Witness for the Prosecution, Christie's Cult-Classic

London County Hall | Seen January 12, 2023

As I sat with my pen and paper on my first night in the London theatre, I found myself wanting to use them to decode and solve a murder rather than to scribble down my opinions of a play, as if I was in a game of Clue. This is the effect of Agatha Christie’s landmark classic, Witness for the Prosecution. Director Lucy Bailey’s courtroom staging of the play at London County Hall brings to life Christie’s murder mystery by creating a unique, immersive experience, complete with select members’ of the audience participating as the jury. 

Witness follows the trial of the charming, young Leonard Vole, who is being tried for the murder of his close friend, Mrs. Emily French. The audience is witness to the ins and outs of Leonard’s trial from the leading perspective of Vole’s defense, Sir Wilfrid Robarts. Along with Sir Wilfrid, the details of Leonard’s case, whether true or untrue, reveal themselves through the varying perspectives of Vole himself, Mrs. French’s housekeeper Janet Mackenzie, and most vitally of all, Leonard’s wife, Romaine Vole. Throughout the story, Christie leaves us hanging on to every word, desperate to discover: Is Vole guilty or not guilty? 

There’s no question that Christie is the queen of her craft; any mystery fan knows the essential influence she’s had on the genre and even on English literature as a whole. But what’s the role of Witness for the Prosecution and Christie’s works in the contemporary theatre? This is a different question. Today’s contemporary theatre has an itch for work they can consider “activism.” Our institutional need to remain “woke,” demands a certain level of empathy and political engagement from a piece and an audience that has drastically changed the scope of works in the London theatre scene since Christie’s work first premiered. 

The theatre industry is constantly faced with a binary categorization of its’ art: theatre for “entertainment” or theatre for “engagement.” As a young theatre maker myself, I can admit that my leaning towards theatre as political and social expression often lends me a certain disdain towards theatre purely for “entertainment.” I can further admit that this disdain brought me into Witness with a certain hesitation, again wondering, “Great, but what’s the role of this play in the theatre today?” But I can also admit that, larger socio-political message or not, I was enraptured by the play and production from beginning to end. 

Bailey’s balance of classic or traditional staging with moments of creative choreography in transitions and moments of significance left me engaged and visually satisfied, and the performances filled the massive space without ever feeling overly effortful. Notably, Dugald Bruce-Lockhart’s work as Sir Wilfred and that of his opponent, Justin Avoth as Mr Myers, left me hanging onto every word of their ping-pong match in the courtroom. 

Naomi Sheldon’s Romaine Vole enticed me from the moment she entered the space. Apart from occasionally distracting sound choices (likely heightened for those of us seated directly under a speaker), every directorial, design and performance choice felt consistent and alive in the space, bringing me entirely into the world with great ease. 

This production is decisively a success. I left the theatre satisfied, which is a feeling I suppose myself, and perhaps many, often take for granted. After almost three years of division and isolation, to sit in a nearly-full theatre with people of various different backgrounds and become united by one dramatic question proved to me the timeless purpose of Christie’s work and its role in the theatre even now.