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The Argosy Players in: The Unexpected Guest by Agatha Christie
Staged: 08-10 December
1966 at Crane Theatre Hanover Street Liverpool
Agatha Christie’s “The Unexpected Guest” provides the
usual rollercoaster of false leads, intrigue and mystery, and it is clear
that the Argosy Players are very happy to give this particular production a
whirl, and stamp it with their own brand of experience in the world of
amateur dramatics. In addition to Martins Bank Magazine’s usual review, we
also have an extract from the Liverpool Echo’s “with the amateurs” column, in
which their critic gives his verdict of the acting and interpretation of the
material. We must add a warning at this point, that some of the language used
around physical and mental health issues is very much of its time, and must
be taken in that context. Even so, it is startling and extremely depressing
to think that the word “retarded” which is used below both by Martins Bank
Magazine AND
the Liverpool Echo the best part of sixty years ago, is still used widely in
the USA today…
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John
Milne, Keith Fearne, Marshall Hesketh, Rose Firmin, Maud Melville, Hilary
Gray
 A dramatic
opening scene set on a foggy November night aroused an immediate response
in the audience at the Argosy Players’ presentation of The Unexpected
Guest: they had battled against gale force winds, hail and sleet on
December 8 to take their places in the Crane Theatre. Liverpool. The
discovery of the body—Keith Fearne, presenting only his back and
blood-stained cheek to the audience—occurred very shortly after the
beginning of the first act and. While he remained remarkably dead, from
that point the spectators were swept along on an intriguing hunt for the
killer.
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With many red herrings, typical of Agatha Christie's
plots, the problem was solved with a most unexpected twist just when everything
appeared to have to have been sorted out satisfactorily for the third time.
Marshall Hesketh dominated the play as the amateur detective whose entry
precipitated the action. His opening scene with Hilary Gray as the demure
wife so recently widowed provided a convincing setting—apart from the
pistol which failed to go off at the appropriate moment. Such things are
sent to try amateur dramatists and they covered up nobly. Keith Naylor, who
was also the extremely able director, gave a smooth performance as an
unpleasant would-be blackmailer and John Milne was most effective as the
retarded boy in a difficult part which he managed without overacting. The
entry of the police in the second scene introduced Brian Shaw and Alan
Spring, the latter adopting a convincing Welsh accent maintained to the end
in spite of a severely wounded arm and much loss of blood. Maud Melville
gave her usual polished performance as (he mother of the deceased, managing
to make us believe that she was capable of murdering her own son from the
best of motives, her facial expressions being in tune with the part and her
acting sustained even when attention was not on herself. The big scene for
Rose Firmin, the nurse, came in the second act when, though threatened with
a loaded gun.
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Alan
Spring and Brian Shaw
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Keith
Naylor, Maud Melville, Philip Brayshaw
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She extracted an admission of guilt from the mentally
unstable boy and made the most of the opportunity to keep us on the edge of
our scats as we anticipated a big bang. Surely it would go off this time!
But it didn't have to. thanks to Agatha. The last entrant on the stage was
Philip Brayshaw as the wife’s boy-friend, something of a stuffed shirt
politician and invitingly suspect, but we were not treated to any X
certificate love scenes, which made a change from the fare served up on
television. Upon reflection the dialogue was inclined to be stilted in the
exchanges between Laura and her lover but, carried along by the action and
the acting, the audience throughout displayed no signs of restiveness and
there were none of the shufflings or seasonal coughs which so often
distract attention.
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An
unusually well-trained audience or a particularly gripping performance? We
plump for the latter.
The Argosy Players production of
The Unexpected Guest draws the attention of the liverpool echo’s hughie
ross, whose “with the amateurs” column examines the performances of
merseyside’s amateur operatic and dramatic societies. It would seem that
our Players are onto a winner here, as Hughie pours praise onto the actors
and their ability to make strong character studies…
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Christie Thriller
THE ARGOSY PLAYERS (of Martins Bank) presented quite an impressive
production of Agatha Christie’s who-dun-it, “The Unexpected Guest” at Crane
Theatre. It is not the most convincing of this Author’s thrillers because
after building up her usual shoal of red herrings, the catch at the end is
rather thin. However it contains
opportunities for strong character studies and here the Argosy group shone.
Marshall Hesketh as the unexpected guest commanded the situation from the
opening when he found Hilary M Gray holding the gun with which she admitted
killing her husband, who is confined to a wheel-chair. He started to lay a
false trail and both players were convincing and confident. A great deal of
the build up of tension depends on the portrayal of a mentally retarded
youth, who is the obvious suspect, and john G Milne played this difficult
role without ever over-doing it. He
achieved sympathy and never laughter, as is all too often the case in this
type of role. Other good performances came from rose Firmin, Maud Melville,
Brian Shaw, Philip Brayshaw and Alan Spring. Producer Keith Naylor had good
control of movement within the single setting.
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