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Wiseman's House House Play 2011 - ‘And Then There Were None’

The start of this year’s house play festival was marked with perhaps more excitement than ever before. Unprecedented involvement from across the School, extensive advertising campaigns that made full use of the College’s new television screens across campus and the fond memory of last year’s extraordinarily high standard of productions created a frenzied hysteria in the days leading up to the opening play, Wiseman’s House’s version of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. The first thing to say about this production is how refreshing a choice of play this was. Director James Goldsworthy was offering the Clifton audience a genre not seen in House Drama for years, the murder mystery. In doing so, he was abandoning the often-regrettable conformity of selecting either hard drama or camp comedy, and offering the viewing public an exciting alternative. For this, he deserves praise for bringing variety and colour to a festival heavily weighted this year with stage adaptations of British sitcoms.

The play itself began in eerie silence, and this sense of reflective stillness ran throughout the piece. Indeed, the only sound effects, with the exception of the odd gunshot, was the frequent sound of the lapping tides, a gentle reminder of the play’s seaside setting. As we were introduced to the characters, who all assembled in one room for the opening scene, we were simultaneously introduced to a typically tightly knit Wiseman’s ensemble. Throughout the piece the collective cast worked superbly together, feeding off each other well and following each others dialogue with snappy retorts, to give an otherwise pedestrian play some much needed pace. Although the praise for performances should be largely collective as this was a well-organised ensemble (again, credit to the director), there were a few performances that stood out. James Moore, a stalwart of House Drama, delivered another subtle and intelligent performance as Doctor Armstrong – his nervous stammer judged to perfection (a difficult task considering how easy it would be to make such a speech impediment either inappropriately funny or simply overused and wearing). Vic Hall’s Redgrave debut as Victor Claythorne should also be commended; his recital of the central poem Ten Little Indians was particularly well delivered. Whilst Director James Goldsworthy’s last school production was marked with a typically well observed performance, this time as the calm and collected judge (and culprit), Justice Wargrave. Elsewhere, Jong Bo Choi, Andriy Byelkov and Alex Bull offered distinctive characters, even if, in Bull’s case in particular, a hearty performance slipped all too often into affectation, cliché and ham.

The actors delivered their performances in a wonderfully put together set. The authenticity of the late 1930s brought to life perfectly with attentive design features and props, such as classy leather upholstery, an art deco glass decanter and the use of stage cigarettes to add to the already thick atmosphere. Only the odd over-dramatic sound effect, such as a clichéd thunder bolt after the line ‘it was murder’, and the early deployment of the gramophone record on the part of the sound operator can count as technical faults in what was otherwise a highly slick and thoroughly well produced production.

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The sense of intrigue and suspense around which the plot pivoted took perhaps a few murders to fully establish, but by about a quarter of an hour in, the audience were hooked and the ensemble’s performance energy helped maintain the crowd’s focus until the final denouement, a clearly delivered tell-all by Tim Pocock, masquerading as a police officer. Overall, this was a production that was extremely well put together. Almost every technical aspect, from props and set to costumes and sound effects, was considered and well judged. Meanwhile, the strength and performance energy and dramatic intent from a committed and spirited cast helped bring the effortlessly brilliant plot of Agatha Christie to life. One might say that the sum was greater than its component parts (though this, in itself, is no bad thing), but there is no doubt that the nation’s favourite murder mystery writer was very much done justice by another strong showing from Wiseman’s House.

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And so another year of House Play begins. 2011 promises to be a year of intrigue, comedy and ludicrousness. Wiseman’s House did not disappoint. ‘And Then There Were None’, one of Agatha Christie's most famous and certainly her best-selling book.

With a strong cast boasting characters such as Les Mis' star James Goldsworthy and other strong candidates, it was definitely a play ready to impress. With some very clever directing involved, including the deaths of Jose Guerrero-Carral, Wiseman’s got straight into the thick of it.

The set was laid out simply; however it was all that was needed as we were clearly shown that they were in a library/sitting room-esque room with exits outside and upstairs. The inclusion of authentic leather sofas and some well designed 'bookcases' meant that we got a strong feeling of a room in which one can both relax and learn and the appropriate glasses for brandy and other beverages was again a nice touch.

The lighting was rather nicely set up, with a blue and orange wash coming onto the stage from behind whilst also using the front 'yellow' lights. These were very cleverly used, especially when the lights were portrayed as 'failing', with all front lights going out, and all that was left was the blue wash from behind flickering causing anxiety throughout the auditorium. There were many occasions when one could hear the sea in the background which really gave us the impression that we were all marooned on this island.

The costumes were not as adventurous as perhaps they had been last year, with no-one stripping for us; it meant that we were able to enjoy seeing how so called important folk actually dressed, the General staying proud and wearing his old uniform, the undercover policeman attempting to appear like his alibi said; South African.

Then there was what really counts, the acting. Some sterling performances from James Goldsworthy as Justice Wargrave, and Ashot Kazaryan as Philip Lombard, were backed up by some comical theatrical moments offered to us by both Jose Guerrero-Carral as Emilio Brenta and William Henry Blore played by Alex Bull.

Of course those were not the only players to feature, Victor Hall and James Moore in particular put in solid and entertaining performances, as did Tim Pocock, Jong Bo Choi and Andriy Byelkov.

Overall, I thought this was a very refreshing change to last year’s comical adaptation of The Full Monty, and although it wasn't necessarily perfect, other Houses will be hard pushed to beat it. It would seem that this year, especially after how it has begun, is going to be stronger and more entertaining than ever.