery. The premise is simple: ten different passengers from a variety of backgrounds and nationalities board the Orient Express - a luxurious and impressive train. Included in the group, you will find Hercule Poirot, a detective renowned for solving crimes. Soon, ten passengers become nine as murder strikes on the first night. Finding himself in the thick of it, Poirot is determined to find the culprit, proving that his reputation is unshakeable, and his intelligence cannot be derailed. The story is underpinned by the murder of a young child called Daisy Armstrong - a subplot once again inspired by a historical, and real-life, crime relating to actor Charles Lindbergh’s young son.

The novel has been carefully adapted for the stage by Ken Ludwig, which stays faithful to its roots in more ways than one. This is not a show which uses a high production value to impress audiences: it relies heavily on the writing at its core, with everything else you’d expect remaining stripped back, minimalistic and highly intimate. In tandem with Script Associate Ashley D. Polasek, the play encompasses some moments of humour and intertextuality, linking to literature further than Christie’s classics by gesturing to other greats including Shakespeare. 

The direction of the piece is effective in the main, led by Lucy Bailey. The roles are very obviously caricatures of real people, who emphatically represent the identities of the Dirty Thirties - making the piece quite on the nose. The show has direct links with ideals of classism, religion, communism and being foreign, which provides a much needed depth within a story which could appear surface level at times. The show has been designed by Mike Britton, and the staging on the whole is particularly impressive. The show begins with a blank canvas, before the stage sports an impressive train carriage on a turntable. Whilst the stage turns on a revolve, I was excited by the fact that this was compartmental, and it took some time to recognise how the illusion of the set changes worked. The staging is complimented by lighting design by Oliver Fenwick, who intensifies the audience’s suspension of disbelief with simple lighting cues that creates a harmony between all aspects of the piece.

The train set is essentially the star of the show itself - enhancing the visual blandness and poor projections from the play’s exposition. The trucks are handled by stage crew and instructed by Movement Director Leah Hausman. I particularly enjoyed that each truck was struck in fragments - a metaphor for when Poirot was furthest away from solving the case, therefore ruining the illusion of a linear train, but it later came back together when the plot was resolved. This was a clever way of illustrating the pieces within Poirot’s brain assembling separately and later coming together with the final verdict.

The aesthetic of the show is continued with its costumes and wigs, appropriate for the era. The costumes are exquisite and are supervised by Sarah Holland - you can always tell they are well looked after when you can notice intricate detailing from the Dress Circle. The wigs do look rather faux, however, when they are fitted for these ‘prototype’ characters, it is easy to forgive this.

Michael Maloney is Poirot. Maloney has appeared in a number of films and TV Dramas of a similar vein, so its no surprise that he is so well suited to the role. Though I have nothing to compare him to - he played the role exactly as you would expect: a man of intrigue, mystery - and one who doesn’t hesitate to jump into solving another crime, even if he is aboard the luxurious Orient Express. Maloney leads the cast effortlessly, having a great chemistry with the wider company and audience alike as demonstrated through the play’s asides.

Perhaps most interesting about this take on Poirot, is that even he remains conflicted until the very end. This seems to be a turning point for the character, unique to the other stories, where he must examine the nature of good and bad through a different lens, and it is nice to see how much this challenges him. Maloney expertly transitions these moments from a comic portrayal of Poirot, and I really did enjoy this.

The cast is made up of an ‘astonishing company of actors’ who keep the audience guessing with subtle movements and twists to arouse suspicion. This is an ensemble piece, with no one member of the cast standing out more than the other, which was testament to maintaining the level of surprises as the story unravelled. Whilst this is a piece of murder and corruption, it is also one of questioning one’s morality and social responsibility - and it is these themes which are gripping and possibly why Christie’s murder mysteries thrive. ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ is the ultimate lesson that revenge can be satisfying, but two wrongs don’t necessarily make a right. Pushing the narrative even further: the play poses the question: does one do what they think is right, or what they know is right? Will society descend into chaos and barbarism if ‘playing God’ is for the greater good? I love leaving the theatre with a whole host of questions - and this play makes the perfect starting point for a healthy debate at the bar after the curtain comes down.

Elevating the suspense required throughout is Mic Pool’s sound design. I was pleased that all cast members were radio mic’d, which can be unusual for play of this scale, and Pool successfully creates an ominous and eerie atmosphere with his mix of sound effects. Married with Ian William Galloway’s video design, this provided audiences with unseen glimpses through the use of projections - some missing the mark, but others engaging and necessary to move the plot forward.

Agatha Christie’s ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ packs a punch, forcing audiences to question morality, identity and motives. Whether you enjoy Christie’s who-dunnits on page, stage or screen; or if you are a true-crime enthusiast: this play is for you, and is the perfect glimpse at what’s to come with ‘Granite Noir’ by Aberdeen Performing Arts.

Credits

Instagram links: @theatregramuk, @aberdeenperformingarts, @orientexpressplay

Review by Joel Simpson cc: theatregram@gmail.com

Production photos supplied by Aberdeen Performing Arts