A first class murder mystery on the famous steam train
Steaming across Europe from Istanbul to Paris in the stylish 1930s heyday of the luxury rail route would have been quite the experience. One Agatha Christie knew well, having been a passenger herself, no surprise then that the Queen of Crime saw it as the perfect setting to bring together a group of high class characters for some whodunnit action. Enter indefatigable Belgian detective Hercule Poirot for some bestselling crime action.
Death stalks poor Monsieur Poirot, he just can't get away from it, even on holiday. When called back from from a rare break in Istanbul, his ride home on the famous Orient Express grinds to a halt in the snow drifts of a Yugoslavian winter. More bad luck when a passenger is discovered brutally murdered in his bed and is time for Hercule to reluctantly take charge.
The Belgian sleuth is played with cerebral aplomb by Michael Malonely, his beloved "little grey cells" occasionally fizzing through the confident charm into fame conscious vanity. Nice to touch on the flaws.
The pace can be pretty fast, as there are a lot of colourful character back stories to get through. Poirot's old friend, and railway line boss Monsieur Bouc, who swung him last minute tickets, is played wittily by Bob Barrett as his fretting confident, ever polite but also eager to pressure Poirot into a quick resolution.
Other standouts include the sumptuously dressed Countess Elena Adreyni, played by Mila Carter, proving rather distracting for our Belgian detective with both striking looks and her impressive autopsy skills, one of many hidden talents. Plus, some great witty bickering from an unlikely pairing of lady travelling companions, the wonderfully matter-of-fact exiled Russian Princess Dragomiroff played by Debbie Chazen, and her batty missionary companion Greta Ohlsson played by Rebecca Charles.
No period international whodunnit lineup would be complete without some loud Americans, with non-stop aging socialite and serial-husband-hunter Helen Hubbard, played with sass by Christine Cavanagh and the muscular unpleasantness of mobster-esque Samuel Ratchett played by Simon Cotton.
Really good performances throughout then. What really helps brings them all together for me though is the staging and imagery. Gorgeous period costumes and hair, superbly presented, often picked out in pools of light or dark in dream like recollections, with sometimes unsettling soundscapes. Very Hitchcock-esque, as we are brought into Poirot's thoughts, and troubling recollections.
Mike Britton's ingenious train staging is particularly good, with the cleverly sectioned carriages reforming into ever changing views of compartments, connecting corridors and lounges, aided by a revolving stage and huge overhead projections.
Overall, this is murder mystery well done. Its got a big dollop of witty humour without drifting off too far into melodrama, which I found refreshing and a gentle nod to the formula without breaking the absorbing spell. Poirot played by Michael Maloney is both wry and troubled, with some flaws you don't always see. Plus, as you might expect, there is one hell of a twist at the end.
If you enjoy a TV murder mystery, an upgrade to first class with this immersive live experience is well worth the trip.
Murder on the Orient Express plays at Nottingham's Theatre Royal until Saturday 5 April 2025.
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