STEPHEN KEARLEY reviews THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ “Beautifully staged, sharply performed, and dressed to kill.” -Stephen Kearley, The BroadGAYS
Agatha Christie’s THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD, adapted and directed by Mark Shanahan, brings one of Christie’s best-known mysteries to Westport Country Playhouse through August 1.
Set in the English village of King’s Abbot in 1926, the story begins with the apparent suicide of Mrs. Ferrars. Shortly afterward, wealthy businessman Roger Ackroyd is found stabbed inside his study. Everyone at Fernly Hall seems to have a secret, a motive, or a deeply suspicious relationship with money. Fortunately, retired detective Hercule Poirot has moved into the neighborhood and is considerably better at solving murders than growing vegetables.
Westport Country Playhouse has given the mystery a beautiful production. Charlie Corcoran’s grand drawing-room set is filled with towering windows, elegant arches, handsome furniture, and an adjoining writing room that keeps the murder scene in full view. It is exactly the sort of lavish country estate where rich people should be gathering for cocktails, gossip, and the occasional stabbing.
Jeni Schaefer’s costumes are equally gorgeous. Flora Ackroyd’s wardrobe is fabulous, while Gertrude Ackroyd’s extravagant clothing establishes her flamboyant personality before she has much opportunity to insult anyone. The entire production looks polished and perfectly suited to Christie’s world.
Julie Duro’s lighting is fabulously well done. One particularly effective moment comes as Poirot works through his list of suspects and the actors are illuminated individually across the stage. John Gromada’s excellent sound design gives similar emphasis to new clues, significant discoveries, and the arrival of another possible suspect. Together, the lighting and sound give the investigation a welcome sense of momentum.
The cast is terrific and handles both the comedy and the British dialects beautifully. John Rapson is an engaging narrator as Dr. James Sheppard, while Anthony Cochrane gives Poirot intelligence, restraint, and a wonderfully dry sense of humor. Cochrane gets a good laugh from the delivery of “Thinking is an admirable exercise” and later dismisses Inspector Raglan’s investigative skills by saying he has known roadsweepers with more method.
Karen Ziemba also has great fun with Gertrude Ackroyd’s carefully disguised insults. After making it clear that she finds Major Hector Blunt’s endless stories painfully boring, Gertrude hears that he has recently visited Bora Bora and replies that he “must have felt right at home.” Richard Ruiz Henry makes Blunt boisterous enough to earn the joke, and the rest of the strong ensemble fills Fernly Hall with suspicious behavior, financial trouble, secret romances, and people who should probably stop having private conversations near open doors.
The production is polished, funny, and extremely well performed. I simply found the script less engaging than I expected from a murder mystery.
The first act spends a great deal of time arranging suspects and distributing information. Much of that setup is necessary, but the investigation never develops quite the tension I wanted. Poirot questions the suspects, stories begin to unravel, and clues continue to appear, yet I rarely felt that the danger was increasing. At times, it feels less like a room full of potential murderers and more like a very attractive meeting that could have been an email.
The second act moves more efficiently as secrets are revealed and Poirot begins assembling the pieces. The final solution is clever, and the production handles the story’s famous trick effectively. Still, the journey toward that revelation is more pleasantly interesting than truly gripping.
THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD is not a bad evening of theater. It is beautifully designed, gorgeously dressed, strongly acted, and frequently funny. Westport Country Playhouse gives the mystery every possible advantage: a gorgeous production, a terrific cast, and enough suspicious behavior to fill Fernly Hall. I only wish the script had kept me guessing with a little more urgency.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Westport Country Playhouse
25 Powers Court
Westport, Connecticut
For tickets and information:
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:
Through August 1
Tuesdays - 7:00
Wednesdays - 2:00 & 7:00
Thursdays - 7:00
Fridays - 8:00
Saturdays - 3:00 & 8:00
Sundays - 3:00
CAST:
Shereen Ahmed - Flora Ackroyd
Anthony Cochrane - Hercule Poirot
Joe Delafield - Ralph Paton
Allen Gilmore - Inspector Raglan
Erin Noel Grennan - Caroline Sheppard
Richard Ruiz Henry - Major Hector Blunt
Tom Hewitt - Parker
John Rapson - Dr. James Sheppard
Nicole Shalhoub - Helen Russell
Mark Silence - Roger Ackroyd
Katy Tang - Ursula Bourne
Karen Ziemba - Gertrude Ackroyd
CREATIVE TEAM:
Mark Shanahan - Adaptation and Direction
Charlie Corcoran - Scenic Design
Jeni Schaefer - Costume and Wig Design
Julie Duro - Lighting Design
John Gromada - Sound Design and Original Music
Seth Andrew Bridges - Fight Choreography
Bruce Warren - Assistant Director
Chloe Cobb - Props Supervisor
Kevin Jinghong Zhu - Production Stage Manager
Matthew Rohan - Assistant Stage Manager
Sarah Rachel Katz - Production Assistant
T. Charles Erickson - Production Photos