It’s a big call: Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None is apparently the best-selling crime novel of all time, with over 100 million copies sold. The premise is a deliciously simple one: 10 strangers are summoned – lured – to a secluded, storm-lashed island in Devon, off the English coast, under false pretexts. Their hosts are missing and the hired help instructed to play a gramophone recording named ‘Swansong’. The message accuses each person present of being complicit in murder. It seems that the motley crew are here, then, to face a reckoning of their past. If you know anything about Christie though, you’ll know there will be a mandatory twist in the denouement.
First published in 1939, the novel originally took its name from a well-known minstrel song, but that was later rescinded to avoid obvious racist overtones. The new title is taken from the last sentence of the song, one that outlines the departure of each character. (In later editions of the novel, the characters of the rhyme are replaced by ‘Ten Little Indians’ or ‘Ten Little Soldiers’.)
 And Then There Were None has had more adaptations than any of Christie’s books – and taking up the directorial mantle again is Robyn Nevin, who incidentally also directed the phenomenally successful The Mousetrap in its 2022 Australian outing – a play also penned by Christie.
So how goes this iteration?
Opening night felt a little stiff, as though the cast had not quite been oiled into their roles. There were a few fumbles with lines and accents, and the pacing took a while to gather momentum. The first act sets up the scenario in a rather protracted manner (settling in, drinking and offering alcohol and so forth) and explaining the backstory of the assembled strangers, and it’s only after interval that the action picks up.
Dale Ferguson’s set has the ensemble gather in a spacious and expensively furnished living room, with expansive windows looking out to the sea. They are dressed in elegant period style – all the better to offset the darkness within. Ten white soldier figures sit expectantly on the coffee table in the centre of the room. They are there representing the famous rhyme, familiar to many of the guests, with one or two of them singing it out loud – first in recognition and then in fear.
These include a doctor (Eden Falk), a General (Nicholas Hammond), a secretary (Mia Morrissey), a retired judge (Anthony Phelan), a policeman (Peter O’Brien), an elderly bible-basher (Emily Brent), a soldier (Tom Stokes), and a reckless rogue (Jack Bannister). They are very much stock standard types, Cluedo-like figures and are played as much by the ensemble cast. Though they acquit their roles well enough within the contours of their characters, there’s a sense that this play never escapes the feeling of a stagey, artificial set-up. There is a lack of subtlety in some of the performances and attempts to wring some drops of humour work on a diminishing scale of returns.
One by one, each of the victims – the eight guests and the island’s two hired caretakers – will be killed., with the remaining ones soon realising that not only is one figurine removed after a death but also, that the manner of each death reflects each line of the nursery rhyme. For instance, “Six little soldier boys playing with a hive; a bumblebee stung one and then there were five.” But who’s responsible for these successive murders? The mystery is confounding since an early search of the island found no other soul around.
With only one death in the first half, the second half has to fit in the remaining nine murders, so the pacing is off-kilter.
Read: Theatre review: Never Have I Ever, Fairfax Studio
Christie’s book plays on the suspicion and paranoia that descend on the guests as their compatriots are picked off. Those who’ve read the book should know that Nevin’s version is different from the ending – and suffers because of it. Spoilers aside, the quiet, psychological horror that should have ensued in its last minutes is disrupted and even mocked by the rather bombastic final scenes.
And Then There Were None is entertaining enough, however, if you want a mostly faithful adaptation of the novel and, given time, no doubt its long touring season will settle some of the overacting and line droppages, but it’s still no Mousetrap.
And Then There Were None
Adaptation of the book by Agatha Christie
Comedy Theatre
Director: Robyn Nevin
Set and Costume Designer: Dale Ferguson
Lighting Designer: Trudy Dalgleish
Sound Designer: Paul Charlier
Cast: Jack Bannister, Eden Falk, Jennifer Flowers, Nicholas Hammond, Mia Morrissey, Peter O’Brien, Christen O’Leary, Chris Parker, Anthony Phelan, Grant Piro, Tom Stokes
And Then There Were None will be performed until 23 March 2025 before touring to Sydney from 3 May and Perth from 8 June and Adelaide from 2 August.
