DramaSoc presents: And Then There Were None

If you were hoping for a warm evening in at the theatre, in refuge from the cold London night, you may have found that DramaSoc’s performance of And Then There Were None was not the hearty bonfire you expected – but for the best possible reasons. The murder mystery based on Agatha Christie’s best-selling novel was brought to life by directors Ansh Bhatnagar and Olivia Revans, leaving the audience on the edge of their seats throughout the blood-chilling plot and riveting performance.

The two-act play, which charged an entry fee of £7 per student, was presented in the Union Concert Hall nightly from Wednesday to Saturday last week.

Ten characters, trapped on an isolated island with no way to reach the mainland, are killed off one by one as per the lyrics of an archaic nursery rhyme, “Ten Little Soldiers”. However, the story is no classic murder mystery, for the predictability of its ending – that all ten characters are killed, as disclosed by the play’s title – does not make the unfolding of events any less shocking.

The main stage was set as the living room in the lone house on the isolated Soldier Island. Ramps extend the platform on which the set is arranged beyond the confines of the union stage. This thrust stage layout successfully brought the world of the characters to within the audiences’ grasp, so that they, too, became trapped in the high-strung, paranoia-filled atmosphere blanketing the small living room.

Ten little soldier figurines were fittingly placed on a mantelpiece in the center upstage, commanding the attention of both the characters and the audience. As the characters were murdered, the number of figurines on the mantelpiece decreased in accordance to the number of characters left alive. This effect, made possible by holes carved into the mantelpiece through which backstage members pull down the figure, was ingenious and well-appreciated by the crows. Audience members opportune enough to catch a brief glimpse of the figures being lowered were sure to feel shivers down their spine: another death was approaching imminently.

The perpetual background noise of waves crashing, present throughout the length of the play, seemed to represent the calm before the storm, before the sudden wild abandonment of all audience expectation in the shocking end of the play.Other elements of the set, such as the use of the lit-up windows to portray changes in time, or the use of lighting during split-screens and to create a disembodied Voice character, are underappreciated effects that create a vivid representation of the story.

The characters’ sudden realization of the nursery rhyme’s significance and the disappearing figurines, and most importantly, that the murderer must be one of them, left them with paralyzed inability to accept their fate. They had nowhere to run. The air grew thick with paranoia as they create and break alliances, suspect and accuse each other. Convincing performances were delivered by all members of the cast, no matter how short-lived their appearance. The characters create a well-balanced ensemble: Emily Brent, played by Maddie Roche, is an extremely conservative and self-righteous old woman who, as the other characters frantically worry about finding a way off the island, humorously decides to preach bible verses at them and ignore their concern. Judge Lawrence Wargrave, played by Alfred Engedal, is a commanding and authoritative presence who becomes the natural group leader and organizes their strategy for their grave predicament.

Despite these distinct characterizations, however, the play sends a clear message: people are not as they seem. Fake identities, red herrings, hidden pasts:: the audience is constantly discovering that the characters are not who they first appeared to be. There is a stark contrast between the development of characters who are guilt-ridden by their dark histories and those who feel no guilt in their past wrongdoings.

The conclusion of the play, as promised, was equally as satisfying, though different, from that in the novel. (It is difficult to comment further without revealing the end, though I wholly suggest reading Agatha Christie’s original story, it lives up to the darkly humorous, psychological thriller that it is exalted as.) Many thanks to the directors, the cast, and the crew who worked tirelessly to recreate the chilling, alarming events of Solider Island.

-5 stars