Towards Zero, directed by Wendy Resch Novak is a mystery play by Agatha Christie. It runs at Theatre in the Round in downtown, Minneapolis through December 15th.
If you have ever found yourself curling up with a great Agatha Christie novel, you might like how Novak recreates this mystery. Theatre in the Round provides Novak with a perfect setting. She uses the rising rows of seats to create a cliff complete with a platform and scenery rocks from which the actors descend a set of stairs to look center stage into the lives of characters who may be accessories to a murder. In my experience, it's best not to sit in areas with isolated chairs as you’ll be positioned behind a pole and your head will be moving like a ping pong match for the whole play.
It’s easy to understand why each character was chosen for their part. The astute inspector (David Coral) was perfect for his role as he came off as both serious and funny. In fact, there was a moment where he had an exchange with Dr. Wilson (James Degner) and they recreated the murder scene and the inspector laid down and pretended to be Lady Tressilian. He imitated her feminine voice and made like he was pulling a blanket to his chin. The complete change of character was hilarious. It would have been nice if his character was around for the first half of the play. Neville Strange's (Ben Habel) character was also impeccable. He was both intelligent and domineering and made for an excellent shyster. It's unforgettable how he was yanked off stage, screaming and hollering. It was also hard not to laugh when a hard-of-hearing individual in the audience exclaimed, “I know who did it!”
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| David Coral, photo by Bob Suh |
In this play, I was a detective and details were hard to overlook. The first half of the play was spent introducing Lady Tressilian, her ward Neville Strange, along with first and second wives, Kay and Audrey Strange. I was thankful when the play picked up momentum and changed from day to night. Lanterns were used to illuminate the stage as Audrey Strange sat in an evening dress, her shawl wrapped around her gazing contemplatively. Audrey's looks were reminiscent of Debi Mazar's role in Beethoven's 2nd. Her slicked back hair and razor-sharp eyes made her seem like a clever person capable of orchestrating murder. But is she the murderer?
Come and find out. Towards Zero Runs thru December 15th tickets at http://www.theatreintheround.org/new-homepage/tickets/zero-reservation/
This show runs approximately 2-3/4 hours, including one intermission.
Nice post thhanks for sharing
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