hercule poirot murder on the orient express

Heck, it even gets to charge through a snowstorm! At the Chichester Festival, the great Rob Jones is the designer, and he and the director, Jonathan Church have put their heads together and made the train simply glorious to look at. Trains are inherently exciting, and the Orient Express is the king of them all. As you’ll see if you read the play or see it at the Chichester Festival, the shadow of Nazism has subtle yet powerful implications for Poirot’s central dilemma.įinally, the glamour of the Orient Express itself gives a designer enormous scope to create a memorable occasion. That historical context gives the story special consequence: this shocking crime has gone unsolved, and the killer is aboard the Orient Express.Īlso, because the novel was written in the mid-1930s, I was able to cast a glance at the rise of Hitler. The setting is exotic, the characters are colourful, and though the names are changed, it’s based on an historical event-the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby-which dominated the news at the time the book was written. I chose Murder on the Orient Express because it is such a stunning mystery in so many ways. Why did you choose Murder on the Orient Express? When we spoke, Mathew was kind enough allow me to choose the novel I would most like to adapt. I was immensely flattered, of course, and I was put in touch with Mathew Prichard, Agatha Christie’s grandson, who was then running the company. It all started when my agent called one morning and said that the Agatha Christie Limited had been in touch to ask whether I would be interested in adapting one of Christie’s novels for the stage. Tell us about the origins of your adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express.

We spoke with the esteemed playwright about transforming this story for the stage. Murder on the Orient Express, adapted by Ken Ludwig, opens at Chichester Festival Theatre in May.

Hercule poirot murder on the orient express