A new production of Agatha Christie’s thriller Death on the Nile, has sailed into town, and if the size of the audience is any indication, the appetite for the work of Agatha Christie shows no sign of abating. The play is based on the queen of crime’s classic 1937 novel which itself started life as a play that Christie called Moon on the Nile. Once written, she decided it would do better in book form. She only resurrected the play version in 1942 when she was in the midst of writing the theatrical version of And Then There Were None.
We are transported on board a Nile steamer the S. S. Karnak. Honeymooners Simon Doyle (Nye Occomore) and his wealthy socialite wife Linnet (Libby Alexandra-Cooper) find themselves being pursued by an old flame of the newly-wedded groom. Then tragedy strikes. A body is discovered and all fingers point to Simon’s ex fiancée Jacqueline (Esme Hough), but everything, as ever, is not what it seems. Luckily, or not so luckily for the perpetrator, Hercule Poirot (Mark Hadfield) is on board to unravel the tangled web of lies as the story winds its circuitous route to its conclusion.
Writer Ken Ludwig has a track record in adapting Christie’s work, with a recent production of Murder on the Orient Express under his belt and director Lucy Bailey has staged Murder on the Orient Express, And Then There Were None and Witness for the Prosecution. Despite this pedigree there is a distinct lack of pace and tension in the first act as it takes considerable time to develop the characters’ back stories. However, the mood is enlivened when Poirot steps centre stage and breaks the fourth wall to set the scene.
Mark Hadfield, sporting the re-knowned waxed moustache, is stepping in to some very famous patent leather pumps, following in the footsteps of Albert Finney, Peter Ustinov and more prolifically David Suchet. He does it with humour and a slightly wavering accent but with a convincing depiction of Hercule’s familiar foibles.
Hadfield is ably supported by 80s TV favourite Glynis Barber as the colourful Salome Otterbourne, Terence Wilton as faded leading man Septimus Troy and the ever-reliable Bob Barrett as Poirot’s chum, ex-MI5 agent Colonel Race, who has a charming chemistry with the detective.
Mike Britton’s set is more functional than fabulous. A two-tier structure with wooden sliding doors, it provides little visual interest. It is however Oliver Fenwich’s lighting that is the most questionable. The entire production is played out in darkness, while understandable to create atmosphere, unbelievably there is not one glimmer of the relentless Egyptian sunshine for its entirety. Where the production does triumph is in the costume design which evokes the era perfectly.
The story is necessarily abbreviated for the stage, but it remains true to Christie’s original. It is an entertaining tale, well told, with a brace of fine performances and ultimately well worth watching.
Runs until 28 February 2026 | Image: Manuel Harlan