Go Back for Murder

Agatha Christie wrote more than a dozen plays as well as the novels that made her name, and this is one — written in 1960, an adaptation of her story Five Little Pigs with Hercule Poirot removed from the story.

It’s a murder mystery with an unusual twist, the action moving from past to present and illuminating the danger of relying on personal testimony warped by time, prejudice and perception. Carla Crale’s mother died in prison, serving a sentence for her father’s murder. A posthumous letter from her convinces Carla that her mother was wrongfully convicted: with the help of family solicitor Justin Fogg, Carla persuades all those who were present on the day of her father’s death to return to the scene of the crime and ‘go back’ 15 years to recount their version of events. By studying each suspect’s testimony and the various inconsistencies between them, the drama arrives at a disturbing and terrible truth …

Lovely stuff. The reliable Sarah Potter directs.

There are further performances on 21 and 22 September.