Theater Review: "Agatha Christie's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" at Alleyway Theatre
- Anthony Chase
- 16 hours ago
- 6 min read
Updated: 12 hours ago
An elegantly staged mystery in the round
By ANTHONY CHASE
In Agatha Christie’s novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, the narrator describes the investigation as a shifting picture in a kaleidoscope. At Alleyway Theatre, this metaphor blossoms into physical reality through Heidi Armbruster's adaptation and Chris J Handley's elegant and masterful direction. The production transforms Christie's celebrated mystery into a theatrical experience that is at once minimalist and richly detailed, with every element meticulously calibrated.
In the weeks preceding the opening, Alleyway released carefully constructed promotional photographs by Luke Copping, reminiscent of the publicity for famously sophisticated and star-studded Christie film adaptations -- Murder on the Orient Express (1974), Death on the Nile (1978), Evil Under the Sun (1982) -- where the stylish pose of each person suggests their guilt. The staging mirrors this sense of style and polish.
The story unfolds in the sleepy village of King's Abbot, where the wealthy industrialist Roger Ackroyd is found stabbed to death in his locked study shortly after receiving a letter from Mrs. Ferrars, a widow who had recently taken her own life. The letter apparently revealed the identity of someone who had been blackmailing her.
The village is abuzz with rumors as Ackroyd's family, household staff, and associates all fall under suspicion. Dr. James Sheppard, the local physician who narrates the tale, finds himself drawn into the investigation when the recently retired Hercule Poirot, who has moved to the village to cultivate vegetable marrows (a kind of oversized zucchini), agrees to take on the case. What follows is Christie at her most cunning as Poirot methodically peels back layers of secrets and lies.
Chyna Mayer's scenic design brilliantly employs just a few chairs, boxes, and tables that are reconfigured to create multiple environments, on the expanse of a luxurious parquet floor, and under a sky or ceiling of clocks and cogs. A rolling door frame effectively signals comings and goings while also suggesting the psychological dimension of being locked in or locked out. Through transformations effected with a tone of droll stage magic, we travel between locations as varied as Roger Ackroyd's study and a croquet court. Handley orchestrates the actors through this in-the-round performance space with a graceful choreography, each transition impeccably coordinated and timed.
Emma Schimminger's fabulously precise lighting -- often seen penetrating billowing wafts of fog -- and her sound design, work in concert with the staging. Ann R. Emo's costumes immediately communicate character, period, and social class while accommodating the swift and frequent costume changes -- some of which happen on stage. In this minimalist setting, Diane Almeter Jones' property design ensures that every object, from a dagger to a wedding ring, resonates with heightened symbolism or the potential of being a vital clue.
Armbruster has skillfully reduced Christie's extensive character list through cutting, condensing, and doubling, creating the impression of multitudes while maintaining dramatic clarity. The ensemble rises magnificently to this challenge, as actors shift between contrasting characters with impressive dexterity and speed. Each of them, Poirot reminds us, harbors a secret. Each will be a suspect.
Versatile Bill Lovern portrays both the murder victim, wealthy widower Roger Ackroyd, and the famed Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. While his Ackroyd feels more fully anchored, we understand precisely why he was cast as the eccentric and meticulous Poirot. Lovern leans into the sleuth's whimsical humor, methodical intelligence, and vanity. By the time I saw the show, on its third night after the official opening, the actor had softened the character's heavy French accent to more a suggestion of the accent, allowing for comprehensibility without losing Poirot’s urbane foreign charm.
As Dr. James Sheppard, the local physician who narrates the story and assists Poirot's investigation, David Lundy delivers an excellent, steady performance. This is a man who can carry a one-person show and often has. With his portrayal of the reliable, likeable, and observant small-town doctor, we can see why Poirot recognizes him as the perfect assistant on the case, and why he has been entrusted to be the narrative voice of this complex story.
The evening benefits tremendously from Sheila McCarthy's triumphant return to Buffalo after several years in Chicago. She might seem like new face to some, but please note that McCarthy has previously won Artie Awards in all four acting categories. Her Caroline Sheppard -- Dr. Sheppard's unmarried, inquisitive sister known for village gossip and sharp observations -- is utterly adorable, while her Mrs. Cecil Ackroyd (Roger's sister-in-law and Flora's mother) proves hilarious in her transparent manipulations. In short, she is fabulous.
With wonderful versatility, Sara Kow-Falcone switches between Ursula Bourne, the parlor maid, and the police inspector. She has fun with the gender switch of the inspector while bringing great emotional depth to the charismatic yet deceptive Ursula, who is more educated and refined than one might expect in a servant. She is also unhesitant in embracing the understated humor of the piece, whether lunging headlong into the script's suggestion of romance, or rummaging beneath the seats of audience members for clues.
Steven Maiseke exhibits impressive range as both Roger Ackroyd's handsome but troubled stepson, Ralph Paton, and as John Parker, the butler. This talented young actor transitions brilliantly between the two roles, demonstrating a pleasing stage presence, an ear for accents, impeccable timing, and a winning smile.
Johnny Rowe finds delightful humor in the taciturn Major Hector Blunt, Roger Ackroyd's friend, while also portraying Mr. Hammond, Ackroyd's solicitor. His laconic reservedness proves charmingly funny, even as it suggests what we have been promised, that he is hiding something.
Recent UB graduate Julia Witt completes the ensemble as Flora Ackroyd, Roger's niece who is engaged to Ralph Paton. Witt crafts the perfect ingenue -- seemingly unconscious of her beauty, modest and loving, yet sometimes prone to petulant bursts of resentment that put her innocence in doubt.
These actors take on many more characters than these, some of them for just a single scene. A production that must work with clockwork precision at breakneck speed requires flawless execution, and despite a week of previews, there were still signs that more rehearsal time might have been beneficial. Some dropped lines and hesitations were noticeable, particularly during the climactic scene, where an actor visibly rescued a colleague from a memory lapse (though I could not discern whose). While walking the theatrical highwire can be thrilling, such moments are merely terrifying for an audience invested in the resolution of a deliberately convoluted plot.
Like a kaleidoscope, the production reconfigures familiar elements into something fresh and captivating -- simultaneously a testament to Christie's enduring brilliance, Armbruster’s skill at transferring that brilliance to the stage, and Chris Handley’s creative vision. A lingering scene at the end, a theatrically unnecessary moral lesson, absent from the novel, is the playwright’s only misstep. This superfluous little lecture is, I suspect, overcompensation for a disturbing detail from the novel. In the book, our beloved Poirot actually suggests to the killer that suicide would be the most dignified way out. Naturally this would not fly with a twenty-first century audience. Instead, Poirot simply gives the clever schemer more time. Some of that time is awkwardly used to moralize.
Minor quibbles aside, Armbruster's adaptation provides a highly satisfying and dryly funny theatrical experience that honors one of Christie's greatest triumphs. Nobody understood how readers or audiences interact with narrative better than Agatha Christie, and this smart rendition of one of her most celebrated stories captures that genius through the talents of an excellent cast, superior direction, and excellent design.
The production continues through May 3, 2025. See https://www.alleyway.com/shows/oger-ackroyd for tickets and details.