News that Wild Goose Theatre is bringing Agatha Christie’s little known murder mystery Black Coffee to OFS from March 10 is already creating quite the stir and selling out fast!
Not only is Hercule Poirot back on the case, but Black Coffee‘s complex plot has as many twists and turns, false leads and bloodshed as we would expect from the doyenne of whodunnits.
Why Black Coffee is so little known remains as much of a mystery as the famous author’s works, but Wild Goose has seized on the opportunity to revive Agatha Christie’s first play for Oxford audiences, with the utmost reverence and zeal.
‘when you have the likes of Hercule Poirot, Captain Hastings and inspector Japp to portray, you have to nail it because they are such iconic characters’
A departure indeed for the local theatre company best known for their Shakespearean productions, but an exciting one nonetheless: “Agatha Christie is a new direction for us, but we can ensure that we will bring the same quality and energy to it as people are accustomed to with Wild Goose,” director Billy Morton says.
Black Coffee is set in a big country house where Sir Claude Amery lives, a renowned scientist creating a formula for the atom bomb, a valid threat as the play is set in the 1930s before the atom bomb was invented – so a big concern at the time. But just as Sir Charles completes the formula he discovers it has been stolen by someone within his household.
He hires Hercule Poirot to help solve the theft and while Hercule is there Sir Charles is murdered. While Hercule can’t save Sir Charles, he can turn his detective skills to solving the murder and putting the killer behind bars.
Thrilling stuff then? “Absolutely. There has never been a TV adaption of this story so most people won’t have come across it or know whodunnit, which makes it all the more gripping. And the ending is so exciting!” Billy promises.
So how did Wild Goose come across it? “I saw Black Coffee on tour at the Oxford Playhouse in 2014 and loved it. It’s a really fun and enjoyable show.
“So even though I was shocked that Black Coffee hadn’t been staged more, it provided a great opportunity for us to take it on. Plus it’s the 50th anniversary of Agatha Christie’s death this year so there is been lots of publicity around that to celebrate her life and work. It just seemed like the perfect time.
‘you can tell Agatha christie really relished writing it because it’s as dense, dramatic and well plotted as you would expect’
“You can tell she really relished writing it because it’s as dense, dramatic and well plotted as you would expect, which works so well on stage, but the best bit is the the murder which takes place on stage in front of the audience,” he adds.
So what can we expect? “There are lots of big characters and the cast is relishing taking them on. But when you have the likes of Hercule Poirot, Captain Hastings and inspector Japp to portray, you have to nail it because they are such iconic characters,” Billy says.
“And we have a superb cast of 12 because we want the country house to be full and busy. Luckily the OFS is a really intimate theatre, so the audience will be almost in the round, trying to solve every clue along and following every twist and turn. So they go on same journey as Hercule Poirot!
“So it’s really thrilling to be staging Black Coffee and certainly grabs the attention. We expect lots of laughs and gasps. Either way, it’ll be a great night’s entertainment.”
Which is presumably why tickets are already selling fast, with Friday and Saturday SOLD OUT, so don’t miss out.
Black Coffee runs at OFS from March 10-14. Book here https://oldfirestation.org.uk/whats-on/agatha-christies-black-coffee/
