A couple of weeks ago I reviewed Agatha Christie’s play Appointment with Death (1945), which was an interesting reading experience, as my usual reading fodder is novels. So, it was quite timely that earlier this week I received five vintage mystery play script booklets and in the fullness of time as Sir Humphrey Appleby would say, I hope to review them. But since this process may take place over quite a few months I thought I would do an introductory post on the collection now. If anyone has read or watched these plays, then do let me know! It would be great to hear if anyone has a particular favourite.
The booklets are ones which actors and actresses would use to learn their lines, being mostly Samuel French editions, so my copies have additional interesting handwritten notes, such as the dates lines needed to be learnt by, what sort of clothes were needed for each act and extra stage directions. Moreover, in two of the scripts one part has had all the lines underlined. Each time it is for a female character, so I am wondering if this collection of plays belonged to someone’s elderly female relative, which they have now decided to sell on. It is moments like this which remind me why I prefer physical copies of texts over digital ones, as you just don’t get the same sense of history from an eBook.
Play No. 1: Tell Tale Murder – A Play by Philip Weathers
The Samuel French edition of the play was printed in 1956, but the play was first performed by Linnit and Dunfee Ltd at the Grand Theatre, Blackpool, on the 22nd December 1952. In my copy the original owner has underlined all the lines for the character Jane Mannion, so I suspect that was the part they were going to play.
Synopsis (From the 2019 Concord Theatrical Edition)
‘Since the disappearance of her husband seventeen years before, Jane Mannion has lived a life of seclusion on the Cornish coast with her children, David and Vanessa and a macabre old woman called Ellen. Suspected by local gossips of poisoning her husband (her mother was also a suspected poisoner) she shuns village society and extends a grudging welcome to her sons fiancée Maureen and her father. This last is a lawyer with a firm belief in hereditary, and he wants to make a through check of his future son-in-law’s family history. When a body is found in a disused mine shaft on the moors he discovers more than he has bargained for…’
Philip Weathers also wrote the scripts for The Proof of the Poison and Madam Tic-Tac. In addition, he directed quite a few plays too, particularly in the 1960s. The Illustrated London News reviewed this play on the 3rd January 1953, writing: ‘Come to Cornwall – and get away from it if you are lucky; they will probably bury you under the floor. A winding-sheet drama suitably wound by Freda Jackson and others.’ Freda Jackson was the original actress to take on the role of Jane Mannion.
Play No. 2: The Barton Mystery – A Play in Four Acts by Walter Hackett
I think my copy of the play is the Samuel French edition from 1930, although interestingly the play was first performed at the Savoy Theatre in London on the 22nd March 1916. It ran for 165 performances, but only ran for 20 in New York when it transferred there the following year. All four acts take place within a library. The play inspired three films of the same name, a silent British one in 1920, a further British one in 1932 and a French adaptation in 1949.
I couldn’t find a synopsis for the film, but I did find one for the 1920 film adaptation:
‘Beverly Barton attempts to blackmail Mrs. Standish with some scandalous letters and is murdered soon after in his apartment. Mrs. Standish’s brother-in-law to be, Harry Maitland, is suspected of shooting him, since he had gone to Barton’s apartment earlier to try to retrieve the incriminating letters. A psychic is called in to hold a seance in order to determine the real killer’s identity.’
This comes from the film’s Wikipedia page but be warned that the plot section of this page contains a big spoiler. I am not sure how closely the film follows the plot of the original play.
Play No. 3: Murder Mistaken – A Play in Two Acts by Janet Green
My copy was printed by Evans Plays, originally in 1953, but it was also reprinted in 1956 and 1963. According to this edition ‘after a short provincial tour, this play was produced at the Ambassador’s Theatre, London, on Tuesday, 4th November, 1952’. It went on to be performed at the Vaudeville Theatre in London. This is another play which only has one setting, which is a character’s sitting room, although the story takes place over several months. It was intended to run for 110 minutes. All the lines said by the character Freda Jefferies are underlined, so again I wonder if that was the character the original owner was playing.
