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Stars explained: * A production of no real merit
with failings in all areas. ** A production showing evidence of not
enough time or effort, or even talent, and which never breathes any real
life into the piece – or a show lumbered with a terrible script. *** A
good enjoyable show which might have some small flaws but has largely
achieved what it set out to do.**** An excellent show which shows a
great deal of work and stage craft with no noticeable or major
flaws.***** A four star show which has found that extra bit of magic
which lifts theatre to another plane. |
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Laura Pearson as Agatha Christie, Joan Wakeman as The Spinster and Katy Ball as Margaret Rutherford at Claridge's Murder, Margaret & Me The Nonentities The Rose Theatre, Kidderminster ***** For many of a certain age, those whose memories are in black and white, Margaret Rutherford was Miss Jane Marple, with, it is thought, one notable exception, one who detested the idea, a certain Agatha Christie, who perhaps knew more about Miss Marple than anyone, having been responsible for giving her life. Her Miss Marple was an elderly spinster, hardly noticed, usually hovering in the background, observing, assessing and solving murder after murder quietly and decisively through intellectual and brilliantly layered deduction, she was certainly not the larger than life figure rampaging around St Mary Mead like a tweed clad Valkyrie on steroids. And that is where Philip Meeks’ clever and intriguing play starts, at Christmas 1960 as Rutherford accepts director George Pollock’s offer to play Miss Marple in Murder She Said much to the dismay of Christie. The four Marple films are perhaps all Pollock is remembered for, if at all – Christie had wanted Hitchcock with his thriller background, but Pollock it was. From that point it could have been a biographical play, the Queen of Crime and a Queen of the Screen battling it out for top honours, but Meeks turns it into a slow burning thriller worthy of Miss Marple herself. Laura Pearson is a no nonsense Christie, rather humourless, somehat cold and meticulous in how she is presented to the world, the Christie name, and she is fiercely protective of Miss Marple, her creation, almost seen as her child.
Tea and sympathy as Agatha and Peggy search for common ground Katy Ball is a much more open Rutherford, eccentric, and then some, and awash with charm, unlike Christie’s Marple, hers is a jolly, fun human character, a warm hearted, amateur, knockabout sleuth leaving chaos in her wake rather than the cerebral analytical spinster hiding in the shadows in Christie’s books. She also manages some of the tell tale Rutherford facial tongue-in-cheek expressions. Agatha and Peggy, as she liked to be known, were not natural bosom buddies, hardly potential besties but they do have something in common – secrets that shaped their lives. Meeks adds a third character to the plot in The Spinster, played quite brilliantly by Joan Wakeman, who also gives us the rather worse for champagne member of the typing pool, a make up artist and any other character needed, all cleverly and differently portrayed. Be warned. The Spinster may or may not exist. Is she the Miss Marple Christie imagined her to be? Or perhaps the part of Christie she hides from the world? Or just a device to fill in the gaps with good humour? Whatever. Miss Marple reminds Christie of her grandmother and Rutherford of her Aunt Bessie although neither seem to see The Spinster, who, rather like Miss Marple, goes unnoticed, invisible, on the margins, observing, interpreting and explaining. She acts as a sort of Greek chorus, helping us to interpret events, filling in gaps, explaining what is going on, adding biographical details, exposing emotions, and adding delightful moments of humour. The dialogue is clever and snappy and we are carried along with a mystery worthy of Christie herself as the defences are slowly peeled away like the layers of an onion. The pair are far from a natural fit, their friendship is riven with tension, uncertainty and misunderstanding. There are errors on both sides, a question of chalk and cheese with the reserved and private Christie and outgoing, fun Rutherford. Yet it always comes back to those secrets, the secrets that moulded and shaped their lives, secrets that they wanted to remain just that, moments from their past they never wanted to share.
A Spinster moment, or perhaps just a thought, for Christie. Who knows? For all their fame, recognition and adulation the pair are found to be lonely, haunted by a past, in Christie’s case a traumatic divorce leading to her disappearance in 1926, in Rutherford’s life, a family history on both sides, mother and father, of mental illness and the fear that that engenders. The final revelations are both dramatic and moving as clashing personalities settle into mutual respect. In reality the meetings are fictional, what might have happened had they met as hesitant and unlikely friends. The pair did meet, cordially it seems, polite but strained was one description, at events linked to the films. Christie wanted nothing to do with the adaptations and, although admiring Rutherford as an actress, disliked her interpretation of Miss Marple and the elements of comedy and slapstick that had been introduced into stories that bore little relationship to her books. Rutherford, a star who craved approval as much as stardom, had equal admiration for Christie as a writer, but was equally upset at Christie’s displeasure. There is an irony in all of this in that in 1962, a year after the first film with Rutherford’s Miss Marple, Christie published The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side, a Miss Marple mystery involving a firm star, which she dedicated to Margaret Rutherford “in admiration”. Whether sincere, a professional nod or the result of a publisher's PR persuasion we will never know, but the dedication is there. The fictional confrontations and understandings create a gentle, psychological thriller about two women at the top of their profession with all the vulnerabilities, flaws and faults that no amount of fame can dismiss or avoid, all chivvied along by the entertaining and mischievous Spinster. It is a strange fact that in a play where so little happens we end up being drawn in and learning so much. Adam Warren’s two tier set design adds wonderfully to the story giving us Christie’s study stage right, Rutherford’s lounge left, a make up salon centre, and a bedroom, Clarridge's and Press conference on a platform stage rear with a clever set of giant books as steps up to the platform. The areas are highlighted by a complex lighting plot from Russell Grumbridge with an equally complex sound design from David Wakeman, two technical aspects which add greatly and are always appreciated often without being noticed. The Nonentities have set themselves a high bar, yet once again they have reached it with entertaining ease in an intriguing and strangely gently gripping production. Directed by Jan Eglington, Agatha and Peggy will be crossing egos aided by The Spinster to 17-05-25. Roger Clarke 12-05-25 |
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