Review: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Different Stages
by Michael Meigs
Dame Agatha's clever plots and striking characters remain alive and well in our imaginations today, nearly a century after she first put pen to paper. Her first novel, which features the dapper Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, was published in 1920. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) was the third Poirot novel, and she'd already put Hercule into retirement in an English village. This was the first of her novels to be adapted to the stage, in 1928.
Christie later took charge of presenting her mysteries on the stage, writing the scripts herself. One, The Mousetrap (1952), ran for seventy years in London and regularly pops up in community and regional theatres (CTXLT files show twelve productions in our area since 2009, four in 2025 alone, including in Boerne, Kerrville, and Brownsville. The Temple Civic Theatre production is running until December 7.) And let's not forget Austin Playhouse's production of Steven Dietz's second Christie knock-off Peril in the Alps, joyfully opening this weekend.
Point made, then: Christie's a clever plotter and ingenious puzzle maker. Different Stages' production of Mark Shanahan's adaptation of her Ackroyd mysterty respects the basic premise of the novel and Gabriel Maldonado embodies Hercule Poirot to a "t." He first appears in an improbable pith helmet, fresh from gardening, to make the acquaintance of his neighbor Dr. James Sheppard. Rick Felkins, the fine comic actor and song-and-dance man, quietly demonstrates his versatility as Sheppard, a thoughtful, somewhat morose village physician. Sheppard finds himself becoming the assistant to the dapper Poirot after wealthy Roger Ackroyd is stabbed to death in mysterious circumstances. Sheppard narrates the events for us, providing a frame as Poirot reluctantly accedes to coming out of retirement to investigate the case.
In the ominous background of the unfortunate village of King's Abbot are a recent sudden death and a probable suicide. The elaborately tooled dagger found planted in Roger Ackroyd's neck has escaped from a trophy case in his mansion's living room. FIngerprints? No luck; those on the murder weapon are eventually identified as Ackroyd's own. Ackroyd's family is anything but nuclear. His closest relatives are a sister-in-law and a niece, who are differently affected by his demise.
In any production of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, the audience will be comprised of a) the informed and b) the naïve, more so that with any of her other titles. The clever plot twists of Christie's 1926 work had such terrific impact on the literary scene that this "locked room" novel transformed the craft of detective fiction. In 2013 the 600-member Crime Writers Association cited it as "the finest example of the genre ever penned" and a cornerstone of crime fiction which "contains one of the most celebrated plot twists in crime writing history." The informed, aware of the eventual dénouement, will appreciate Christie's engimas and red herrings; the naïve will watch in fascination, trying to figure out whodunnit (almost certainly without success).
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There's a fine spread of characters, as is common in Christie's fiction. A cast of twelve, ranging from Haylee Meyers as the put-upon parlor maid and Stephen Fay as the exquisitely reserved Parker, the butler, to Zachary Gamble as the barking Major Hector Blunt and artful comediennes Bernadette Nason and Katherine Schroeder as, respectively, bachelor Dr. Sheppard's sister and the widow of Roger Ackroyd's brother. Shanahan's adaptation, first staged at the Alley Theatre in Houston in 2023, makes frequent use, effectively, of telephone conversation in which both speakers are visible in different parts of the stage. The old-fashioned instruments help throughly ground the action in the 1920's. A simple but insightful set by Charlie Boas and costumes by Ann Shelley Ford anchor the play in its time as well.
This is a faithful adaptation, building the mystery and tension without resorting to comic release. Norman Blumensaat's direction is traditional and effective; he appears for the brief pre-opening address to the audience, a familiar spirit with a wry sense of humor.
Poirot rapidly intuits that all of these characters are hiding something from him, and he becomes quite irascible about that. As is common in Christie's work, there's a police inspector who swiftly makes conclusions about the crime, the motivation, and the characters, all of which eventually Poirot proves to be erroneous (think Inspector Japp). Adam Martinez in that role does the bustling and bumbling, wrapped in a signature trench coat and retaining an improbable American accent.
Unlike other Poirot novels and teleplays (e.g., the lengthy BBC series starring David Suchet, streaming on Britbox), the culprit and the fiendish modus operandi are not exposed in a final-scene convocation of all the parties who might be guilty. An assembly of all concerned does occur, and it results in spilling a lot of secrets—just not that particular one. Poirot has, however, penetrated to the heart of the mystery. His revelation is reserved for us in the audience and Poirot's companion and assistant Dr. Sheppard. It's a delicious moment, charged with ethical obligation and resulting in a heart-tugging outcome.
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
by Agatha Christie, adapted by Mark Shanahan
Different Stages
November 14-December 6, 2025
The Vortex, 2307 Manor Rd, Austin, Tx 78722
