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The Unexpected Guest

Review

HumDrum Christie tale keeps you guessing but is no four-week wonder

Half the fun of Agatha Christie whodunnits is in the guessing game of which character is actually the murderer from the myriad who appear to have a motive.

The Unexpected Guest is no exception.

This original play - not an adaptation from a novel - opens with the dead body of wheelchair-bound Richard Warwick on stage. His wife is holding a gun in her hand and confessing that she did indeed pull the trigger.

But, this being Agatha Christie, thing are never that simple and, almost inevitably, virtually everyone else in the family seems to have a good reason for wanting Warwick dead. Many of the family’s darker secrets are poured out to the unexpected guest of the title, who is the first to stumble across the macabre murder scene.

But Christie apparently wrote this play in four weeks, and it isn’t her strongest. Some of the plot doesn’t quite add up, background detail is too often delivered in bland monologues, and some of the dialogue is a little clunking.

There is no Poirot or Miss Marple to unravel this mystery, so the way Christie chooses to end the play is neat and satisfying.
HumDrum AmDram do a decent job, but this isn’t one of the company’s very best productions either.

Russell Blitz’s comic Welsh policeman completely steals one scene, Paul Comparini’s valet is suitbly meanacing, and Peter Colley, as the unexpected guest, does a solid job. But this it is not really the characterisations that the audiences will come for.

Christie fans will simply love the guessing game.

Neil Pugmire - The News