Witness for the Prosecution by Agatha Christie Review
Witness for the Prosecution, London County Hall review - return of Agatha Christie'south gripping courtroom drama | reviews, news & interviews
Witness for the Prosecution, London County Hall review - render of Agatha Christie'southward gripping courtroom drama
Witness for the Prosecution, London Canton Hall review - render of Agatha Christie's gripping court drama
This serpentine classic is perfectly placed in every sense
Emer McDaid as Romaine Vole: traitorous or loyal wife?Ellie Kurttz
Lucy Bailey's production of Christie's Witness for the Prosecution, showtime staged at County Hall in 2017, has a few years to make up on The Mousetrap's near seventy, but it has already proved its staying power, despite the hiatus of the lockdown months.
The venue is inevitably a meaning role of its allure. The courtroom at Canton Hall - once the bedroom which saw the political debates of the Greater London Quango - is a magnificent, atmospheric infinite, standing in for the Old Bailey. A statue of Justice, scales in hand, presides over the action and 12 members of the audition are co-opted as jurors. Using a mix of traditional court format and a unproblematic phase, which allows for a visit to the barrister'south chambers, with audience on three sides in a fan shape, William Dudley's blueprint exploits the room'south polished-forest solemnity to the total. Christie'due south attention to the detail of court proceedings - she researched her subject exhaustively and sought expert communication - likewise pays dividends as time and over again a give-and-take or reported activeness is seen in a unlike light when examined by Defence or Prosecution, and then that guilt and innocence seem to slide in and out of view. For the lawyers, getting to the truth is clearly secondary to winning the gladiatorial run across. 
Christie adapted her short story, originally published equally "Traitor Hands", for the stage, emphasising the courtroom duel and adding a surprise at the stop. It was a corking success in London and on Broadway in the early 1950s and the famous flick starring Marlene Dietrich and Charles Laughton was released in 1957. Sarah Phelps's version in 2016, the latest for television receiver, may be the one nigh audiences are familiar with. If so, they are in for a stupor.
It would, of form, exist unforgivable to requite also much away: there are surprises upwards to the last minute. Leonard Vole (Joe McNamara) an unemployed mechanic, is accused of murdering a rich older woman who has named him in her will. In that location is blood on his sleeve, which he claims came from an adventitious cut while preparing ham at home. But was he at home? What office does his German wife - if she is his married woman - intend to play in his defence force or prosecution? A adult female shaking the certainties of this overwhelmingly male organisation can't assist but resonate now.
The swaggering barristers sound similar actors, just but to the extent that real counsel oft do, relishing the overlap between theatre and courtroom and taking pleasure in performance and occasional wit. Despite the setting beingness post-World War Ii, in that location is a whiff of the penny dreadful, in keeping with the era of the surroundings. Christie'southward indulgence in melodrama is enthusiastically embraced by Bailey and emphasised by Mic Puddle's stentorian soundscape, simply events yet unfold quickly, convincing in the moment.
1 of the notable things well-nigh this new cast is that several are making their W End debut, including Joe McNamara equally the accused, callow (or is he crafty?) Leonard Vole. Emer McDaid, best known for Game of Thrones, is sassy, assuming and potentially unsafe as Romaine Vole, Jonathan Firth as determined Sir Wilfrid Robarts for the Defence, Miles Richardson as Mr Myers for the Prosecution and Martin Turner as Mr Justice Wainwright exude the confident superiority of their class and calling, while Yvonne Gidden (above) as the murder victim's housekeeper is memorable for her garrulous certainty of Vole'southward guilt. Altogether, including the chocolate-brown-overalled "tradesmen" irresolute the sets, they add together up to an efficient ensemble in Lucy Bailey's highly enjoyable product.
Verdict: Guilty of providing gripping entertainment. Sentence: Probably several more years.
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@heathermneill
Despite the setting being mail service-Globe War II, there is a whiff of the penny dreadful
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