Synopsis from (Concord Theatricals)
‘Murder is his business and generally speaking Edward Bare is a successful “businessman.” Married first to Monica, rich, doting and many years his senior, Edward waits amicably for her to die. It is not “poor Monnie’s fault” that he comes one day to the mistaken conclusion that she is about to make a will in favour of her sister, and decides that, his only course is to hasten her end. But Edward has misjudged the old woman for she meant to leave him everything. As it is, he finds himself with less than he had when she was alive. Edward is not daunted: He looks around for another rich fish to net, and finds the answer to this pressing necessity in the person of Freda Jefferies, wealthy widow of a hotel proprietor. Freda, who has always seen that her head ruled her heart, marries Edward, at the same time keeping a tight hold on her purse strings. This does not suit Edward and when Charlotte Young, another rich woman, arrives on the scene, he is all set to remove the one that irks him most. Charlotte appears easier game than the tough Freda, and Edward sets about staging the scene for an exciting last situation. Which lady will receive the brunt of his murdering tactics? Packed with suspense and thrills, the machinations of the killer’s mind are laid bare for the observation of the audience, and the twists are unexpected and spine-chilling.’
It was adapted for TV in 1956 by Michael Voysey and starred Margaret Lockwood as Freda. She had already played the role a year previously in a film called Cast a Dark Shadow. Dirk Bogarde played her murderous husband Edward in that earlier film and Margaret was nominated for Best British Actress at the BAFTAs.
Play No. 4: Grand National Night – A Play in Three Acts by Dorthy and Campbell Christie
Campbell Christie was the brother of Archie Christie, who many of you will know was the first the husband of Agatha Christie. Grand National Night was first performed in 1945. Wikipedia notes that the play ‘premiered at the New Theatre, Oxford before transferring to the Apollo Theatre in London’s West End where it ran for 268 performances between 12 June 1946 and 1 February 1947.’ The Samuel French edition of the script came out in 1947. All the action takes place in a character’s study. A film adaptation came out in 1953, which starred Beatrice Campbell, Moira Lister and Nigel Patrick.
Synopsis
The very pithy Wikipedia summary states that: ‘A racehorse owner quarrels and accidentally kills his wife on the evening of the Grand National.’
The Compton Players add further detail: ‘The play centres round the butler who, out of loyalty to his employer, conceals vital evidence from the police, and lies so successfully that even his employer does not realise the extent of his knowledge. The employer, who had struck his dipsomaniac wife during a violent quarrel and thought he had killed her, moves the body in her car to Liverpool by train. He swears to all concerned that he never left the house that night.’
Yet when the Chesterfield Players performed it in 1955, a Kentish reviewer commented that the other characters were overshadowed by Detective Inspector Ayling, played by Tony Hollands. So, the butler might not be so central, depending on how the play is performed.
Play No. 5: A Touch of Danger by Francis Durbridge
This is the most recent of the plays and my Samuel French edition states that the:
‘First produced at the Theatre Royal, Windsor, on 21st July 1987. Subsequently presented in London by Bill Kenwright at the Whitehall Theatre, London, on 12th September, 1988’.
The setting is a character’s living room in their London apartment and A Touch of Danger was Francis Durbridge’s 6th stage play. I have preferred Durbridge’s TV mysteries over his novels, which have not been such good experiences. I hope a play will be more akin to a TV script, as I think that is where Durbridge’s strengths lie. This play has been revived in recent years, which means there are reviews online. Steve O’Neill wrote one in 2023, and Steve Orme penned one in 2018.
Synopsis (from Concord Theatricals)
‘Max Telligan, a popular novelist, has returned to his London apartment from a business trip to Munich to find his evening newspaper containing a report of his violent death. He subsequently is greeted by a parade of mysterious visitors who seek a pocket sized calculator, threaten him with a poison tipped walking stick and display photographs of his wife in flagrante delicto. Max has, it seems, unwittingly become embroiled in the activities of an international terrorist group!’
BBC Radio described it as ‘another hit from the master of intrigue’ and the International Herald Tribune once wrote of Durbridge that: ‘No thriller writer outside of Agatha Christie and Edgar Wallace has ever had more West End hits…’
So, there we have it. Five mystery plays. Which one would you start with?