“MRS. CHRISTIE”: Performances are underway for “Mrs. Christie.” Written by Heidi Armbruster and directed by Donya K. Washington, the play runs through May 31 at McCarter’s Berlind Theatre. Above, from left: Collins (Jeremy Gallardo), Monsieur (Evan Zes), Jane (Gina Daniels), Nancy (Amber Walker), Archie (Cameron Knight), and Agatha (Christiana Clark) enjoy a drink, unaware that they are characters in a mystery that is being created as they move. (Photo by Daniel Rader)
By Donald H. Sanborn III
As an often-quoted aphorism tells us, “Truth is stranger than fiction.” So naturally, some of the most engaging works of fiction — in our case, a play — are inspired by a nugget of truth.
In December 1926 Agatha Christie caused a real-life mystery (and tabloid firestorm) when she vanished from her home in Sunningdale. Eleven days later she was located in Harrogate, 184 miles away. Nearly a century later, Christie’s precise reasons for the disappearance remain a subject of speculation.
That speculation is the central plot point of a play, Mrs. Christie. Written by playwright and actress Heidi Armbruster, the story depicts both an imagined version of the events surrounding Christie’s disappearance, and a modern fan’s determination to discover the reason for it.
Following residencies in 2015 and 2018, and workshops in 2019, Mrs. Christie premiered in 2019 at the Dorset Theatre Festival. A production by Theatreworks Silicon Valley followed in 2023.
Christie’s life and work offers opportunities, as well as challenges, to dramatists. Her characters, archetypes, and plot structure are fun to watch onstage, and the circumstances surrounding her disappearance (as this play proves) provide rich material for drama.
The challenge is that so much of this material has been explored many times before. (In 2017 this column reviewed both a successful adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express and Christie’s own play Spider’s Web.) Christie’s disappearance itself has been explored in works such as the film Agatha (1979) and a monologue, Agatha is Missing (2018).
Armbruster’s response to the obvious importance of a fresh perspective to the material is to write a time and reality-bending play that juxtaposes, and eventually blends, past and present. We see both the author and her modern fan — both coping with grief, and at a crossroads in their lives — occupy the same physical space (for the most part, Christie’s house), separated by a century.
As much as the play draws on Christie’s life and works, it also shares thematic ideas (albeit probably unintentionally) with at least two musicals. Sunday in the Park with George (1984) deals with two events a century apart, and lets characters interact with figures from a famous painting. In an apt bookend I and You — which opened McCarter’s current season — places its characters in a physical setting that turns out to be a representation of a deeper, metaphysical plane of existence.
It is particularly this aspect that makes McCarter Theatre’s current production of Mrs. Christie fun to watch. Directed by McCarter’s BOLD Associate Artistic Director Donya K. Washington (with Assistant Director Natasha M. Gallop), the production moves easily but clearly through time. In one scene Agatha (played by Christiana Clark) deals with problems preceding her disappearance; in the next, Christie fan Lucy (Patrese D. McClain, who captures the character’s obsessive enthusiasm) visits her home to investigate the mysterious event.
Aware of the need for a clear demarcation of past and present, Washington and the creative team incorporate the time aspect into multiple production elements. At the top and center of Lex Liang’s attractive set is a clock whose hands move backward and forward, depending on a given scene’s requirements. Sound Designer and Composer T. Carlis Roberts creates incidental music whose contemplative, often mournful strings are punctuated by percussive sounds that evoke a ticking clock.
In addition to designing the set (whose beauty is enhanced by Amina Alexander’s elegant lighting), Liang also designs the colorful costumes. Like the set and music, the tasteful clothes separate 1926 from 2026, except for one period dress worn by Lucy to a Christie-centered event held at the author’s house.
The play portrays some painful events in Christie’s life prior to her disappearance. She is mourning the loss of her mother (Clarissa Margaret Boehmer died in April 1926). Further; her marriage to the philandering, domineering Archie (Cameron Knight) is falling apart; and the latter — who is infatuated with his lover Nancy (Amber Walker) — wants Agatha either to grant him a divorce, which she initially refuses to contemplate, or stop writing.
