Murder on the Orient Express at Curve

Agatha Christie’s famous Belgian sleuth tackles his trickiest case yet in this touring production of Murder on the Orient Express at Curve in Leicester.

Ken Ludwig’s adaptation of the popular murder mystery is a beautiful piece of theatre thanks to Mike Britton’s exquisite set design which transforms the stage into the first class carriage of the titular train.

Michael Maloney is a strong Hercule Poirot, bringing truth to the detective’s suave and polite demeanour whilst still holding an explosiveness in reserve for the scenes that truly require it. Poirot’s moral turmoil throughout is well displayed without being overplayed. Maloney’s accent is clear and un -exaggerated, giving a realism to the character. He is an excellent lead for the show and holds the strands of the story together with emotion and clarity.

At the start of the show we meet the full cast of guests-soon-to-be-suspects travelling aboard the Orient Express on this fateful (and for one guest, fatal) journey in the 1930s: Countess Elena Adreyni (Mila Carter), the exiled Princess Dragomiroff (Debbie Chazen), Gretta Ohlsson (Rebecca Charles), Samuel Ratchett (Simon Cotton),Helen Hubbard (Christine Kavanagh), Hector McQueen (Paul Keating), Mary Debenham (Iniki Mariano) and The Colonel (Rishi Ryan).

Considering how many characters there are, it is impressive how pacey the introductory scenes are. Director Lucy Bailey made good use of the stage’s revolve early on in the play to bring characters in and out of focus whilst maintaining momentum.

Keeping track of the characters themselves is made all the more easy by the well-caricatured portrayals given by the actors and the eye catching costume designs of Sarah Holland.
A show like this only works if the whole cast performs as a cohesive unit, and that is most definitely the case here. The whole cast move about the set as if cogs in a precision watch, interacting with one another, adding motives upon alibis upon secrets. The physical representation of this is thanks to the work of movement director Leah Hausman who, at times, makes the play feel almost dance-like.

Amongst such a strong ensemble, no one performance stands out as better than the rest. Though credit should be given to Cotton who makes Samuel Ratchett an utterly detestable character–dominating the stage with his imposing presence.
In addition to the guests, we have Monsieur Bouc (Bob Barrett) who is the director of the company that owns the Orient Express and Michel (Jean-Baptiste Fillon) the train conductor.
Barrett clearly enjoys his role and has good chemistry with Maloney’s Poirot. However, the humour of the character breaks the fourth-wall too many times for my liking, pulling me out of the show. The jokes are humorous without the addition of the knowing nods to the audience.

As stunning as the set is, at times the intricacy of it slows the pace of the show as multiple parts need to be moved manually. At times the lights are down and background music plays for long periods whilst everything is rearranged. This is fine occasionally, but it occurs several times throughout the show and undoes the excellent pace set by the cast. The set should perhaps be moved fewer times or simplified to increase the speed at which it can be rearranged.

That said, when the set is in place it is gorgeous and really draws you into the world. It is certainly the most impressive set I have ever seen for a murder mystery play.
Even if, like me, you already know the story of the Murder on the Orient Express, this show is likely to still delight you with its inventiveness and scale. Knowing whodunnit is less important than following along with the characters as they attempt to unravel the mystery. A must see for murder mystery fans everywhere.