Agatha Christie’s most iconic story is heading to the Melbourne stage next year. Adapted by acclaimed playwright Ken Ludwig, Murder on the Orient Express will have its Australian debut at the Comedy Theatre in June ahead of a national tour.
First published in 1934, Christie’s thriller unfolds on the Orient Express, where a murder brings the past crashing into the present, and turns everyone on board the luxurious train into a suspect in this almost-perfect crime. In the 92 years since, the story has been reimagined for film, television, radio and even a board game, but it wasn’t until 2017 that it was adapted for the stage.
“It was a real privilege,” says Ludwig about being approached by the Christie Estate to write the adaptation. At that stage, there hadn’t been a new play of Christie’s work in decades, so “I just had to roll up my sleeves and read the book a few times”. The production also marked the first time Christie’s Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, had been depicted on stage in seven decades.
It’s a role that has been taken on by many actors and interpreted many different ways – one upcoming television series named Hercule, starring Edward Bluemel, will put the spotlight on the detective as a young man. For Ludwig, however, David Suchet’s performance – which began in 1989 and ended in 2013 – was a touchstone while he was writing.
“I kept to what I think is the more traditional Poirot, which is someone who’s been through this many times, has perspective on the world, and is able to see things with the kind of perspective that leads him to the solution – because those solutions almost always have to do with human nature,” he says. Ludwig has since revisited the character in 2024’s stage adaptation of Death on the Nile. “He’s very resourceful, and he’s full of nuance, and he’s full of shades of grey.”
It was also important to Ludwig to make the detective funny. “Comedies are not less than tragedy; they’re a different literary form, and they are just as important, and they tell us as much if not more about human existence,” he says.“[Poirot] gets tons of laughs in the play because mysteries and comedies are so much alike. Many cosy mysteries are essentially comedies – but they have a dead body in them.”
The production cuts down the original suspect pool from 12 to eight and, as in the book, the bulk of the action takes place on the train. “They’re best if they’re in that one pressure cooker of a place that is closed in – that’s when great laughs happen and also great tensions.”
It’s now been over 100 years since Christie’s first novel was published, and still they continue to be read in their original form and reimagined for stage and screen. What is it about her work that is so enduring?
“She writes great original stories, and they’re clever, and you don’t know who to suspect,” says Ludwig. “She’s just conquered it.” He also points to her characters – how real they feel, even if they only appear briefly or to be a red herring. “There’s always something to relate to in an Agatha Christie play. She makes it very accessible. She makes her worlds accessible.”
Murder On the Orient Express will be at the Comedy Theatre, Melbourne, from June 2027 ahead of a national tour.