"The Murder on the Links" at Theatre in the Round

For this year's Agatha Christie play, Theatre in the Round has commissioned an adaptation of her third novel The Murder on the Links, the second featuring famed detective Hercule Poirot. This is essentially a sequel to their 2022 Christie play, a new adaptation of her first novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles, with the same playwright Kate Danley, director Linda Paulsen, and two leads. Everything about this production is so delightful, I would be happy if they continued with this team to adapt all of the Poirot/Hastings stories. But for now we can enjoy this fictional murder (or murders?) on the links at the oldest theater in Minneapolis. The show continues weekends through December 21, and Christie plays are always popular at TRP, so don't wait too long to get your tickets to this counter-holiday programming.

Agatha Christie introduced Hercule Poirot to the world with The Mysterious Affair at Styles, and TRP's 2022 production was my introduction to him as well, not having read any of her books or seen any movie adaptations. In fact the majority of my Christie consumption has been at TRP. The Murder on the Links continues the story of the famous Belgian detective and his BFF and roommate Captain Hastings (a sort of Holmes/Watson partnership). Poirot has become bored with the missing dog cases and longs for "real criminals" to chase, when he receives a letter from a wealthy Frenchman asking him to come and investigate a murder. Poirot and Hastings arrive at his villa, only to find that the letter writer himself is the murder victim! An investigation ensues, with multiple suspects and red herrings, arrests and false confessions, and competing investigators getting in Poirot's way. But eventually, he gets it all sorted in a most satisfying way.

Poirot (Ben Tallen), Hastings (Jake Leif), and Hautet
(Gerard Scheett, photo by Tom Taintor)

Once again, director Linda Paulsen does a great job with the multiple characters and storyline twists and turns. There is a lot of information, but it's doled out clearly. Everyone in the very large 19-person cast does a great job; some of them have few or no lines, but are all so vital in filling out the world of this play, saying a lot with a little. Reprising their roles are Ben Tallen as Papa Poirot, even more "charming and lively and endlessly endearing" in his second go-round with the character, and Jake Leif as Hastings, the narrator of the story, once again "calmly leading us through the mysteries." They're such a great duo, one that I hope continues through future plays. Other highlights in the cast include Gerard Scheett and James J. Ruth as competing detectives, Megan Blakeley as the grieving widow, Bryce Bennyhoff as her suspect son Jack, Megan Rowe as the dramatic neighbor lady, Paige Yanny as her daughter and Jack's fiancé, and Hannah Graff as a suspicious American actress who catches Hastings' eye. The accent work by the cast, mostly French, some British, and of course Poirot's very specific Belgian, is impressive, thanks to dialect coaches Joel Raney and Andrew Troth.

The story takes place in multiple locations, indoors and out, in multiple countries. Instead of trying to realistically reproduce all of them, which would be dizzying, the stable set is of a sun-dappled garden in a seaside villa in France, with just a couple of benches and tables as furniture. The rest is accomplished with Hastings' narration describing the location, and our imagination. It's a simple solution that works remarkably well. The facade of a house or shed covers one of the entrances, with doors that open to reveal a hint of what's inside. In a clever use of the performance space over one of the other entrances, scrims form a room that is in one scene a bedroom, in another a tool shed. Lighting creates that sun-dappled effect when we're actually in that garden, and sound design adds color to the world. Characters are dressed in 1920 period clothing, neat three-piece suits for the men, uniforms for the various servants and employees, early 20th century dresses for the women, and more "modern" clothes and bob haircut for the American actress. (Set design by Madeline Achen, lighting design by Mark Webb, costume design by Colleen O'Dell and Hunter Goldsmith, prop design by Roxanne S. Miller, and sound design by Kristin Smith.)

Maybe I'm just becoming more of a Christie fan, but The Murder on the Links may be my favorite TRP Christie play yet! Delightful characterizations by the cast, nicely staged in the in-the-round space, an engrossing mystery, and satisfying conclusion. What more do you need from a murder mystery play?