Aquarius stages Agatha Christie’s masterpiece mystery

Hamilton’s Theatre Aquarius has raised the curtain on a new season, presenting an Agatha Christie classic – And Then There Were None – that is considered her most famous and significant work.

A well-known nursery rhyme connects 10 strangers trapped on a remote island. The rhyme describes the penalty each is given for their past crimes.

Agatha Christie was one of the top crime novelists of her time. As Andrea Runge (Vera) explains, “It’s of that time period for sure, and it’s of the style of what murder mysteries were then, that definitely have evolved now.”

“I think part of that is to be able to have it on stage, and because a lot of it is character-driven.”

Christie’s period whodunnit intrigues.

The still-clever, sophisticated script provides genteel mayhem with the right amount of stiff-upper-lip Englishness, convincingly played by the Aquarius cast.

Essentially what Vera’s doing is toying with the audience, isn’t she? “Absolutely, every step of the way.”

“What’s great is that, just when you think it might be someone, something will happen and it will change your mind. So it keeps you always thinking and always watching and always guessing, and in this play in particular I find that the audience really gets to be the detective.”

First there were ten, and then there were none.
It’s considered or regarded as Agatha Christie’s masterpiece mystery.

The Agatha Christie thriller plays at Hamilton’s Dofasco Centre for the Arts through October 11.