"And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie

Nottingham Academy Of Performing Arts (NAPA).

Bonington Theatre, Arnold.

This is a brave choice of play for a young cast to perform. Most of the characters in the play are reasonably mature, whereas this cast are in their teens. Once you get over the fact that no ageing make up is used and there's a difference between the young cast and the character's physicality, I relaxed into the seat to enjoy this Christie classic.

Ran by Kirk and Bex Mannering, the Nottingham Academy of Performing Arts based at Redhill School.

Christie's classic murder mystery thriller is performed extremely well by this group of actors, and I must admit, being a Christie fan, I was impressed to start with that director, James Fox is also a fan of the thriller writer and genre, and chose this particular play.

A group of people are lured into coming to a deserted island under different pretexts.  All have been accused of the deaths of other human beings, but either escaped justice or committed an act that was not subject to legal sanction. The guests and two servants who are present are "charged" with their respective "crimes" by a gramophone recording after dinner the first night, and informed that they have been brought to the island to pay for their actions.  

The nursery rhyme “Ten Little Indians” describes how the ten little Indians are killed off. Gradually the guests are killed off in turn, each in a manner that seems to parallel the deaths in the nursery rhyme. Nobody else seems to be left alive on the island by the time of the apparent last death, but someone must be responsible for the deaths, but who?

There were a few nerves at the start, which is completely understandable with the enormity of the play, but you could see those nerves slowly melt away and the cast relax more and started to enjoy what they were doing. Those nerves may also have caused some of the cast to forget slightly projection, but that soon remedied itself as well.

Another thing that I like about drama groups like this is that I have no knowledge of any of the actors and therefore no preconceptions of what to expect or history to compare to.

Tom Rogers is the Butler and, along with his wife, has been assigned to look after the guests. Played by Keiran Rhodes he certainly looked the part of the service staff. Kieran is one of those young actors who has confidence but needed just to raise his voice slightly, but that will be nerves. Also by just lifting his head slightly will project the voice without trying. A word perfect performance and his physicality showed that authority for his character brilliantly, and I also noted that there was no rushing about from Keiran, which also fitted in well with the role of a butler. Well observed delivery of character and script.

Ethel Rogers, played by Melody Rhodes, is Tom's wife and the cook. A lovely loose performance by Melody, and when I say that I mean that there were no nerves evident in her performance. As the put upon cook and general dogsbody, Melody bought the frustration to the character, and while her husband held the air of dignity for a butler, she brought a more urgent pace due to the amount of work she was afforded to do by looking after the number of guests.

Fred Narracott is the boatman who had the job of bringing the guests to the island, and their only link to the mainland. Played by Ged Watson it's not a massive role but was a vital jigsaw piece in the puzzle. Possibly Fred's hat may have been just a bit big for Ged as it hid quite a bit of his face. A solid but swift appearance.

Vera Claythorne is an attractive young woman and object of a couple of the guests' attentions. Sophenya Mannering was lovely and relaxed and showed no signs of nerves, in fact very comfortable and assured as Vera.

Captain Phillip Lombard the wise-cracking, revolver toting soldier of fortune is played by Theo Carey. There's a lovely chemistry between Lombard and other characters and that can only be projected when the actor is confident in what they're doing, and Theo shows confidence in this role.

Anthony Marston is the hooray henry, lover of fast cars who makes an impression on some of the other guests when he arrives, but for all the wrong reasons! Cohen Taylor played the confident speed demon, and another very confident young actor.

Inspector Blore is a former police officer and played by Polly Edwards. Why does Blore arrive with a false past and name? Straight away puts the others on the back foot where Blore's credibility is concerned. What has she got to hide? Well acted by Polly.

General Mackenzie, who thought he kept seeing his late wife, Leslie, and seems to be slowly losing his mind. Played by Tyler Tarn. I'd have loved to have seen Mackenzie's gait slowed down a tad and maybe visually aged to show the character's mature status. That said I spotted the conviction Tyler had in the delivery of his lines for the General.

Emily Brent is an acidic old woman who seems to get annoyed with many of the guests, especially the younger ones. Matilda Stapleton plays Brent and you got the feeling of Brent's maturity in the way that Matilda delivered the lines, i.e. in the way that someone with a bad smell under her nose would berate another. She really made you want to steer clear of this pious character so that you wouldn't be on the receiving end of that tongue. Really enjoyed Matilda's character play.

Sir Lawrence Wargrave, known as "The Hanging Judge" is played by Hal Watson. I loved Hal's pace with this script; no rushing and every word deliberated which drew your attention to what Wargrave was saying and how he formed his sentences, meaning you listened to him carefully. Hal has pace in his performance and he made use of gaps, keeping you hanging on to his every word. As a legal man, you have to make sure that others understand what you say, and what you mean!

Dr Armstrong is a renowned Harley Street doctor and played by Sophia Smith. Another serene performance befitting the character of a medical professional and well observed by Sophia.

Directed by Kirk and Bex Mannering. Even with such a young cast, they had me glued to that stage at Bonington Theatre, even though I have seen this play many times, and knew who the villain was. The young actors also managed to keep that uneasy feeling going from the start, right to the reveal of the U.N Owen villain! The pace was done well and even though I kept glancing at those little figures on the shelf, I didn't spot when they disappeared and by who's hand! It's just like a magician drawing your attention to another place while the magic happens in full view. The time flew by.

Sound and lighting is by Peter Hodgkinson.

There are only two performances of this iconic piece of theatre and closes after the evening performance today, Saturday 20 September.

Now that I have seen this talented cast, I can't wait to see what they all do next. Here's to the next NAPA production.