“And Then There Were None”

Posted by Gail M. Burns - February 2010

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Ten little Soldier boys went out to dine;
One went and choked himself and then there were nine.
Nine little Soldier boys sat up very late;
One overslept himself and then there were eight.
Eight little Soldier boys traveling in Devon;
One said he’d stay there and then there were seven.
Seven little Soldier boys chopping up sticks;
One chopped himself in half and then there were six.
Six little Soldier boys playing with a hive;
A bumblebee stung one and then there were five.
Five little Soldier boys going in for law;
One got in Chancery and then there were four.
Four little Soldier boys going out to sea;
A red herring swallowed one and then there were three.
Three little Soldier boys walking in the zoo;
A big bear hugged one and then there were two.
Two Little Soldier boys sitting in the sun;
One got frizzled up and then there was one.
One little Soldier boy left all alone;
He went out and hanged himself and then there were none.

- Anonymous, late 19th century*

Director David Bunce and the New York State Theatre Institute have dusted all the cobwebs off of Agatha Christie’s 1943 stage thriller And Then There Were None and mounted a stylish and exciting production, which, via their extensive education programs, will reach thousands of Christie “Virgins” in the form of school children from throughout the region.

This was the first stage adaptation of one of her novels that Christie herself penned. This is the third title for this work as the first two – Ten Little Niggers* and Ten Little Indians – became politically incorrect by turn, but it would also be the most accurate for the 1939 novel because in that version there IS no one left alive at the end. In the theatre a silent final curtain and a stage full of corpses is a definite downer, and so Christie lightened the plot line to allow for survivors and a marginally “happy” ending.

Still, this is a spooky one. NYSTI wisely recommends this production for grades 6 and up, and they are right to do so, even though Christie’s onstage murders are genteel and, with the exception of the very first, silent.

Seven guests – a woman (Emily Brent, played by Carole Edie Smith) and six men (actors Joel Aroeste, Tim Dugan, David Girard, Ron Komora, John McGuire, and John Romeo) – are invited to a mansion on remote Soldier Island, off the southwest coast of England, by a Mr. & Mrs. Owen, a couple it turns out none of them have met and who may not even exist. In addition, there are three employees – a servant couple, Mr. & Mrs. Rogers (Joe Quandt and Eileen Schuyler), and Mrs. Owen’s new secretary Vera Claythorne (Mary Jane Hansen) – but they have never met their employers either. Shortly after everyone is assembled, a recorded message (a phonograph record – how quaint) is played accusing each of them of committing murder and sentencing them to death.

The poem that begins this review hangs ominously over the fireplace, above shelves which hold ten little soldier statues. One by one, the statutes vanish from the shelves as deaths occur and it becomes clear that the ten accused murderers are alone on the island, with no means of escape to or communication with the mainland, and that one is still plying his, or her, trade.

The entire cast, with the exception of Dugan, and the director are NYSTI regulars. NYSTI is one of the true Theatre Companies in the region, with a stable of actor/educators who play roles, large and small, in almost every production. They are all solid performers, and well attuned to each other’s performance styles and rhythms. Throwing a new face and new energy into a major role here shakes things up just enough. I dare not comment in too much detail on the individual performances for fear of giving away who dies first, survives to the end, etc.

Christie keeps her characters in perpetual motion, and Bunce does a masterful job of focusing the audience’s attention where he wants it, rather than where the murderer might be at work. If you are familiar with this story, you can have fun watching to see how the slight of hand is managed. If you aren’t, you will find yourself constantly cursing your own stupidity for looking over there when you clearly should have been looking over here…

This is a play that has been performed a LOT. It happened that I had never seen it before and so was genuinely puzzled and then surprised by the mystery. But even if you have read and seen this story several times, you need to see this production, not only for its outstanding cast and direction, but for its really remarkable set. From the minute you enter the Schacht Fine Arts Center Ken Goldstein’s soaring art deco set frees Christie from her musty baronial moorings. The sky is literally the limit here, and rather than creating a sense that the ten murderers/victims are trapped in a tight space, it suggests the possibility of danger uncontained and running free in open space too vast to be sufficiently searched.

Robert Anton has designed delicious 1930’s style costumes, none more sumptuous than those for Hansen, who wears them well. John McLain’s lighting is occasionally more stagey than realistic, but when it is evoking island sunshine or storm clouds it does so with an appropriate sense of drama.

And Then There Were None at the New York State Theatre Institute for runs through December 18 at the Schacht Fine Arts Center, 5 Division Street, on the campus of Russell Sage College in Troy, NY. The show runs Two hours and twenty m minutes with two intermissions. As is always the case with a NYSTI production, this show is intended as educational theatre and is recommended for children in grade 6 and up.

Tickets are Adults $20, Senior Citizen & Student $16, Child to age 12 $10. Assistive Listening Devices available at all performances and some performances are interpreted in sign language. Call the box office at 518-274-3256 for tickets and more information.

For more information on this production I recommend picking up or clicking through to the NYSTI Study Guide (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader).

* The original, and now highly offensive, title of Christie’s novel was not her invention but the original title of the poem which forms the structure for the novel and the play’s plot. That poem or song originated in American minstrel shows during the period of Reconstruction following the Civil War, and was first published in children’s books of that period. Today the words “soldiers,” “soldier boys,” or “teddy bears” substitute for the racial slurs of the past.

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