"And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie.

Nottingham Theatre Royal.

Agatha Christie's best selling novel and most popular murder mystery play, for those who don't know, is about a group of ten strangers who are lured to the remote Soldier Island off the coast of Devon. Upon arrival it is discovered that their hosts, eccentric millionaires The Owens, are missing. After dinner a recorded message is played accusing each of them in turn of having a guilty secret and by the end of the evening the ten guests become nine. Stranded on the island by a torrential storm and haunted by an ancient nursery rhyme, one by one the guests begin to die. And with only the fallen believed to be innocent, who amongst them is the killer?

Lucy Tregear is Georgina Rogers, replacing the role of Rogers, the Butler. There are still two servants for the mansion though, and this is where Jane Pinchbeck comes in.

Jane is played by Nicola May-Taylor, and gives the director a chance to bring the play into a more modern place, introducing a same sex relationship into the play. Why some of the audience audibly gasped when the two kissed showed that this was still either a shock to some, or a shock to have a same sex relationship within an Agatha Christie play. They obviously didn't pick up on the sexual tension between the pair.

Narracott, the Boatman, is played by Matt Weyland. A small but vital role.

Vera Claythorne, who has been hired by the mysterious Owens as their secretary for the "get together", is played by Sophie Walter. Vera gets the sharp end of Ms Brent's tongue from the off. You witness the chipping away of the initially confident character to leave a more emotional Vera as the play progresses.

Katie Stephens plays the straight laced, bible quoting Emily Brent. A real spiky, not to be messed with character who is not afraid to speak her mind and upset people. Could this woman have reasons to rid Indian Island of these people who have made her an embittered woman, or has she rubbed someone in her midst up the wrong way?

Joseph Beattie plays Philip Lombard, a man with an air of mystery about him and carries a gun, but will he use it in the play, and why does he carry a revolver on him? Could this ex-military man be a murderer?

The young, good-looking, flash, sports car driving Anthony Marston is played by Oliver Clayton. Marston attracts attention wherever he goes and his love of sports cars has got him in trouble in the past, so is retribution for his blasé opinions the reason for his invite? And he's already ruffled the feathers of one of the other invited guests even before he arrives.

Andrew Lancel is William Blore, a detective by trade, but arrives under a pseudonym and a dodgy accent; it's not too long though before this charade is discovered, which straight away puts the others on the back foot where his credibility is concerned. What has he got to hide?

General MacKenzie is played by Jeffrey Kissoon. MacKenzie is a retired war hero and as the play goes on, you see a gradual breakdown of his mind. Could that breakdown be a sign of an unstable murderer, or just the gradual and sad longing for his deceased wife?

David Yelland plays Judge Lawrence Wargrave. Dr Armstrong seems to recognise him from the past and tells the others that he is a Judge that he had presented evidence to in her professional capacity. Could the mystery murderer be someone that the Judge had sent down sometime from his long career seeking revenge?

Dr Armstrong is played by Bob Barrett, who fans of Holby City will recognise as playing Dr Sacha Levy. It's a good job that there is a doctor in the house as the bodies start to pile up, or is it because there's a doctor in the house?

Directed by Lucy Bailey, and with so many characters all in one place for most of the time, Lucy manages to make sure that all those on stage have a purpose for being in any one scene. That, I think, is one reason why every time you see this play, you spot something new from the characters because there is so much to see at any given time. Keeping the audiences' interest in a cast as a whole is the secret to excellent direction, something we experience here.

There was only one thing that I was at odds with, and that was the decision to make the murder victims rise up and make their way off stage themselves. I know that this is probably to show the deceased soles vacating, but I do like a bit of tradition in my murder mysteries.

One addition I did appreciate were the "flashbacks", visual and audible of some of the alleged crimes. This I thought added an extra layer to the characters' back stories. They didn't last long but were a nice addition to the current story telling.

The set design is by Mike Britton, who is also responsible for the costumes. All of the productions that I've seen in the past have sets with solid boundaries, but Mike has created a space divided by gauze "curtains" which allow cast members to leave the main part of the stage and move to another area, but to still be in view. This means we can keep an eye on everyone at all times.

As far as I can remember, I couldn't recall there being a large chandelier, maybe this was due to the majority of versions I've seen have been done at local level and such a prop was not within the budget, but this addition provided the perfect jigsaw piece for the finale. If that sounds confusing, go along and see what I mean. No spoilers here!

The lighting design is by Chris Davey with the sound design by Elizabeth Purnell. There's some real moody lighting going on here, especially in the second act, which all adds to the mystery of the play. When the generator runs out of juice, we're left with candlelight, creating shadows, but who, or what lurks in those shadows?

The cast as a whole are just superb and together they have a vast experience of theatre and TV work, which is what makes this production such a delight, even to someone like myself who has seen Christie's iconic play many times. "Secrets" is the key word for this play. There are secrets everywhere with these characters, and of course, keeping the secret as to whodunnit, after you leave the theatre is most vital, so no spoilers from me!

Even if you've seen "And Then There Were None" before, come and see this production, because it has a fresh look and presentation, and even though the setting is still 1930's, the feel is modern and classy.

"And Then There Were None" is at the Nottingham Theatre Royal until Saturday 27 January. Don't keep that a secret though.