Diary of an Autodidact: And Then There Were None (Stars Playhouse)

Monday, December 9, 2024

And Then There Were None (Stars Playhouse)

Back when I was a kid - maybe 10 years old? I read my first Agatha Christie book. It happened to be And Then There Were None, which is a bit atypical for Christie, but one of the finest mysteries ever written.

The book wasn’t originally known by that name, however. Christie, like so many white British writers of her generation, were casually racist. This book was written in 1939, at which time, blackface minstrelsy was still a thing. The original title of the book was also the original title of a minstrel song, “Ten Little N------rs.” That song forms the basis of the plots.

Later, the title was changed to “Ten Little Injuns,” and finally to the last line of the song, And Then There Were None.

The song itself was intended to be easily adapted to use any group of people or even animals, so for modern productions, the term used is “Ten Little Soldier Boys,” which also means that ten toy soldiers can be used as props in the play.

The version that is used now reads as follows:

Ten little Soldier Boys went out to dine;

One choked his little self and then there were nine.

Nine little Soldier Boys sat up very late;

One overslept himself and then there were eight.

Eight little Soldier Boys travelling in Devon;

One said he'd stay there and then there were seven.

Seven little Soldier Boys chopping up sticks;

One chopped himself in halves and then there were six.

Six little Soldier Boys playing with a hive;

A bumblebee stung one and then there were five.

Five little Soldier Boys going in for law;

One got in Chancery and then there were four.

Four little Soldier Boys going out to sea;

A red herring swallowed one and then there were three.

Three little Soldier Boys walking in the zoo;

A big bear hugged one and then there were two.

Two little Soldier Boys sitting in the sun;

One got frizzled up and then there was one.

One little Soldier Boy left all alone;

He went out and hanged himself and then there were none.

I wasn’t able to find it online, but the version we saw changed the penultimate stanza to:

Two little Soldier Boys playing with a gun;

One shot the other and then there was one.

This matches the actual plot better than the original.

Because this is a mystery, I will have to write carefully to avoid spoiling the plot.

Ten people are invited to spend a vacation on a small, isolated island off the Devon coast. None of them know each other, and eventually realize that none of them have ever met the mysterious Mr. Owen who invited them on various pretexts. In fact, his given initials spell out unowen - unknown. This Mr. Owen has left word that his arrival will be delayed, leaving the guests (including the two servants hired at the last minute) to themselves.

As they sit down to dinner, the record that Mr. Rogers, the butler, puts on pursuant to his written instructions, turns out not to be mood music, but a series of accusations against each party.

Each of the guests and the two servants are accused of murder, and threatened with death as a punishment.

This seems like a bad joke, until the first guest dies. And one by one, each dies in a way connected to the rhyme.

In the book, Scotland Yard arrives to find ten dead bodies, and the diaries of the guests. However, it looks like an unsolvable mystery. After each death, things were tidied up, and yet no one else was on or could have been on the island. So what happened?

That is, of course, the mystery. In the book, a bottle with the confession of the killer tells all.

In the play, the audience is able to see everything as it happens, and the final reveal comes at the very end of the play, without any need for Scotland Yard. This makes for a very tight drama, and a small cast. (In this production, the one minor outside character was played by the same actor who played another main part.)

There are a few other differences between the book and the play, but these are minor. I suppose this should be expected since Christie herself adapted the book to the play.

However, originally, the play had a completely different ending. Christie was worried that audiences wouldn’t like the nihilism and dark psychology of the book’s ending, so she let a pair of characters live and fall in love.

Fortunately, the original ending was eventually restored, and that is the version that Stars Playhouse did. Perhaps tastes have changed, or perhaps artists didn’t feel the need to condescend to audiences. Whatever the case, most of us 21st century theatergoers are fine with dark endings - and in fact this show sold out the entire weekend. (Definitely get tickets in advance for the remaining shows, if you want to see it.)

Stars Playhouse is an intimate space, and has been doing a variety of classic plays that haven’t been done much here in Bakersfield, and this is one of them. As usual, the acting was excellent, and the staging creative.

Particular props to the always excellent Josh Carruthers as the detective, William Blore; but also to the rest of the cast. Courtz Colletti as the tormented Vera Claythorne. Alex Singh as the blustering and ruthless Phillip Lombard. Jordan Espiritu as the nervous Dr. Armstrong. Ben Solberg as Justice Wargrave. Deva Wiloth as the puritanical Emily Brent. Xavier Chavez as the unflappable Rogers. Jason Dollar as General McKenzie - and his steadily deteriorating mental state. Lindsay Pearson as the furtive Mrs. Rogers. And Adam Decker as Marston and Narracott.