Preview
CHIMNEYS
Vertigo Mystery Theatre
Starring David McNally, Stephanie McNamara, Peter Skagen, Brian Gromoff, Len Harvey and Hal Kerbes
Written by Agatha Christie
Directed by John Paul Fischbach
Runs until November 9
Tower Centre
Twenty-seven years after Agatha Christie’s death, the second play she ever wrote, Chimneys, is being performed by Calgary’s Vertigo Mystery Theatre for what may well be the first time ever. Anywhere.
Christie, known to murder-mystery fans as the Queen of Crime, is the creator of two of the world’s most famous fictional sleuths, Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, and the author of 79 novels and 19 plays. Her books have sold an incredible two billion copies in 44 languages – one billion in English alone. And her play The Mousetrap, onstage in London since 1952, holds the record as the world’s longest-running theatre production.
But it’s likely that no one in the world has seen a performance of her play Chimneys – and certainly not in the last 70 years. It is apparently an adaptation of her early novel The Secret of Chimneys, published in 1925, and was intended for a production in London in 1931 that never took place.
There is no mention of the play in the various Christie reference works and even the folks at Agatha Christie Ltd., the company that administers the rights to her estate, didn’t have a copy of it.
But John Paul Fischbach, artistic director of Vertigo Mystery Theatre, did. The story of how the small but feisty Calgary company scored such a coup is almost as mysterious and intriguing as the author’s works themselves.
"It all began when we were told to move out of the Pleiades Theatre," says Fischbach. "I had to find the perfect play to open our first season in our new space." Vertigo, formerly Pleaides, got its start staging Christie’s plays in the 1980s and traditionally still produces one of her works every year. In the hopes of producing something new by the author for the special occasion, Fischbach contacted Agatha Christie Ltd. in London two years ago – but it was in his own office in Calgary that he accidentally unearthed the gem he was looking for. Among the theatre’s trove of old scripts was a photocopy of Chimneys, a three-act play by Agatha Christie.
"I receive unsolicited scripts all the time. I got this one back in 1995 and just put it with the rest and never thought about it again," says Fischbach, "When I spoke with Lucy Oliver at Agatha Christie Ltd. about Chimneys, she told me that they had heard of the existence of the play, but did not have a copy of it or any solid evidence of it ever being produced. To this day, I still do not know who sent me the copy of the script."
Fischbach had his play, but in order to establish that it was truly a Christie work, he had to investigate further. In order to collect copyright information, he scoured the archives and libraries in London for any hint of a production, going back 75 years. No evidence could be found.
That is, until late in the summer of 2002, when his sleuthing finally uncovered a receipt from Christie’s agent written to one Alec Ray for the sum of 1,000 pounds on April 30, 1931 for the rights to perform Chimneys at the Embassy Theatre. After more searching and digging, a program was also found with one mention of the play: "Chimneys by Agatha Christie, to be performed November 10, 1931." But the production never happened. By piecing together information from the Lord Chamberlain’s Office, which until the late 1960s registered playwrights’ works and approved their performances in London, Fischbach discovered that the Embassy was unable to mount Chimneys before the rights expired and the theatre company folded shortly afterwards, in February 1932. After that, the play was simply forgotten.
However, the novel The Secret of Chimneys remains well-known to Agatha Christie addicts. A tale of international intrigue set in a stately English mansion, it introduces one of her favourite characters, Supt. Battle, who appears in several of her novels and plays. Chimneys marks the first appearance of the stoic Battle in Christie’s dramatic canon. Actor Peter Skagen has the honour of playing the detective in Vertigo’s landmark production.
"It’s not something you can really get a grip on until after it happens," says Skagen. "I’m extremely grateful and I feel a particular responsibility to get this role down."
Skagen’s co-stars in the show are David McNally and Stephanie McNamara, who play the romantic leads, Anthony Cade and Virginia Revel. They head a cast of 13 actors – and one dog. Fischbach is the director.
Vertigo’s rediscovery and staging of Chimneys has excited international media attention, from The New York Times to the BBC and even as far away as Pakistan. Mathew Prichard, Agatha Christie’s only grandchild, is attending the Thursday, October 16 gala première in Vertigo’s new theatre at the base of the Calgary Tower.
Meanwhile, an air of mystery still swirls around the play. Considering the enormous popularity of the author, why was the play never found and performed before now? And who sent that photocopy of the script to Fischbach?
Somewhere, the doyenne of mystery writers must be smiling. |
Copyright ©2003 FFWD. All rights reserved.