In this its ninth production, The Agatha Christie Theatre Company opts for Murder on the Nile, a play which had its premiere in Dundee in 1944 before taking to the West End stage in 1946 at The Ambassadors Theatre (later to be the first home of Christie's theatrical stalwart The Mousetrap).
On stage at the Theatre Royal, the more modern themes of stockmarket crashes and the machinations of fat cats have more resonance than the "whydunnit" plot.
Importantly, this is not Death on the Nile featuring portly Poirot, made famous in the 1978 film starring Sir Peter Ustinov, Bette Davis and Mia Farrow. If anything, the subtitle for this Egyptian-set (almost) farce should be Nine Characters in Search of a Sleuth as that is what is sadly lacking. This is most obvious in the silent denouement when a blundering Canon Pennefather comes over all mute when he solves the crime and finally knows "whodunnit".
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