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The Unexpected Guest (play)
Encyclopedia
The Unexpected Guest is a 1958 play
by crime writer Agatha Christie
.
The play opened in the West End
at the Duchess Theatre
on 12 August 1958 after a previous try-out at the Bristol Hippodrome
. It was directed by Hubert Gregg
.
The two decide to place the blame on an enemy from the past, MacGregor, a man whose son was run over by Richard while he was drunk. As the story progresses, the two fake the fact that they were just finding out about the murder, and others in the house were introduced. It is revealed Laura was having an affair due to Richard's cruel nature, and was vouching for the man she was cheating with when she claimed to have killed Richard. But there are other suspects as well - Warwick's mother, his simple half-brother, the sinister Angell or the apparently goody-goody Miss Bennett. The real murderer could be anyone!
ACT I
ACT II
..
reviewed the opening night in the issue of August 13, 1958 when he said, "The Unexpected Guest is standard Agatha Christie. It has nothing as ingenious or exciting as the court scene and double twist of Witness for the Prosecution
but it kept last night's audience at the Duchess Theatre in a state of stunned uncertainty; guessing wrongly to the last. There are one or two irritating factors: an outsize red herring in the shape of what, naturally, one may not disclose; also one of those corpse's mothers who say, in so many words, "Inspector, I have not many years to live…" and embark on enormities of tedious repetition."
Mr Hope-Wallace said that the corpse was, "impeccably played with, no doubt, full assistance of the Method
, by Philip Newman" and concluded, "I have known more tension and greater surprise from other of Mrs. Christie's classics but this is quite a decent specimen of her craft."
Laurence Kitchin of The Observer
reviewed the play in the issue of August 17, 1958 when he said. "The corpse cools unregarded in a wheel-chair while the widow and an intruder embark on a complicated exposition. Provided you can accept such unreality and the abysmal humour, there is an ingenious display of suspects, as if lids were being taken off wells of depravity and hastily put back."
The Guardian reported that The Queen
attended a performance of the play on the evening of February 16, 1959 with Lord
and Lady Mountbatten
. The cast were unaware that she was in the audience. It was also the night that Christopher Sandford fell ill part way through the performance and had to be replaced by his understudy after the interval.
Cast:
The play was first published in 1958 by Samuel French Ltd.
in a paperback edition priced at six shillings
. Like Black Coffee
(1998) and Spider's Web
(2000), the script of the play was turned into a novel by Charles Osborne
. It was published in the UK by HarperCollins
in 1999.
, produced and directed by B. R. Chopra and released in 1973, is based on this play.
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
by crime writer Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
.
The play opened in the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
at the Duchess Theatre
Duchess Theatre
The Duchess Theatre is a West End theatre in the City of Westminster, London, located in Catherine Street, near Aldwych.The theatre opened on 25 November 1929 and is one of the smallest 'proscenium arched' West End theatres. It has 479 seats on two levels....
on 12 August 1958 after a previous try-out at the Bristol Hippodrome
Bristol Hippodrome
The Bristol Hippodrome is a theatre in the centre of Bristol, England with seating on three levels giving a capacity of 1,951. It frequently features West End theatre shows when they tour the UK as well regular visits by Welsh National Opera, and an annual pantomime.- History :The theatre was...
. It was directed by Hubert Gregg
Hubert Gregg
Hubert Gregg was a BBC broadcaster, writer and stage actor. At the end of his life he was probably best known for the BBC Radio 2 'oldies' shows A Square Deal and Thanks For The Memory...
.
Plot summary
On a foggy night, Michael Starkwedder enters the home of the Warwicks through a window in the study. He finds the dead body of Richard Warwick, and finds Warwick's wife, Laura, holding a gun that supposedly killed him. Despite the murder being obvious, and overwhelming evidence pointing towards it, Starkwedder does not believe she killed him, and she soon tells him she's innocent.The two decide to place the blame on an enemy from the past, MacGregor, a man whose son was run over by Richard while he was drunk. As the story progresses, the two fake the fact that they were just finding out about the murder, and others in the house were introduced. It is revealed Laura was having an affair due to Richard's cruel nature, and was vouching for the man she was cheating with when she claimed to have killed Richard. But there are other suspects as well - Warwick's mother, his simple half-brother, the sinister Angell or the apparently goody-goody Miss Bennett. The real murderer could be anyone!
Synopsis of scenes
The action of the play takes place in Richard Warwick’s study in South Wales near the Bristol Channel.ACT I
- Scene 1 - An evening in November. About 11.30 pm
- Scene 2 - The following morning, About 11am
ACT II
- Late afternoon the same day
..
