Murder Mystery Chills Whitestone Audiences
By Arlene McKanic
04/10/2008
My, but the Brits know how to write murder mysteries set in old creaky country houses. "And Then There were None" ("Ten Little Indians" was the movie version) was written by none other than Agatha Christie, the doyenne of British mystery writers. Theatre Time Productions' version, now at the First Presbyterian Church of Whitestone, is full of the requisite chills and red herrings, as well as great direction by Tom Williams and stellar performances by its actors.
The eight hapless houseguests - which come to ten if you add the butler, Mr. Rogers, and his wife, the cook - have been invited for a weekend on Indian Island, in a manor home off the coast of Devon owned by a Mr. and Mrs. Owen. The odd thing is, none of the guests have ever met these people, not even the Rogerses or Mrs. Owen's secretary, the beautiful Vera (Jennifer DiMatteo).
When the guests are all gathered in the drawing room, a spooky disembodied voice recounts their sins, both of omission and commission. And they start, one by one, to die. By the way, they don't just die any old way, but according to the poem "Ten Little Indians," set conveniently in a frame on the mantelpiece near a collection of little Indian figurines. Whenever someone eats it, one of those little figurines disappears, or is smashed, or topples over.
Williams paces the story beautifully and keeps the audience, as well as the increasingly frazzled guests, guessing as to who the maniac could be. There are also some genuinely scary moments when the lights go out and the actors have to grope their way around with candles. And the actors are wonderful, including Kevin C. Vincent as Philip Lombard, a military man who finds peacetime dull and carries a convenient revolver everywhere; Keith Junas as the fantastically self-centered Anthony Marston, and Jim Percival as the detective, William Blore.
Johnny Dee Damato is a poignant and cracked Gen. MacKenzie, who, after his sins are disclosed, is content to wait for his death sentence. There's Armand Catenaro (who also did the evocative set backdrop) as the hanging judge Sir Lawrence Wargrave, and Peter J. Rowan as Dr. Armstrong. Frank Freeman makes a dour Rogers, who continues with his duty even when faced with calamity, and Suzanne Haehnel is good as his no-nonsense wife.
Jonathan Applebaum is a genial and clueless Narracott, the man who brings provisions to the woefully isolated house, and Judy Rosemarin is excellent as the bitter and rigid Emily Brent, whose utter lack of compassion once drove her pregnant serving girl to suicide. DiMatteo, who excels at just about everything the reviewer's seen her in, is marvelous as the smart and sweetnatured Vera. She also looks wonderful in period costumes - it looks like the play is set between the wars, as Lombard doesn't have one to fight at the moment and the memories of World War I are still painfully vivid for the older men.
Vincent also designed the set, with its cozy chairs and sofa, red walls and lamps that give a soft glow - when they work. Speaking of lamps, Bill Haas' lighting design is dramatic and appropriately unsettling. The sounds are also direful, whether they be the grumble of a summer storm, howling wind or the plaintive horn of a boat, which seems to never dock on the island and rescue people.
As in a lot of mysteries, "And Then There Were None"'s denouement is preposterous - you're sure that the perp couldn't have done what he or she did without having the ability to be in two places at once, or becoming invisible - and the story sometimes succumbs to idiotic plotting. Should not, for instance, the remaining houseguests go in a group to the larder for some of that tinned tongue instead of letting Vera go all by herself? It's irrelevant, though. "And Then There Were None" is delicious, creepy, startling fun - the revolver goes off, loudly, three times, so be warned. It'll be up till April 13. You might even want to see it more than once, just for the clues.
'And Then There Were None': A play by Agatha Christie
©Times Ledger 2008
Theatre Time Tackles An Agatha Christie Murder Mystery
by Annmarie Fertoli, qboro Editor
04/10/2008
Whitestone’s Theatre Time Productions began performances of Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None” this past weekend. It is the first of two works the group will present by the famed mystery writer this season.
The group ably transformed a small stage at the First Presbyterian Church of Whitestone into the well-decorated living room of a house on a small island off the coast of England, where the play’s action takes place.
The characters — most of them strangers to each other connected only by their mysterious summons to the island by a Mr. or Mrs. Owen — meet at the house on the hill tended to by Mr. and Mrs. Rogers, and soon find themselves at the center of a sordid mystery.
The play begins with a sinister voice offstage reciting the rhyme “Ten Little Indian Boys.” The ominous rhyme continues for 10 lines as, one by one, another Indian Boy is killed, until none are left.
Soon after the guests arrive at the house, a record plays, detailing past crimes committed by each of them. The action of the play revolves around the spooked characters sizing each other up as the murder mystery unravels.
All 11 cast members (the 11th is Fred Narracott, who appears only in the beginning of the play to deliver groceries) play their roles well, with equal parts suspicion and cunning. As the backstory of each is developed, the audience is kept guessing who the murderer might be.
Jennifer DiMatteo does a good job portraying the part of Vera Claythorne, a young woman who has recently accepted a secretarial job with Mrs. Owens, whom she has never met. Kevin Vincent, who founded the theatre group with his wife, Judy Vincent, in 1997, plays Philip Lombard, a ship captain and former soldier. Peter J. Rowan plays Dr. Armstrong, prone to a clandestine drinking habit, and Armand Catenaro plays Sir Lawrence Wargrave, a notable English judge.
Jim Percival’s William Blore, a policeman with a seemingly insatiable appetite, and Judy Rosemarin’s Emily Brent, a pious older woman, add a touch of comic relief to the tense mystery.
In the slightly smaller roles of Mr. and Mrs. Rogers, Suzanne Haehnel is skilled as a bustling housewife, with Frank Freeman as her sometimes grave but always dutiful husband.
Keith Junas and Johnny Dee Damato, as the young Anthony Marston and the older General MacKenzie, respectively, fully embody their roles. Junas is humorous as a wealthy, self-absorbed man with seemingly little conscience, and Damato is perfect as an older, widowed general struggling with the loss of his wife
The characters play off each other well as the skeletons in each of their closets are revealed and suspicion grows. Although the play is over two hours long and takes place entirely in one setting, the talented cast makes the final reveal worth the wait.
The set design — complete with ominous red walls and 10 statuettes representing the characters in the house — provide an adequately claustrophobic setting for the play’s action. The addition of a soundtrack to simulate rain and other outdoor noises adds to the sinister, summery feel of the isolated island.
©Queens Chronicle 2008
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