2006: Black Coffee by Agatha Christie

Black Coffee by Agatha Christie.  Tempo Theatre directed by Jon Elphick at Belconnen Community Centre, August 3,4,5,9,10,11,12 at 7.30pm.  Matinees August 5,12 at 2pm.  Twilight show August 6 at 4pm.  Bookings: 6247 1223 (The Street is handling their bookings)


After writing several Hercule Poirot novels, Black Coffee was Agatha Christie’s first play, written in 1930.  Her works are still popular in television adaptations and particularly among amateur theatre companies.  This production is one in a series of Christie classics presented by Tempo.

The attraction of murder mysteries when cleverly constructed as Christie’s are is that any number of the characters have the motivation, while only one is guilty.  The enjoyment for the audience is not about becoming deeply involved with the characters’ feelings.  Their main concern is the intellectual exercise of solving the puzzle.

Elphick has understood this and has not asked his actors to play up the characters.  The focus is on what happens in the first act when the murder takes place, and then on following Poirot’s observations of details and his logical analysis.  I found this forensic approach more appealing than the overblown characterisation that Poirot appears to have been given by Francis L Sullivan, backed by Donald Wolfit as Captain Hastings, in the original production, which began the tradition of the “lovable” Poirot still seen in the television productions.

Although pacing was often rather slow on opening night, leaving gaps while we waited for the next move rather than developing suspicious tension, the actors – especially when led by Garry Robinson as Poirot in Acts 2 and 3 – held the plot together with appropriate characters, clear voices and definite action.  The set, lighting and particularly costumes were very good, despite the difficulties that often arise when setting up in this kind of theatre.

I thought the result overall was effective and stimulated some thoughts about the purpose of crime fiction – to reveal how the guilty may be trapped into telling the truth, while the not guilty are not necessarily as innocent as they may seem.

© Frank McKone, Canberra