Agatha Christie’s Death on The Nile at the Royal & Derngate

Crime detection is having a little bit of a boost presently, with the who done it novels of Richard Osman, enjoying huge sales across the country and television shows, such as Celebrity Traitors, the popular game of deception and trust, pulling in over six million viewers, in its final programme. Agatha Christie has always been one of our most popular and successful crime writers, many of her books having been recreated for the cinema and television. Christie is one of the most widely published authors of all time, outsold only by the Bible and William Shakespeare, in the English language.

Many reading this will have been to see The Mousetrap, the longest running play of all time, written by Christie, it has been running since 1952, seventy-three years! Which brings me to the 2022 film, Death on the Nile starring Kenneth Branagh as Hercule Poirot, the hugely popular, fictional Belgian detective, not French, created by Christie in 1920. Many cinema and television viewers have their own favourite Poirot. David Suchet, Kennethe Branagh, Albert Finney, Alfred Molina or Peter Ustinov. I personally have always liked the performances of David Suchet.

Mark Hadfield as Hercule Poirot

In this theatre production of Death on the Nile, Mark Hadfield (Belfast; Outlander; Wallander) performed the part of Poirot, ably assisted by Glynis Barber (Dempsey and Makepeace; EastEnders) as Salome Otterbourne and Bob Barrett (Murder on the Orient Express; Holby City) as Colonel Race.

Nye Occomore as Simon Doyle and Libby Alexandra – Cooper as Linnet Ridgeway

On board a luxurious cruise under the heat of the Egyptian sun, a couple’s ill-fated honeymoon, rich heiress Linnet Ridgeway (Libby Alexandra-Cooper) and Simon Doyle (Nye Occomore) is cut short by the brutal murder of the glamorous Linnet. Suspicion immediately falls on Jacqueline De Bellefort (Esme Hough) the spurned former fiancé of Simon, but there are as you would expect in a Christie crime thriller, a tangled web of lies, false truths & hidden secrets, with a shipload of suspicious passengers, who all appear to have very good reasons for murdering Linnet. There are plenty of red herrings, thrown into the mix, to keep the audience on the edge of their seats.

Esme Hough as Jacqueline De Bellefort

A big shout out to set designer Mike Britton and his team. The set design was very realistic, the two-tiered decking onboard the Nile cruiser, Carnac, had me believing, as the passengers looked out across the floodplains of the river Nile and its antiquities. I even got a little worried when one of the cast, threatened to throw herself off the ship into the river below.

During the interval break, the talk was of love, jealousy and betrayal. I overheard people discussing who they thought could have been responsible for her death. Almost everyone, was mentioned as the killer, with good reason. Could the world-famous detective, Hercule Poirot, untangle the web of lies and solve another crime? Of course, he could!

Libby Alexandra – Cooper as Linnet Ridgeway

I thought that the stunning Libby Alexandra – Cooper, on her professional theatre debut, stole the show, highlighting the superb work backstage of make – up supervisor Elizabeth Marini and costume supervisor Sarah Holland. We sometimes forget the important work of all of the backstage crew, in bringing a production like this to fruition.

I very much enjoyed Death on the Nile; it was Christie with a twist. I got completely immersed with the plot and began to feel as though I was cruising down the Nile, with the passengers because the costumes and set were so convincing. It was edge of your seat stuff with the drama and intrigue. If you love a good detective story, love the Christie books or are just looking for a good evening out at the theatre, get yourself along to the Royal and Derngate. You will not be disappointed. A great night out!

Agatha Christie’s Death on The Nile at the Royal & Derngate

All this week until Saturday 8th November

Picture Credits: Manuel Harlan

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