And Then There Were None (1943 play)

Infobox Play
name = And Then There Were None


image_size =
writer = Agatha Christie
date of premiere = September 20, 1943
country of Origin = United Kingdom
original language = English

"And Then There Were None" (also performed under the name "Ten Little Indians") is a 1943 play by crime writer Agatha Christie

Background

The play, like the 1939 book on which it is based, was originally titled and performed in the UK as "Ten Little Niggers".

Christie had been pleased with the book, stating in her autobiography "I wrote the book after a tremendous amount of planning, and I was pleased with what I made of it." [Christie, Agatha. "An Autobiography" (Page 471). Collins, 1977. ISBN 0-00-216012-9] The book was very well received upon publication and soon after Christie received a request from Reginald Simpson to be allowed to dramatize it. Christie refused as she relished the challenge herself [Morgan, Janet. "Agatha Christie, A Biography". (Page 227) Collins, 1984 ISBN 0-00-216330-6] although she was intermittently some two years in carrying out the task. She knew the ending would have to be changed as all of the characters die in the book and therefore "I must make two of the characters innocent, to be reunited at the end and come safe out of the ordeal." ["An Autobiography". (Pages 471-2).] The original nursery rhyme on which the book was based had an alternative ending of...

:"He got married and then there were none"

...which allowed Christie to portray a different conclusion on stage. [Morgan. (Pages 238-242)]

After the play had been written, most people she discussed it with considered it impossible to produce. She received some encouragement from Charles Cochrane but he was unable to find financial backers. Finally, Bertie Mayer who had produced the 1928 play "Alibi" agreed to stage it. ["An Autobiography". (Page 472).]

After a try-out at the Wimbledon Theatre starting on September 20, 1943, the play opened in the West End at the St James's Theatre on November 17. It gained good reviews and ran for 260 performances until February 24, 1944 when the theatre was bombed. It then transferred to the Cambridge Theatre opening on February 29 and running at that venue until May 6. It then transferred back to the restored St James' on May 9 and finally closed on July 1.

Although she didn't feel it to be her best play, Christie did declare it was her best piece of "craftsmanship". She also considered it to be the play which formally started her career as a playwright, despite the success of "Black Coffee" in 1930. ["An Autobiography". (Page 472).]

Synopsis of Scenes

The scene of the play is the living-room of the house on Indian Island (Note: Nigger Island in the 1943 UK production), off the coast of Devon. The time - the present.

ACT I
*An evening in AugustACT II
*Scene 1 - The following morning
*Scene 2 - The same day. AfternoonACT III
*Scene 1 - The same day. Evening
*Scene 2 - The following morning

Reception of London production

Ivor Brown reviewed the play in "The Observer"'s issue of November 21, 1943 when he said, "Miss Agatha Christie does not stint things. Like Hotspur, who could kill six dozen Scots at breakfast, complain of his quiet life, and then ask for work, she is not one to be concerned about a mere singleton corpse. But she can add quality to quantity in her domestic morgue. In "Ten Little Niggers" she shows an intense ingenuity in adapting that very lethal rhyme (so oddly deemed a nursery matter) to modern conditions." Mr. Brown concluded that Henrietta Watson's portrayal of Emily Brent was, "the most authentic member of a house party with 'no future in it.' as the airmen say. That gently lugubrious phrase certainly does not hold of the play." ["The Observer" November 21, 1943 (Page 2)]

Credits of London production

Director: Irene Hentschel
Decor by: Clifford Pember

Cast: [Christie, Agatha. "The Mousetrap and Other Plays" (Page 2) HarperCollins, 1993. ISBN 0-00-243344-X]
"William Murray" played Rogers
"Reginald Barlow" played Narracott
"Hilda Bruce-Potter" played Mrs Rogers
"Linden Travers" played Vera Claythorne
"Terence de Marney" played Philip Lombard
"Michael Blake" played Anthony Marston
"Percy Walsh" played William Blore
"Eric Cowley" played General Mackenzie
"Henrietta Watson" played Emily Brent
"Allan Jeayes" played Sir Lawrence Wargarve
"Gwyn Nicholls" played Dr Armstrong

Broadway production

A production in New York opened at the Broadhurst Theatre under the title "Ten Little Indians" on June 27, 1944. On January 6, 1945 it transferred to the Plymouth Theatre where it ran from January 9 until June 30, 1945. The total run on Broadway was 426 performances. [ [http://www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=1316 Internet Broadway Database page on 1944 US play] ] .

Credits of Broadway production

Director: Albert de Courville

Cast:
"Neil Fitzgerald" as Rogers
"Georgia Harvey" as Mrs. Rogers
"Halliwell Hobbes" as Sir Lawrence Wargrave
"Nicholas Joy" as General Mackenzie
"Anthony Kemble Cooper" as Anthony Marston
"Claudia Morgan" as Vera Claythorne
"Patrick O'Connor" as Fred Narracott
"James Patrick O'Malley" as William Blore
"Michael Whalen" as Philip Lombard
"Estelle Winwood" as Emily Brent
"Harry Worth" as Dr. Armstrong

Publication and further adaptations

The play was first published by Samuel French Ltd as a paperback in 1944. It was first published in hardback in "The Mousetrap and Other Plays" by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1993 (ISBN 0-39-607631-9) and in the UK by Harper Collins in 1993 (ISBN 0-00-243344-X).

At some point after the end of the second world war, a survivor of Buchenwald concentration camp contacted Christie and told her that the inmates had staged their own production there, undoubtedly writing their own script as they would not have had access to the Christie version. Christie was told that they found that it had "sustained them" [Morgan. (Page 266)] .

In November 2007, East Lakota High School in West Chester, OH, was set to perform the play but plans were canceled after the NAACP protested about the production because of the original title of the novel. [cite web
last = Cincinnati Enquirer
title = Lakota cancels Christie play
url=http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071127/NEWS01/711270344
accessdate = 2007-11-27 ] East Lakota High School officials subsequently revised their plans and decided to perform the play on the 29th November. [cite web
last = The Pulse Journal
title = Lakota play now on despite NAACP objections
url = http://www.pulsejournal.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2007/11/29/hjn113007indians.html
accessdate = 2007-11-30 ]

2005 production

On October 14, 2005 a new version of play, written by Kevin Elyot and directed by Steven Pimlott opened at the Gielgud Theatre in London. For this version, Elyot returned to the book version of story and restored the original ending where both Vera and Lombard die and Wargarve commits suicide. The version of the rhyme and island name used was "Ten Little Soldiers" and "Soldier Island" as per current printings of the novel. Despite very positive reviews, the play closed on January 14, 2006 [ [http://www.musicomh.com/theatre/and-then-there-were-none_1205.htm The London Theatre Guide review of the 2005 play] ] [ [http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/therewerenone-rev.htm British Theatre Guide review of 2005 play] ] [ [http://www.thisistheatre.com/londonshows/andthentherewerenone.html This is Theatre.com review of 2005 play] ] [ [http://www.musicomh.com/theatre/and-then-there-were-none_1205.htm MusicOMH review of 2005 play] ] .

References