Diane Linder, Riley Introcaso, Lee Grober, Eve Sigall, Katyana Rocker-Cook (Photo by Gabriel Tejeda-benitez)
Reviewed by Lovell Estell III
Theatre 40
Through April 19
David Hunt Stafford and Zaya Kolia (Photo by Gabriel Tejeda-benitez)
There are few writers that do mystery, suspense and sleight- of- hand murder better than Agatha Christie. Her books and plays seem to never run low on popularity, and she ranks second to the Bard in number of copies sold. Among her 20 stage plays are The Mousetrap, the much heralded Witness for the Prosecution, and Murder on the Nile. When it debuted in 1958, reviews were mixed for this less-favored drama, but this production of The Unexpected Guest by Theatre 40 keeps you guessing until the very end, and is entertaining in spite of a few problems.
And it all starts with, you guessed it, a murder. The action is set in 1958 in the opulent library (great job by set designer Jeff G. Rack) of the Warwick Mansion in New South Wales, on a densely foggy night. Michael Starkwedder (Lee Grober) has crashed his car in a ditch, and goes in search of help. He winds up at the Warwick Mansion, and upon entering, finds Richard Warwick dead in his wheelchair, and his wife Laura (Katyanna Rocker), cringing in the corner with a gun in her hand, and freely confesses confessing to the murder. It isn’t long before he is smitten with her (or is he?), and concocts a Byzantine plan to cover up the deed by framing a man whose son Warwick killed in an auto accident.
And that’s when the carousel of suspects starts to spin and all residents are riding it as suspects. Warwick was a nasty piece of work; confined to a wheelchair, he drank excessively, enjoyed killing animals, and is described at one point “as a cruel beast.” His childlike brother Jan (Riley Introcaso) is mentally impaired and Warwick constantly threatened to send him to an asylum. Then there’s Miss Bennet (Diane Linder) the housekeeper who loves secrets as much as snooping; Mrs. Warwick (a delightful Eve Sigall), the matriarch, and the stoic, ever faithful attendant Angell (David Hunt Stafford), who is actually a cunning schemer, Also included on the suspect list is family friend and neighbor Julian (Zaya Kolia).
Investigating the crime are Inspector Thomas (Todd Andrew Ball) and a Sergeant(Nick Trafton), who make their entrance in Act II, slowly, slowly working their way to the truth (or are they?), which seems to have many iterations throughout and teases the audience like any good “who dunnit.” This is not an especially well-crafted demonstration of Miss Christie’s formidable skills as a writer; there are way too many insignificant divergences in this “chatty” script, and the extremely long first act is difficult, at best, o sit through. (Sharper pacing by director Warren Davis would help.) Also, the performances are not as uniformly strong as they could be. Introcaso approaches heated caricature at some points; Rocker mostly does a great job, but there are crucial junctures in the play where she overworks her British accent and this makes it near impossible to understand what is being said.
But the plot does keep you guessing, and the payoff is a shocking ending. And Derrick McDaniel provides a splendid lighting schema.
Theatre 40, 241 S. Moreno Dr., At the Mary Levin Cutler Theatre on The Beverly Hills High School Campus. Thur.-Sat., 7:30 pm, Sun., 2 pm; through April 19. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-unexpected-guest-by-agatha-christie-at-theatre-40-tickets-1984225366485 Running time: two hours with an intermission.
