And Then There Were None at the Opera House Manchester Review
And Then There Were None
Opera House, Manchester
16-21 November 2015
Reviewed by Catherine Joyce
Director Joe Harmston and the Agatha Christie Theatre Company have brought this famous play to the stage of Manchester’s Opera House for a run of six nights this November.
Ten unrelated people, all hiding a secret from their past, are mysteriously invited to a house party on an island where they are stranded and cut off from the mainland. Their host, Mr. U N Owen, does not appear but as the play unfolds we discover that they have all been responsible in some way for the death of another person. One by one the guests start to die!
The scenery, by Simon Scullion, was a beautiful representation of a 1930’s Art Deco grand living room with a view through an impressive circular window over the cliffs and out to sea. The furnishings and costumes were all in keeping with the setting and really took the audience back to an earlier time where class still mattered and everyone was supposed to know their place.
The play, written in 1939, explores the changing relationships between the classes in the interwar years. The cast, playing characters from every layer of society, acted their roles superbly, I particularly enjoyed Mark Curry as Rogers, the butler who knows his place and carries on with his duties even though his wife lies dead upstairs and Kezia Burrows as the thoroughly modern secretary Vera Claythorne who dismisses as out-of-date the puritanical views of the aging spinster Emily Brent (Deborah Grant) and sees no reason why she should not advance herself by getting closer to her upper class employers.
At the beginning of the play we both struggled to hear what was being said on stage but as the play progressed we found that we could hear the dialogue much better. At the start of each scene the sound of waves crashing onto the cliffs could be heard which helped enforce the feeling of isolation that the guests must have been feeling.
The play was presented in three acts with two intervals over about two and a half hours.
Agatha Christie is famous for her crime fiction and this is perhaps one of her most well-known stories. Throughout the play it was clear that many of the audience, including myself, did not know who the murderer was and the revelation at the end of the night, in a slightly re-written ending, came as a shock to many.
The Opera House is a beautiful old theatre on the northern edge of Manchester. It is easy to find and there is plenty of parking nearby. We used the Spinningfields car park a short walk away which has a £6 evening rate.
We really enjoyed this skilful telling of a classic murder mystery by the Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie.
Rating: 5/5 
Tickets cost from £12.15 to £38.15 (plus £4 transaction fee).
And Then There Were None is at the Opera House in Manchester until 21 November 2015. For more information or to book tickets click here or call the box office on 0844 871 3018.
Opera House, 3 Quay Street, Manchester, M3 3HP | 0844 871 3018
