Hello world! Welcome back to another blog. Today I will be giving my review of Witness For The Prosecution by Agatha Christie, which I saw on 9th March 2024 at the National Justice Museum in Nottingham.
As stated in the programme I purchased, here is the plot of the show:
"Leonard Vole is a young man who stands accused of murdering a rich widow in order to steal her fortune.
The stakes are high with shocking witness testimony and impassioned outbursts from the dock as Leonard claims he's innocent from the start but with people on all sides out to get him, this young man has to fight to escape the hangman's noose.
Will he survive this gruelling court case and keep his life? Or will the jury vote against him? Who Will You Believe?
Generally regarded as one of Christie's most accomplished plays, this suspended thriller keeps audiences guessing until the very end"
Part of the reason I came is to support my fellow actors workshop pals. Here are just a few.
One of those members is Charles Andrews, who played Mr Myers, the prosecution. I had big expectations for him, as after performing alongside him in the Actor Jam hosted by midlands networking company Nexus in 2022 where he performed a monologue about teachers, I knew this role would suit him. And he did not disappoint. He was able to capture the professionalism of the role well, and managed to intimidate Leonard just perfectly, and gave him and the audience a jump scare when needed. If Coronation Street don’t hire him as a Barrister in the next few months then they need to wake up and smell the coffee as he did a bloody good job of it. Well done Charles.
Another actor who is also from the workshop was Connor Thomas, who played Leonard’s defence Sir Wilfred Robarts. Just like Charles he was able to carry out the role perfectly, and when I read that this was his first time performing with your chance productions it literally made my jaw drop, as he was a natural fit for this role. One thing that stood out to me is how he can bring the art of surprise, as when the character made an objection, the bang on the table literally made my heart stop. But that’s what a play like this needs. A mixture of tense moments, some light hearted moments and the art of surprise. And this guy definitely brought it to the production. And I think that both he and Charles would be the perfect duo when Coronation Street look for new barristers in the near future.
Darren Paul Taylor was another favourite in the show. He played the role of Leonard Vole and the suspect for the crime that took place in the show. What a performance he gave, as he’s the sort of person who at first you would think looks intimidating but actually in real life he’s a gentle giant. His role of Leonard was also very solid, as you could tell he wants to be believed and that he managed to crack in a joke or two when the character stepped mentioned what happened on the night in question. But the ending from him really shocked me. I won’t spoil the surprise but let’s just say that if you see this production elsewhere be prepared to be shocked by Leonard at the end.
Samantha Badman is another member of the workshop who played both the Clerk and office worker Miss Greta. She had the responsibility of playing 2 roles in the show, and the contrast was clearly shown. Her professionalism as the clerk was presented with perfection and her other role as miss Greta was the complete opposite. And some lovely little light hearted moments as well just so it mixes in the tone and pace of it fluidly. Well done Samantha.
Equally there were actors in the show who I don’t know but also stood out to me.
Chantelle Rouston played the role of Romaine Vole. I had bad feelings abit this character just from how she was acting. And how she treated Leonard especially during the court trial was definitely surprising. Chantelle definitely captured the pure selfishness of this character beautifully and really was a stand out moment for me. And Romaine's secret really rocked me to the core as well. Well done Chantelle!
Another person that was fantastic is Sir Justice Wainwright played by Jeff Tullin. What I liked about him was that like everyone else managed to capture the essence authority and personality of this important role within a court trail. He showed that he is not a nasty piece of work but at the same time he shows that was in charge of what happens and to keep the piece if things were to go to plan. And this was a fine example of when act 2 began but he didn’t start until everyone was seated. If that’s not getting into the role then I don’t know what is.
The two final actors that stood out to me were Usher 1/Inspector Hearne (played by Andrew Barlow) and Usher 2/Dr Gregg (played by William Gordon). They were in charge of giving people programmes and checking tickets for the show. They were warm and polite, but also professional in their roles. And they also had the task of multi rolling, which was again shown very well within the performance, with Usher 1 easily being a policeman for tv series set in the era of downtown abbey. Well done gentlemen. You two did a grand job of making the audience feel welcome and also multi rolling like true professionals.
Finally I would like to give some huge credit to the director herself Jessie McLean. After being a director myself I can’t imagine the responsibility for putting together a play written by an iconic author like Agatha. But after finding out they had 1 rehearsal a week, she did a brilliant job of putting it altogether and bringing out the best in these actors. Well done Jessie.
The scenery itself was the perfect scenario for this play to be set. And it really felt like that I was also a part of the show, especially when we had to rise for the judge come in and out of the court room. It also reminded me of my show I did back at Grantham College which was “The Whole Truth And Nothing But…” where we got the audience to be the jury and had a surprising twist at the end. So this definitely brought back some memories.
I only had 2 downsides to the show, one of which was beyond their control and the other actually came from the audience.
The first thing was how the courtroom didn’t exactly block out the noise from the outside, especially since there was a hen party outside of it. But I had a feeling that this was something beyond the casts control but the way they handled it during the show was a fine example of true professionalism. The other downside came from the audience member where someone whispered in the show “she’s dead” when the queen was mentioned. But what they need to remember is this was set in the 1900s, so it was in the era where the queen was in fact still alive. I didn’t say anything out of respect for the actors, but in my head I really wanted to say to her “shut the f**k up and go with it. And next time do your research”. I wasn’t sure if the cast or director heard it, but if they did I bet any money that they would’ve said the same thing.
Overall I would give the show a solid 4.80. It was thrilling, immersive and full of twists and turns. And if that lady in the audience didn’t ruin it for me then it would’ve been a full house.
And that's my review for Witness For The Prosecution. I hope you enjoyed this read and stay tuned for more blog posts coming your way
See you soon for another blog. Until next time...
This is The Autistic Actress Signing off :)
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