Theater Review: The Hollow

by Mark-Brian Sonna of MBS Productions

Let me first clarify that the play The Hollow by Agatha Christie will not go down as one of my favorites of her, and it isn’t necessarily because of this production. I happen to love her work but this isn’t one of my favorites of hers. Critics universally lauded this play when it was first premiered, and I know I am in the minority. So what are the problems that I see? The script is long, and while Christie’s magical formula of presenting characters, the eventual victim, the murder, the resolutions of whodunit which always surprises and is what has made her famous and beloved, in this play it seems all a bit formulaic. What it lacks is her trademark detective, which in the original novel (which this play was based on) is Poirot. The play itself was successful in 1951 through it would be overshadowed a year later by Mousetrap which has had a continuous run in London since 1952. As time has passed The Hollow has been re-evaluated by critics and now are divided as to the merits of this play.

So what’s it about? Well, if I told much it would ruin the surprise for those who wish to see it. Suffice to say there is a philandering husband and various people – mostly women - wouldn’t mind seeing him dead. The end twist of this play is very clever, but after 3 hours and 5 minutes of sitting in the theatre I didn’t care much.

I do have to commend the director Rachael Lindley’s take on the show. The play has been re-set in Vicksburg, Mississippi instead of the outside of London and it works remarkably well. The only draw back to this is that the actors in the process of giving us very convincing Vicksburg/Southern regional accents fell into the trap of the accent. What do I mean? Frequently speech in this region of the south is labeled a “lazy” accent because people sound as if they are speaking slowly. This isn’t truly the case, but this cast, while not speaking slowly, played the scenes in this manner. One thing is to build tension with silences and a slower pacing, but the risk is the play falls into plodding and lacking of energy and momentum, which is what happened here. I desperately wanted to scream out “pick up the pace!”

A caveat: this opinion about the slowness of the play wasn’t shared by others in the audience. During the two intermissions some commented about the slow pacing but other people found the play fascinating and were on the edge of their seats. The woman sitting next to me was on pins and needles, and had no complaints of the play, and she is a very seasoned theatre attendee. She also happened to be a lover of this play having confessed to seeing it 4 times and she seemed to be thoroughly enjoying herself. What she and I both agreed on was that the staging for this play really was done proscenium even though the stage is a thrust stage – we were sitting at the side and during the first intermission we moved to the front.

The large cast was overall very good and I must single out five people in particular: Morgan Spollin captured Midge Harvey beautifully. She so inhabited her character that I knew she was in love with Edward Angkatell, played truthfully and honestly by Andrew Kasten. It was a pleasure to see Mr. Kasten give such a solid performance in which subtlety was key. Detective Colquhoun played by David Kelton was convincing in every sense of the word. Elaine Erback had fun with her demented character Lucy, and the audience had fun with her. As the servant Gudgeon, Chuck Moore stole the show.

As expected, Richardson Theatre Centre’s production values shined. The costuming, the sets, the props all were exacting and delightful.

In truth it wasn’t a bad production, but it wasn’t great. Perhaps had the pace and the timing been picked up I would’ve liked it more and tedium wouldn’t have set in, but then again, this play is not one that I am particularly fond of; which is my bias.

The bottom line is: If you like The Hollow or are a big fan of Agatha Christie’s plays, you will find this production solidly staged and acted.

The show runs through October 4 and tickets can be ordered by calling 972-699-1130.

• Staff
• Verified User
• Anonymous