I must admit to having become a big fan of Dame Agatha Christie, the prolific writer who during a lengthy career made mystery whodunnits her calling card not only in England but throughout the world. My late wife Sophie, a big PBS fan, would always have a Poirot episode ready to go on a Saturday night it seems, and that was when the seed was planted for me.
Now that I am on my own I have even invested in a complete DVD set of the Poirot series to keep the tradition going. Yes, I have indeed been bitten by the bug!
But I have learned over the years, as most have, you cannot take Dame Agatha too seriously, and indeed neither, it seems, did she.
This brings me to my first Shaw Festival show of the current 2024 season, the courtroom thriller Witness For The Prosecution, first published as a short story in 1925. The stage adaptation debuted in London in 1953 and on Broadway the following year.
I can only hope audiences had their collective tongues in their collective cheeks back then as well, as Dame Agatha really has us on here in a play that simply cannot be played with a straight face.
Director Alistair Newton wisely plays this one with a knowing wink in our direction, as if to say "C'mon, let's have some good old fun..." His actors respond accordingly with wonderful performances, sometimes campy and oftentimes barely serious.
The story is not so much a whodunnit as a whydunnit. Most but not all the action takes place in the courtroom at the famed Old Bailey in London and the rest of the time in the prosecutor's chambers. It is here we are introduced to the accused, Leonard Vole, played by Andrew Lawrie. It seems he befriended a wealthy older lady and in short order she dies a violent death, but not before leaving everything she has to Vole.
Did he do it? That's the job of Prosecutor Mr. Myers, QC., and to Vole's defence comes eminent defence lawyer Sir Wilfrid Roberts, Q.C. Both spar in the courtroom drama that unfolds in the middle Act, with Graeme Somerville's Myers up against Patrick Galligan's Sir Wilfrid. These two Shaw veterans each offer up stellar performances as the action unfolds and the advantage seems to go from one camp to the other.
But you can't have a Christie mystery without the intrigue, can you? Enter Vole's seductive and well-turned-out wife Romaine, played with just the right amount of camp by Marla McLean. Will she defend her man, or stir the pot further? Ah, that is the question!
Really, there is not a bad performance in the bunch, and the swift scene changes and clever set design and projections by Karyn McCallum keep this three-hour Christie classic moving and visually appealing.
The movie version from 1957 implored audience members from divulging the ending, a tradition maintained here as well in clever fashion. No, I would never spill the proverbial beans here, but I would say the ending, however cleverly done, leaves me not so much satisfied as bemused.
You can't go wrong here at any rate: a three-hour time-waster with fabulous performances providing a fun ride...what's not to like?
Witness For The Prosecution continues at the cozy Royal George Theatre in Niagara-on-the-Lake until October 13th and rates a very respectable three out of four stars.
Have a great week!
May 28th, 2024.
