THREE ACTORS, ONE A WOMAN, PORTRAY HERCULE POIROT IN SARATOGA
A trio of one-act plays offers varied views of detective
Hercule Poirot, one of legendary British crime novelist Agatha Christie’s most traditional characters, will return to Capital Region stages in a nontraditional treatment this coming weekend and next. The detective, originally written as a Belgian man, will be portrayed by a different actor in each of three one-act plays, including a woman, a Hispanic man and a white man.
In “Poirots Investigate,” itheatre Saratoga presents the original one-act adaptations about Poirot. Set in the English countryside, the Egyptian desert and Poirot’s study, “Poirots Investigate” will be performed at Saratoga City Music Hall in Saratoga Springs from Oct. 29 through Nov. 7. Mary Jane Hansen, adapting her third Christie work from page to stage, wrote the plays for itheatre.
This will be the first performance at the renovated and refurbished Saratoga City Music Hall.
Anny Degange, the woman playing Poirot, said that she was enjoying interpreting the role in a new way and putting her own spin on it.
“I'm not thinking of him so much in terms of a man or a woman. We've come a long way since Agatha Christie was writing these,” she said. “I think it's certainly easier to adapt to gender-bending ways of viewing something. And I think it's trying to get a real feeling for why this character is the way that he or she is, which is the most important thing. It really brings the commonalities of the human experience and particular character types, be it a man or a woman.”
Hansen, who has a busy career as an actor as well as writer, said, “As a young person growing up in the theater, I was exposed to a lot of Agatha Christie’s works. When I was doing some of my bigger (Christie) roles, I developed an affinity for it.”
Adapter or author and often cast member
As a young person growing up in the theater, I was exposed to a lot of Agatha Christie’s works. When I was doing some of my bigger (Christie) roles, I developed an affinity for it.”
— Mary Jane Hansen
of multiple works for itheatre and the former New York State Theatre Institute, Hansen said she was inspired to write the Poirot one-acts after reading a collection of short stories about the monocled Belgian, portrayed on film by actors as varied as Kenneth Branagh, Albert Finney, Ian Holm, John Malkovich, Tony Randall, Peter Ustinov and Orson Welles.
The production is using other nontraditional casting methods, hoping to break down the barriers of Christie’s characters and update the setting, according to Will Severin, executive director of itheatre and husband of Hansen, who is the company's artistic director and resident playwright.
He believes that Capital Region theater audiences appreciate the unconventional.
But the main reason for choosing Poirot is that a Christie title usually means success at the box office, Severin said.
“It just always sells,” he said. “It seems that people can't get enough of Agatha Christie and her characters She has an enduring appeal.”