And Then There Were None at The New Theatre Cardiff Review

DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW

Reviewed by Kathy Sanderson

I had been eagerly awaiting seeing ‘And then there were none’ at The New Theatre Cardiff.

And Then There Were None was written by Agatha Christie in 1939 and was first performed on stage at the St James Theatre, London on the 17th of November,1943. It has recently received a revamp by Lucy Bailey for a modern 2024 audience and features Bob Barrett from Holby City, Andrew Lancel from Coronation Street and David Yelland of Poirot, Foyle’s War and most recently The Crown.

Having grown up on a diet of Poirot and Miss Marple I was really looking forward to having a nice ‘who done it’ to watch.

Upon arrival we went to the busy downstairs bar, surprisingly, however, we served very quickly and then guided to our seats by the knowledgeable and friendly staff. Our seats were in the circle which provided an excellent view of the stage.

The show is set on a fictional island Soldier Island, which is totally isolated from the mainland and begins with showing the 10 characters receiving letters of invitation to stay on the island from old friends or Mr and Mrs Owen

The show dragged for me at the beginning as a lot of time is taken to introduce all of the 10 characters to the audience and to each other and it didn’t really grab me until the playing of The Swan song. All of a sudden a loud man’s voice is played levelling murderous accusations at all of the characters from the gramophone. The atmosphere suddenly changes to one of disbelief and accusations.

During the interval we were talking to 2 of the other guests. After introductions we spent the whole of the interval trying to guess who the murderer was and not one of us guessed correctly.

Throughout the show, there was a very powerful piece on set and it had the connection of the 10 soldier boys and along with the reference throughout the whole play to the 10 Soldier Boy’s rhyme, it provided a point of reference for me to see how many of the characters were left. In fact, I spent a lot of time watching it during the second act to see if I could notice them being removed but I couldn’t.

In the second act, the show then takes a very sinister and dark turn and it leaves you guessing along with the cast at each of the remaining characters if they could they be the murderer until it’s shocking end when the murderer is revealed.

This show is listed as suitable for aged 12 upwards and with under 14’s needing to be accompanied by an adult. However I don’t think that I would want my children watching this until they are aged eighteen due to its graphic scenes.

I would give this Show 4 out of 5 for the performance. All of the cast members were excellent with Andrew Lambert playing William Blore, giving n stellar performance as ex CID and Sophie Walter giving a very strong performance as Vera Claythorne, Mrs Owens Secretary

Tickets are available until 25th March and priced from £26.

https://trafalgartickets.com/new-theatre-cardiff/en-GB  

Rating: 4/5

Book online at https://trafalgartickets.com/new-theatre-cardiff/en-GB/event/play/and-then-there-were-none-tickets