Additionally, Agatha is considering whether to sign with a new publisher, represented by Collins (Jeremy Gallardo). Charlotte, the author’s secretary (Polly Lee) finds it increasingly difficult to keep her boss from collapsing under the weight of all of these personal and professional stressors.
The actors’ talent and energy are palpable. However, heightened nuance in the delivery of some of the lines — throughout the cast — would further amplify the distinctiveness of Armbruster’s characters. Likely rooted in an intention to capture the pomp of an earlier time, some of the dialogue comes off as a bit tonally monochromatic, with vocal inflections that occasionally cross from declamatory into bombastic.
Nevertheless, on the whole the performances are entertaining and memorable (and the audience is appreciative). In her early scenes, Clark successfully portrays Agatha’s struggle to avoid crumbling under that pressure. Her voice sounds aptly fretful, her body language fidgety. As it needs to, this lessens as the character undertakes her journey from comparative fragility to renewed strength.
Knight was last seen at McCarter in A Christmas Carol, and he seems to be consistently excellent in any role he plays. Here, he contrasts Clark’s agitated Agatha with body language that, like Archie’s resolution to get what he wants out of his confrontations with Agatha, is firmly planted. His arms often remain at his side, suggesting a minimum of outreach.
A century later, Lucy — who, like Agatha, is mourning the recent loss of her mother — arrives at Agatha’s house for an Agatha Christie Festival, which she regards as little more than a cosplay event. The festival is being held outdoors, but Lucy is far more interested in exploring the house’s interior.
There she meets the mysterious Jane (Gina Daniels), who lets her hear cryptic recordings of Agatha’s voice; and William (Gallardo, in one of several dual roles throughout the cast), a Christie scholar’s assistant who shows Lucy some stolen copies of pages that appear to point to an unknown work by the author.
Daniels ably conveys Jane’s mixture of prim propriety evocative from another time and the eager wish to encourage (without appearing to do so) Lucy’s obsession. Walker is capable both as Nancy, the woman who has stolen Archie’s attention from Agatha; and Chloe, a contemporary character.
The pairings of the dual roles are sensible. Gallardo is equally adept at capturing the archetypes of his two characters: smooth businessman (Collins) and unctuous academic or expert who knows he possesses something of value. Lee delivers the brusque, poised sturdiness of Charlotte and Mary, two characters whose function is to support Agatha on her journey (as Jane supports Lucy on hers, in a lovely parallel).
Initially the second act opens in a different setting, where reality and fiction seem to converge. Contemplating retirement, Agatha meets Monsieur (Evan Zes, who also appeared in McCarter’s Murder on the Orient Express, gives a tour de force performance here), a Belgian who seems to be physical manifestation of a version of Poirot. In one of the most memorable dialogue exchanges Agatha, in a fit of self-doubt, says, “No-one wants me.” Monsieur retorts, “Then they want me!”
Washington’s staging is at its best in an equally reality-bending scene in which Agatha and Lucy meet, which Clark and McClain deliver movingly. In a satisfying bookend, the action moves back to Agatha’s house, where several of the characters become unknowing figures in a new mystery that is being created.
Armbruster has successfully written a script that needs to be on a live stage, rather than film or other screen media. She knows how to physically convey abstract ideas: authors’ characters helping them cope with psychological challenges; and the symbiotic relationship between authors and their devoted readers who sometimes are inspired to create works of their own.
Ultimately, McCarter’s production succeeds because of Washington’s ability (and that of the cast and creative team) to put those ideas on stage — and follow two strong female characters, a century apart, as they embark on similar journeys of self-renewal.
“Mrs. Christie” will play at McCarter’s Berlind Theatre, 91 University Place, through May 31. For tickets, show times, and further information call (609) 258-2787 or visit mccarter.org.