Fine Direction Makes Tale Christie Clear

LONG BEACH — Agatha Christie created puzzles, then turned them into novels and plays. Maybe that’s why mystery fans are still avid Christie supporters. The twists and turns in her work remain fascinating.

That fact is most obvious in her classic “Ten Little Indians,” now on Long Beach Playhouse’s Mainstage. Ten people have been invited by a certain U.N. Owen (get it? Unknown) to Indian Island off England’s Devon Coast. No sooner are they there than a mysterious recording is played accusing each of murder and sentencing each to death.

In swift Christie fashion, like the 10 Indian figurines on the mantel, the guests one by one are killed. It all follows the old child’s nursery rhyme that begins “Ten little Indian boys went out to dine; one choked his little self, and then there were nine” and so on.

Making all this work, like any piece of Christie, takes some style, and director Hugh Harrison imbues his staging not only with some interesting touches of period style, but keeps his tempos bright and crisp in an equally stylish manner. Steven Jay Warner’s properly spacious pseudo-Art Deco setting and Donna Fritsche’s slinky 1930s costumes help. The company seems at home living in the space, and generally looks as though the clothes are their regular garb.

In a production requiring a sense of ensemble playing, there are variations of acting that sometimes distract from the puzzle at hand. In the beginning, after the recording is played, everyone on stage is suspect. Those actors who tend to look suspicious aren’t playing fair.

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In this cast, that fault lies with Mary Tuck, as religious zealot Emily Brent, and with Bob Bancroft’s jittery Dr. Armstrong. Tuck makes mockery of Brent’s Bible-beating with her pursed, bee-stung lips and rolling Norma Desmond eyes, looking very much like the silent screen’s most dangerous vamp.

Bancroft mistakes jittery for impossibly exaggerated kinetic physical shtick. In the smaller role of the boatman who leaves them on the island, Warren T. Harker looks as though he’s on “Treasure Island” instead of Indian Island.

The middle-of-the-roaders, who play it absolutely straight and by the book, fit very well into Christie’s tight weblike structure. They are Geraldine D. Fuentes’ housekeeper-cook, Ric Watson’s glib soldier of fortune, Glenn Richards’ brash playboy, and Hal Edwards’ complaisant jurist.

The real Christie flavor, though, comes from a quartet of performances that are very real, are informed with intelligent and insightful detail and are individual enough to make yet another viewing of this play still seem like a puzzle.

Denis Keen’s stern butler, who slowly breaks down into a useless muddle as the action progresses, is beguiling. Trisha Melynkov’s Bright Young Thing of a secretary has a period sauciness that balances her solid inner core.

Paul Teschke’s distracted, aging Col. Blimp-type settles touchingly into a state of utter helplessness climaxed by his heartbreaking confession of his earlier crime, and Bob Kokol’s roughhewn private detective is a marvelous example of that British stalwart, the know-it-all whose heart beats honestly beneath his over-puffed chest.

* “Ten Little Indians,” Long Beach Playhouse Mainstage, 5021 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. Ends Feb. 15. $10-$15. (310) 494-1616. Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes.

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“Ten Little Indians,”

Denis Keen: Rogers

Geraldine D. Fuentes: Mrs. Rogers

Warren T. Harker: Fred Narracott

Trisha Melynkov: Vera Claythorne

Ric Watson: Philip Lombard

Glenn Richards: Anthony Marston

Bob Kokol; William Blore

Paul Teschke: Gen. MacKenzie

Mary Tuck: Emily Brent

Hal Edwards: Sir Lawrence Wargrave

Bob Bancroft: Dr. Armstrong

A Long Beach Playhouse production of Agatha Christie’s classic thriller. Directed by Hugh Harrison. Scenic design: Steven Jay Warner. Lighting design: Michelle Evans. Costume design: Donna Fritsche. Stage manager: Chris Barton.