The next round of St. Louis thater has a lot of intellectually and emotionally challenging work, it would appear. That's good stuff, sure. But sometimes folks just wanna have fun. Stray Dog Theatre's opening play for its 12th season is Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None", giving the opportunity for just that.
The three-act format of the play was, when it opened in 1943, standard for the time. Based on the best-selling of Christie's novels, it was published under this same name in the United States but originally in the UK under a title which even then was offensive in the US. (You can look it up; I'm not going there.) It was originally considered impossible to make into a play because of the complex plot and complicated ending. But Christie herself wrote the script, giving it an alternative ending. It does show its age at times, particularly in the first act, which is nothing but exposition, ten people telling each other just who they are. Or are supposed to be, that is. It's a classic English murder mystery scenario, a weekend house party with strangers and some disaster that isolates the guests.
Many of these characters are broadly written and broadly played. Anthony Marston (Ryan Wiechmann) is a rawther detestable young gentleman who uses the word "wizard" more than any Harry Potter character. Phillip Lombard (Jeff Kargus) is a soldier of fortune disguised as a lounge lizard, wearing a suit whose previous owner may have been a race horse, so bold is its plaid. He spends much of his time leering at Vera Claythorne (Sarajane Alverson), a secretary to the house's owners, as Vera flaunts her charms and twitches nervously. The aging spinster Emily Brent (Judy E. Yordon) lectures Vera on the flaunting and everyone else on how they're on the road to perdition. Sir Lawrence Wargrave (Zachary Stefaniak), an eminent judge, wallows in his eminence and apparent leadership as well as his well-fingered beard.
More subtle are Mr. Rogers (Jason Meyers), the butler, and Mrs. Rogers (Lindsay Gingrich), his aggrieved wife, the cook. So is Dr. Armstrong (Mark Abels), a society neurologist, and retired General MacKenzie (David K. Gibbs), whose discussion of his living at his club creates some particularly good moments. Then there's the gent from Durban, South Africa (Michael Juncal), who seems rather a different sort than the other guests.
There's a certain amount of scenery chewing in the first group, aimed at delineating the high spirits of the piece, presumably. Chief among these are the righteous Yordon, the sort of person too many of us have known, but it's a spot-on creation by her. On the other hand, Vera and Phillip clearly know each other before the play begins but it's unclear just how well. Or perhaps the explanation of that gets swallowed up as dialogue sometimes seems muffled in terms of volume or clarity. Given Agatha Christie, close attention is often rewarded, so when that clears up, more will probably be revealed.
Those costumes are from the brain of Eileen Engel . Tyler Duenow's lighting works extremely well, and so does the music and sound effects from the talented Justin Been. All in all, fun for an October night.
And Then There Were None
through October 25
Stray Dog Theatre
Tower Grove Abbey
314-865-1995
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