Mystery and imagination

Despite efforts by “Harry Potter” author JK Rowling to dethrone her, Agatha Christie remains the best-selling female writer of all time. She’s also the most translated writer of all time, even pipping the bard Shakespeare to the post.
Christie, who died in 1976 at the age of 85, also adapted her detective novels into plays, with her 1960 drama “Go Back for Murder” based on her 1942 novel “Five Little Pigs” and from which she cut the detective character of Hercule Poirot.
The play is currently running at M Theatre under the Thai title “Roi Rak Roi Khattakam” and is also, thanks to the Agatha Christie Theatre Company, touring the UK.
In a year where Thai theatre companies have cut back on musicals, it’s a treat to be served with a theatre experience that requires us to use our ears and brains rather than just our eyes.
Watching this Dreambox production last Sunday afternoon, I thought of my first experience watching a DASS, or Dreambox as it later became known, production of Agatha Christie’s “The Mousetrap” at the AUA Auditorium more than two decades ago. These days, of course, I’m older and wiser and able to guess that the least suspicious character is probably the villain. That may explain why “Go Back for Murder”
 didn’t surprise me as much as “The Mousetrap”.
Daraka Wongsiri’s translated script stays true to the original and proves yet again that Christie is a master storyteller, with her 66 novels landing in third place in global sales after Shakespeare’s works and the Bible.
Daraka’s long-time partner-in-crime Suwandee Jakravoravudh fittingly sets the first act at a slower pace allowing the audience to gather all the information and develop doubt and guesses, all of which are necessary for our enjoyment of the second act. What isn’t really necessary, though, is the use of sound effects to highlight certain lines that serve as clues as to the real murderer — the reaction of the cast members was already enough and this is a stage play, not a Hollywood movie.
Elisabeth “Rose KPN” Sitthijaroenyot proved that she’s now an acting force to be reckoned with. She portrays Carla Lemarchant and her sheer determination to clear her late mother of murdering her husband successfully carried the first act. And when the play flash-backed to 16 years earlier, and she’s portraying her mother Caroline Crale, it was easy to believe that she’s a different person.
Siraphan Wattanajinda’s Lady Melksham in the first act was a stereotypical vixen but she was much more realistic, and attractive, as Elsa Greer who completed the love triangle with Amyas and Caroline. Another delightful surprise was Ratha “Tabby AF6” Kokilanon who was convincing as the young and spoiled Angela Warren, Caroline’s sister, and never overshadowed by the veteran actors. The male characters were less meaty and all actors did a commendable job.
The star of the play was Ranya Siyanont, in a rare stage performance, who was so immersed in the character of the governess Miss Williams that many audience members didn’t recognise her when she first appeared. She too looked and sounded realistically younger when the play flashed back. Notwithstanding the fact that it’s a supporting role, she gave one of the best performances in recent memory on the Thai stage.
Costumes made the play convincing and the use of wigs was appropriate. And even though the audience didn’t pay as much attention to the set design as to the dialogue and acting, the decision to have four separate rooms on stage as four locales is a waste of forest. The same effect could have been with one main set and quick change of props and furniture.
  MURDER IN THE HOUSE
n “Roi Rak Roi Khattakam” continues at M Theatre tomorrow at 7.30pm, Saturday 2pm and 7.30pm and Sunday at 2pm. The charity performance is already sold out. Tickets cost Bt1,000 to Bt1,500 at www.BananaBooking.com.