Suspense and intrigue came to the Richmond Theatre in early 2012 with a new production of Murder on the Nile. Adapted from the Agatha Christie classic detective novel, Death on the Nile, first published in 1937, the play has been redeveloped by the Agatha Christie Theatre Company to bringing their own equivalent to the little french genius inspector back to the stage.
Based on the story of Hercule Poirot’s Egyptian holiday, Murder on the Nile investigates a sinister death on a cruise down the great river Nile. With upper-class honeymooners Simon and Kay Mostyn trying to avoid Simon’s former fiance the story is set to unravel the mystery of the dead body that turns up on the steamer they’re travelling on.
However, in the new adaptation, Poirot’s character is switched for that of cleric Canon Pennefather as the investigating holidaymaker, so there wasn’t any mustache waggling to look forward to for fans. It was a subtly different character interpretation to that of the book with names of other characters changing slightly too, but overall it captures the general plot of the Agatha Christie novel.
The production had its opening night on the 30th January 2012, with performance that ran through until the 4th of February 2012. Tickets prices ranged from £16.50 to £36.50 with concessions and family tickets available too. The run time for the production was a total of 2 hours and 20 minutes, including interval.
The performance is reported to be all-star, but little information about the cast had been released yet at the time of writing. However, it was later confirmed that the cast included Kate O’Mara (Dynasty and Bad Girls), Denis Lill (The Royal and Doctor Who), Susie Amy (71 Degrees North and Footballers’ Wives), Chloe Newsome (Coronation Street), Ben Nealon (Soldier Soldier) and 60s pop star Mark Wynter.
Murder on the Nile looked sure to bring the classic murder mystery of Agatha Christie to the Richmond theatre with style. Following it’s run in Richmond, the Agatha Christie Theatre Company performance was scheduled for a UK tour that started off with dates at the New Wimbledon Theatre from Monday 2 April to Saturday 7 April 2012.