Reception
Philip Hope-Wallace of The GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
reviewed the opening night in the issue of August 13, 1958 when he said, "The Unexpected Guest is standard Agatha Christie. It has nothing as ingenious or exciting as the court scene and double twist of Witness for the Prosecution
Witness for the Prosecution (play)
Witness for the Prosecution is a play adapted by Agatha Christie based upon her short story titled "The Witness for the Prosecution". The play opened in London on October 28, 1953 at the Winter Garden Theatre...
but it kept last night's audience at the Duchess Theatre in a state of stunned uncertainty; guessing wrongly to the last. There are one or two irritating factors: an outsize red herring in the shape of what, naturally, one may not disclose; also one of those corpse's mothers who say, in so many words, "Inspector, I have not many years to live…" and embark on enormities of tedious repetition."
Mr Hope-Wallace said that the corpse was, "impeccably played with, no doubt, full assistance of the Method
Method acting
Method acting is a phrase that loosely refers to a family of techniques used by actors to create in themselves the thoughts and emotions of their characters, so as to develop lifelike performances...
, by Philip Newman" and concluded, "I have known more tension and greater surprise from other of Mrs. Christie's classics but this is quite a decent specimen of her craft."
Laurence Kitchin of The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
reviewed the play in the issue of August 17, 1958 when he said. "The corpse cools unregarded in a wheel-chair while the widow and an intruder embark on a complicated exposition. Provided you can accept such unreality and the abysmal humour, there is an ingenious display of suspects, as if lids were being taken off wells of depravity and hastily put back."
The Guardian reported that The Queen
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
attended a performance of the play on the evening of February 16, 1959 with Lord
Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas George Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, KG, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, DSO, PC, FRS , was a British statesman and naval officer, and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
and Lady Mountbatten
Edwina Mountbatten, Countess Mountbatten of Burma
Edwina Cynthia Annette Mountbatten, Countess Mountbatten of Burma,, GBE, DCVO, CI, DStJ was an English heiress, socialite, relief-worker, wife of Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, and last Vicereine of India.- Lineage and wealth :Edwina Mountbatten, Countess Mountbatten of Burma...
. The cast were unaware that she was in the audience. It was also the night that Christopher Sandford fell ill part way through the performance and had to be replaced by his understudy after the interval.
Credits of London production
Director: Hubert GreggCast:
- Philip Newman as Richard Warwick
- Renée AshersonRenee AshersonRenée Asherson , born Dorothy Renée Ascherson, is an English actress of stage, film and television.Much of Asherson's theatrical career was spent in Shakespearean plays, appearing at such venues as the Old Vic, the Liverpool Playhouse and the Westminster Theatre...
as Laura Warwick - Nigel Stock as Michael Starkwedder
- Winifred Oughton as Miss Bennett
- Christopher Sandford as Jan Warwick
- Violet FarebrotherViolet FarebrotherViolet Farebrother was an English film actress. She appeared in 25 films between 1911 and 1965, including three films directed by Alfred Hitchcock...
as Mrs Warwick - Paul Curran as Henry Angell
- Tenniel EvansTenniel Evans-Family:Walter Tenniel Evans was born in Nairobi, Kenya. His middle name derived from the illustrator Sir John Tenniel, a distant relation. His daughter, Serena Evans, is an actress, and his son, Matthew, is a television director....
as Sergeant Cadwallader - Michael GoldenMichael Golden (actor)-Selected filmography:* Send for Paul Temple * Hungry Hill * Pool of London * Salute the Toff * The Gentle Gunman * The Square Ring * Murder by Proxy * The Green Scarf...
as Inspector Thomas - Roy Purcell as Julian Farrar
Publication
Samuel French Ltd.
Samuel French Ltd is the UK sister company of Samuel French Inc., an American company, bearing the name of its co-founder Samuel French. The company publishes stage plays for the UK market, mostly acting editions, serves as licensing agent for performance rights, and runs the UK's leading...
in a paperback edition priced at six shillings
Shilling (United Kingdom)
The British shilling is an historic British coin from the eras of the Kingdom of Great Britain and the later United Kingdom; also adopted as a Scot denomination upon the 1707 Treaty of Union....
. Like Black Coffee
Black Coffee (book)
Black Coffee is a novelisation by the Australian-born writer and opera expert Charles Osborne of the 1930 play of the same name by crime fiction author Agatha Christie....
(1998) and Spider's Web
Spider's Web (book)
Spider's Web is a novelization by Charles Osborne of the 1954 play of the same name by crime fiction writer Agatha Christie and was first published in the UK by HarperCollins in September 2000 and on November 11, 2000 in the US by St...
(2000), the script of the play was turned into a novel by Charles Osborne
Charles Osborne (music writer)
Charles Thomas Osborne, born 24 November 1927 in Brisbane, Australia, is a journalist, critic, poet and novelist, and a recognised authority on opera. He was assistant editor of The London Magazine from 1958 until 1966, literature director of the Arts Council of Great Britain from 1971 until 1986,...
. It was published in the UK by HarperCollins
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
in 1999.
Adaptations
A Hindi film DhundDhund
Dhund may refer to:*Dhond Abbasi, a tribe of northern Pakistan.*Dhund - a 1973 Indian film*Dhund - a 2003 Indian film...
, produced and directed by B. R. Chopra and released in 1973, is based on this play.