author: Chris Pence
It was the one case that kept Poirot awake at night, the one that had more twists and turns than a rail line through the mountains, the Murder On The Orient Express. Agatha Christie’s timeless mystery finally comes to the stage, roaring into the station at Manor Mill Playhouse.
Based on the novel of the same name by the Mistress of Murder herself, Dame Agatha Christie,
As many a bleak day lay ahead, we have to remember what’s good about this part of the world. There’s information and things work. The information: Silver Spring Stage is producing a new version of John Millington Synge’s Playboy of the Western World (by Bisi Adigun & Roddy Doyle) and it’s now appearing on their stage as the first show of 2025. And it works. Directed by Seth Ghitelman, this quirky but dark comedy of incidental errors and tall tales puts a refreshing spin on the way we look at outsiders and how we value their stories.
Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? You can’t handle the truth! Though I might be mixing up my courtroom dramas as this one seemed to be skirting all around the truth, only revealing parts of the truth, and there was a lot of questionable truths floating in the ether. In true Agatha Christie style, Witness For the Prosecution splashes onto The Vagabond Players stage to kick of the 2024-leg of their 108th season.