New adaptation of Agatha Christie’s The Mirror Crack’d ‘may take some people by surprise’
With the success of the Knives Out films and Kenneth Branagh's reimagining of Poirot, it seems the murder mystery genre is enjoying something of a revival at present.
Rather a good time, then, for Agatha Christie's The Mirror Crack'd to be making its way to the Cambridge Arts Theatre.
Beginning its run last September, this enticing whodunit from Original Theatre, starring Susie Blake, Sophie Ward and Joe McFadden, kicks off its 2023 tour in Cambridge. Blake stars as Miss Marple and joining her in this acclaimed adaptation by Rachel Wagstaff is Sophie Ward, whose credits include A Very British Scandal, Holby City, Land Girls, and Peak Practice.
Sophie says: “It’s one of her later books, set in the 60s and Miss Marple is a little older and things are changing, society’s changing a little bit, the village is changing... and into the village comes an American movie star - that’s me - and my husband who have moved to the UK to restart my career and make a new film. But as you can imagine, things go awry.”
The experienced actress believes that “we all like the puzzle element” when it comes to murder mysteries.
“There are different kinds, aren’t there?‘ she notes. “There’s harder-hitting ones and then there's the more gentle ones - and this particular piece has gone quite deeply into the characters themselves.
“It's not just, ‘Oh someone’s been murdered, let’s find out who it is’, it’s actually somebody that you find out a lot about, and you care about, and I think that adds something to the enjoyment of the piece, that you actually find out who the people are. It’s quite emotional - they’re not vicious murders that you see in visceral detail, but they are something that you care about.”
Sophie adds: “It's not Happy Valley! It’s funnier than that, there are a lot of good jokes in it. It’s very entertaining so I think obviously fans of murder mysteries and Agatha Christie and Miss Marple will enjoy it. It also has taken other people who that’s not their favourite genre by surprise, I think, because it’s also funny.”
This is the first time that Sophie has worked with both Susie and Joe, although she ‘nearly’ worked with Joe previously. “We were both on Heartbeat but we missed each other by about a year, I think," she observes, "which now I've got to know him a bit is a great shame because he's really good fun to work with - as well as being very talented.
“And Susie I hadn’t worked with before, but we were on tour for quite a bit last year and we all get on very well, which is lucky.”
Sophie says the tour has been well received so far: “I feel very strongly about the piece and I really like it, but I was surprised at how popular it was. I think that's partly to do with the piece itself - it’s a great adaptation by Rachel Wagstaff - but also people coming back to the theatre after the last few years and feeling that they want to see something that they can just put the world aside for a bit. It’s suitable for a family as well so I think it ticks a lot of boxes and it's sold really well.”
On the current popularity of murder mysteries, Sophie, who is also a published author (she’s on a deadline for her third novel as we speak), says: “It’s hard to beat them really, because you get to use your mind a bit and you get a cracking yarn to watch.”
The Mirror Crack’d is on at the Cambridge Arts Theatre from Tuesday, January 31, to Saturday, February 4. Tickets, priced £20-£40, are available from cambridgeartstheatre.com.
