I’m sorry I can’t help it, I love a murder mystery! The setting of the scene in an English country village, the introduction of stereo-typic characters, the following of clues and red herrings to an unmasking finale, all fills me with a reassuring warm glow. 

By Angie Millard

Photos by Ali Wright

The star of this production is a remarkable set created by Adrian Linford. A long corridor filled with mirror windows is used which can be turned to become any of the scenes featured. One minute it’s a cosy cottage, next a manor house or a film studio. The cast brings on minimal furniture, setting and striking fluidly. Here we see a vision, an impression which moves and changes as do the witness accounts which Jane Marple hears. The writer and director have employed a theatrical style which fits perfectly and as the Chief inspector, played with excellent comic timing by Oliver Boot, describes a scene the actors move in and act it out. Sections are wound back, repeated for emphasis and freeze-framed rather like a video.

Susie Blake is perfect casting as Jane Marple and the fact that she is confined to a chair because of an accident, adds an extra dimension to the story. She brings a sharp, intelligence to the role and, as Susie Blake says of her character, ‘she hates evil and injustice’ and will dig relentlessly to discover the truth. Ms Blake has played Margaret Rutherford in Margaret, Murder and Me and Philip Franks, the director, told her to search for her own interpretation which she did by going to the primary source: Christie’s novels.

The director says of the adaptation that it is ‘witty, exciting, fresh and surprising.’

Plays of this kind can so easily be seen as outdated pot-boilers and he is keen to stress the modernity of the project. St Mary’s Mead is confronting the changes brought by a new housing estate and adjusting to the film star who has bought the Manor. We are warned that a spirit of change is coming. This is certainly evident in the relationships shown on stage. Franks remarks on the deep humanity that Wagstaff explores as a back story to the plot. We see love loss, pain and fear in every character’s life, even the murderer’s.

Sophie Ward plays the aging film star with steely disregard for anyone’s feeling but her own. Joe McFadden comfortably fills the role of movie director and the rest of the cast all take their part in the cogs of a well-oiled mystery machine. Only the emotional subtext gives them individuality and reality.

It is always good theatre when an old convention is re-examined and new possibilities explored. In this way, the best theatrical conventions can be preserved while giving an audience something new to ponder.

The Mirror Crack’d is being performed at York Theatre Royal until 8 October. It was adapted for the stage by Rachel Wagstaff. The director is Philip Franks.

Cast

Miss Marple –  Susie Blake

Marina Gregg – Sophie Ward

Jason Rudd – Joe McFadden

Cherry Baker – Mara Allen

Chief Inspector Craddock – Oliver Boot

Ella Zielinsky –  Sarah Lawrie

Giuseppe Renzo – Lorenzo Martelli

Heather Leigh – Jules Melvin

Cyril Leigh –    David Partridge

Dolly Bantry – Veronica Roberts

Lola Brewster – Chrystine Symone

Assistant Director, party guest, policewoman  – Holly Smith

Lighting designer – Emma Chapman

Sound Designer and Composer – Max Pappenheim