I enjoyed the 1957 Billy Wilder movie adaptation of Witness for the Prosecution, and last Saturday night I had the opportunity to see Agatha Christie’s original stage play at the Grand. While not quite as witty as Wilder and co’s script, Christie’s courtroom drama is absolutely riveting. Originally produced 4 years earlier than the movie version, Witness for the Prosecution is still as compelling today as it must have been then. With it being set in only two locations, a barristers chambers and a courtroom, the play could quite easily be set today – it’s pretty hard to date suits and be-wigged lawyers – but for the rather old-fashioned views of marital relations and the Cold War back story.
The plot sees Sir Wilfred Robarts, QC, defending his client Leonard Vole from prosecution in the murder of Emily French. He his helped and hindered in this by Vole’s German ‘wife’, Romaine, and the action is confined to Robart’s chambers when he takes Vole on as a client, and at the murder trial 6 weeks later. The excellent use of a realistic looking courtroom set means that this is an extremely wordy play, by which I mean that the death of Emily French and events surrounding it are all detailed through expositionary speeches from several characters.
You would think it might be difficult to sustain interest and suspense in a static courtroom set, where the characters can not wander about, and are pretty confined to the witness stand, the public gallery, etc, but the too and fro of the script, and the uniformly spot on cast meant that my attention was rapt throughout. Even though I had seen the movie, I couldn’t remember exactly how it turned out, which helped me sustain my interest to the end. I’d forgotten how the twists pile up by the end. When the jury comes back to deliver their verdict you could have heard a pin drop in the theatre, such was the power of the drama. Another great night out!
No comments:
Post a Comment