Black Coffee by Agatha Christie - Richmond Theatre
Agatha Christie, the best-selling novelist of all time and writer of the world’s longest-running play (The Mousetrap), endures today as a heavyweight cultural presence
Black Coffee by Agatha Christie - Richmond Theatre
Black Coffee by Agatha Christie - Richmond Theatre Black Coffee by Agatha Christie - Richmond TheatreClare James
Agatha Christie, the best-selling novelist of all time and writer of the world’s longest-running play (The Mousetrap), endures today as a heavyweight literary and cultural presence, and one of Britain’s most prolific talents. Black Coffee, the first play that she wrote after establishing herself as a novelist and short story writer, launched a superb second career for Christie as a playwright.
Black Coffee was penned as a way for Christie to reclaim her legendary creation, the flamboyantly-moustached Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. Disappointed with the motion-picture adaptations of The Coming of Mr Quin and The Secret Adversary, Black Coffee portrayed Poirot exactly as Christie wanted - intelligent, dapper, and brooding.
The play follows a classic ‘whodunnit?’ formula, celebrating the crime conventions and tropes that Christie made her own. Poirot and his friend Arthur Hastings are summoned to meet the famous physicist and eccentric inventor Sir Claud Amory; however, upon arrival at Amory’s country estate, they discover that Amory has been brutally murdered. It is then up to Poirot and his moustache to work out who the murderer is, ticking off each person at the estate, one by one. It is, essentially, Cluedo-on-stage, and the grand Richmond Theatre will lend itself well to this very British affair.
If you fancy an evening of quintessential crime entertainment starring the quintessential moustache, we highly recommend Black Coffee.
