A Christie tale with a twist in the tail
BARBARA HODGSON WAS AT THE OPENING NIGHT OF LOVE FROM A STRANGER, RUNNING AT NEWCASTLE THEATRE ROYAL UNTIL SATURDAY
AS we take our seats, the stage is set for what’s billed as a “dazzling new version of a forgotten Agatha Christie classic”.
The production actually has firmer roots in a 1936 play by Frank Vosper which itself was inspired by a short story called Philomel Cottage which Christie wrote two years earlier.
If you’ve heard of neither, it’s no surprise. And if a work falls into obscurity, there’s often good reason.
This thriller, directed by the renowned director Lucy Bailey, has been ‘updated’ to the late fifties but still feels so far remote from us that I struggled to engage with an opening scene, based around packing up a home ahead of a move, which talks, in plummy tones, of travel abroad in terms of crème de menthe frappes and Panama hats.
At the heart of the tale is Cecily, played by Helen Bradbury, who has come into some money and has a yearning for adventure which can’t be satisfied by her steady but rather dull fiance Michael (Justin Avoth).
Then a chance meeting with a stranger, in the shape of blond-haired American Bruce (Sam Frenchum) is the trigger for a romantic escape which, as we might have guessed, does not turn out to be quite the happy ending she’d hoped.
The cast do their best with what they’ve got; particularly Nicola Sanderson as the burdensome auntie who’s also a terrible snob but attempts at light humour in such outdated material often fell flat.
To me, the most real of the characters seemed to be Alice Haig’s Mavis who plays the good pal with good-natured and nononsense.
And I was also impressed with the clever set whose moving floor sections take the action into different rooms in the house.
By the interval, however, I was restless but we then returned to a far better second half, with intrigue adding layers to Cecily and Bruce’s relationship. And there are efforts to sex it all up a bit. The play’s publicity material had hinted as much, showing dark-haired lovers in a clinch - which made Bruce’s blond hair a bit confusing, especially given hair colour becomes an issue in the story.
The second act’s surprise - and hugely welcome - change of mood offers both main actors more scope to explore different facets of their characters and we know that hidden secrets - hurrah - are about to be exposed.
While not all aspects of the story are explained, and some are plain silly, there is the promised twist to the tale: almost a double-twist, in fact, which I really did not see coming.
The play is described as less of a whodunnit than a whodunwhat but whydunnit sprang to my mind.