Death on the Nile – Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham

It’s mysterious that when Agatha Christie decided to adapt her novel “Death on the Nile” for stage she was so tired of Hercule Poirot, who, of course, so ably solved the murder in the book, she cut him out. “Death on the Nile” without Hercules Parrot as Maggie Smith misnames him in the movie? Yes, she re-wrote the novel as “Murder on the Nile” and instead of a Belgian she substituted an Archdeacon. Clear? I won’t muddy the waters of the Egyptian river by also mentioning the book started as a play titled “Moon on the Nile” before Agatha adapted it into a book with Poirot which then became a play without him which then became a film with him and is now, in the safe hands of Ken Ludwig, a play with him once again. A tortuous trail of disappearances and re-appearances to test the greatest of little grey cells.

Ken Ludwig already has an illustrious litany of stage plays to his pen including “Lend Me a Tenor”, “Crazy for You” and “Moon Over Buffalo” but how will he handle a tale from the world’s best-selling author whose tales are notoriously difficult to wrangle into a two-hour slot. With great style, aplomb and wit is the answer…

But here’s the problem. Murder mystery books deploy their clues in a succession of nuggets each given more or less the same narrative value and emotional weight. All well and good when reading a chapter a night, but during the two hours traffic of a stage play such regularly and similarly become relentless and repetitive or, at least, would be were they not in the very capable hands of Ken Ludwig and Lucy Bailey who scatter the play with nuggets of humour and surprise and intrigue which keep even the most hard-hearted Christie fan glued to their seat. The staging is exquisite with each scene deftly woven into the next, the narrative clearly and cleanly delivered, and characters perfectly defined with stand-out performances from Libby Alexandra-Cooper as Linnet Ridge and Esme Hough as Jacqueline de Bellefort. Indeed, every performer transforms their murder mystery cypher into fully rounded characters embellishing and enhancing the play with precision. Though each may easily have fallen into caricature here they are rendered as intriguing and endearing humans.

Mark Hadfield gloriously inhabits the role of Poirot and casting away memories of the finickerity and schoolmarmish performance from David Suchet and carving out a new and vibrant interpretation in this solid, evening of entertainment from the combined pens of Christie and Ludwig. Let’s hope the writing partnership continue to bring us more delights.

Reviewer: Peter Kinnock

Reviewed: 7th April 2026

North West End UK Rating: