Sneered at for so long as a dramatist, Agatha Christie is having her moment in the sun, courtesy of director Lucy Bailey. At County Hall in London, Bailey’s revival of Witness for the Prosecution has been packing them in for months. Now Bailey turns her attention to one of Christie’s lesser-known psychological chillers, which began life in 1934 as a short story, Philomel Cottage.
Two years later Christie wrote a stage version, and in 1936 the actor-playwright Frank Vosper rewrote it as Love from a Stranger, giving himself a juicy role both in the West End and on Broadway. On his return from New York on an ocean liner, Vosper himself disappeared in mysterious circumstances.
Bailey relocates Christie’s story to the 1950s, which makes some of the Celia Johnson vowels and references to lunches at Harrods seem a trifle overegged. The play opens with Cecily Harrington (Helen Bradbury) packing up her shared flat after winning £25,000 on a sweepstake. But the money has come too late for Cecily to enjoy the adventurous life that she has always longed for and that her tedious office job precluded, because her fiance, Michael (Justin Avoth), is arriving from Sudan. Michael is the sort of man whose little moustache declares what a dull, decent, dependable chap he is.
Cecily is already having doubts about her impending marriage and when Bruce Lovell (Sam Frenchum) walks into her flat as prospective renter, she is swept off her feet by this stranger with an American accent and tales of adventure from all over the world. Within hours they are engaged and are next glimpsed in apparent marital bliss in a remote cottage in the country.
Bailey starts with an extended blackout and the show initially operates by cleverly building tension and atmosphere rather than through narrative surprise. We are never really in the dark about Bruce’s intentions from the moment we see him in Cecily’s bedroom sniffing her underwear and taking furtive photographs. Bailey and designer Mike Britton not only borrow from the 1960 Michael Powell film Peeping Tom, but also have fun with a sliding set that offers slight shifts of perspective. Lovell is always watching and waiting. He is a pathological liar who tells stories all the time. But is he as much in control of the narrative as he so confidently believes? Bailey’s production itself reminds us that how a story is told can change how it is viewed.
The plot initially appears to follow well-worn tracks, showing a woman punished for choosing life and excitement over duty. But that is derailed. Ultimately, Christie and Vosper offer something more interesting than a woman saved by loyal friends in the nick of time.
It’s largely tosh – but hugely entertaining tosh, and very neatly done. Bradbury makes sure we are on Cecily’s side, negotiating the pitfalls of a role that is passive for most of the play, and showing her surprised by love and gradually blooming. As Lovell, Frenchum makes villainy all too plausible. This is good creepy fun.
- At the Royal & Derngate, Northampton, until 17 March. Box office: 01604 624811. Then touring.
