Curtain Up (76 page)

Verdict was not a success in London – but I am
very
glad
it came on – I've had to put up with several plays and films that I
hate
to have been associated with my name. I hated Murder At the Vicarage and a Miss Marple of twenty odd – and several other of the ‘adapted' plays from my books. It was because I hated them so much that I determined to adapt the Hollow myself . . . you did your utmost to persuade me not to! . . . If you'd succeeded in making me stick to books – there would probably have been no Mousetrap – no Witness for the Prosecution – no Spider's Web.

I could have stopped any more adaptation of my books – but I should not have been a playwright and should have missed a lot of fun!

[She goes on to say how she had her arm twisted with
Rule of Three
and Gerald Verner's
Towards Zero
, to explain how Bertie Meyer had a hit with the original production of
Ten Little Niggers
when C.B. Cochrane had turned it down and that she was pleased she had persuaded Peter Saunders to put on
Verdict
. . .]

I have
not
in any way urged him to put on Fiddlers in London. He doesn't like it, is quite probably right and I shouldn't want him to do anything of the kind . . . All theatrical things are a pure gamble. If there's no London production I'll be quite glad for your sake!

But I wrote the play (some years ago now), have always liked it – and I shan't mind unduly if it is a flop – whatever I write in the play line would get nasty notices – chiefly because of The Mousetrap which is much resented by all the younger journalists.

I know you have my best interests at heart – as AP did when she implored me not to marry Max (apparently for religious reasons?) and even refused to come to the wedding. I'm thankful I didn't listen to her! Forty years of happiness I should have missed.

If one doesn't take a few risks in life one might as well be dead.

A lot of love to you,

Nima
¹³⁸

We seem to be entering
A Daughter's a Daughter
territory here, with Rosalind apparently advocating that her mother should abandon a course of action that will bring her happiness.

On 2 August Cork, ever the diplomat, stepped in to avert what appeared to be developing into a family crisis. He wrote to Agatha ostensibly agreeing with her that the play deserved a West End life. ‘How many plays are there in London at the moment to which one could take the whole family?' he asked, knowing that this would be music to her ears. ‘My attitude about this has always been that what you want goes.'
¹³⁹
However, he continued, ‘we must face the fact that we will get a hostile press – maybe any new play of yours would at this time . . . but people who have seen it have enjoyed it, and there is a lot of evidence that it is good entertainment. And this despite the fact that the production is far below West End standard. Star casting and first class directing would bring out all sorts of potentialities that have yet to be realised . . .'

Cork sent a copy of his letter to Rosalind, with a covering note saying, ‘In fifty years of dealing with authors I have become very chary of stopping production of works against a writer's wishes. Occasionally it has to be done if faculties fail, but I do assure you it is a most dangerous thing to do!' As he did not insist that production of the piece should be stopped, we must assume that he at least did not believe that in Agatha's case faculties were failing.

Perhaps as a result of Cork's wonderfully artful letter, which expresses full support to Agatha whilst cleverly sewing the seeds of doubt, there appears to have been a compromise between her and her advisors. On 24 September 1971 a West End licence was issued to producer James Verner (no relation of Gerald),
¹⁴⁰
who had been responsible for the London production of
Hair
and who had himself directed a tour of
Murder at the Vicarage
for young impresario Cameron Mackintosh in 1969, at a time when Mackintosh had also been touring
Black Coffee
and
Love from a Stranger
. But a plan was put in place to revise the script of
Fiddlers Five
and create a new production of it before the play was presented in the West End.

The new director was to be Allan Davis who, having opened the hit comedy
No Sex Please, We're British
a few months earlier, was very much the ‘go-to' comedy director of the day. Peter Saunders would later buy out John Grant's Volcano Productions, the company behind
No Sex Please . . .
, but it seems that Davis' introduction to the project may have come by another route; according to some sources, it was Cameron Mackintosh who took him to see the production on its original tour.
¹⁴¹
Ironically, the comedy which Christie hoped would attract family audiences was now in the hands of the director of
No Sex Please, We're British
and the producer of
Hair
.

As soon as the licence had been issued to Verner, Christie wrote again to Hubert Gregg. After discussing her deteriorating health, she promised him, ‘If I
am
considering writing another play I'll let you know – I've got a new book coming out next month – and a book a year is about enough to occupy me. I didn't think Fiddlers Five would have been your kind – but I thought you might as well have a look at it, as I was thinking of doing things to it if anyone fancied it!! The critics mostly dislike it – but it also seems to play to good houses and to be commercially successful. Parts of it are fun which is why I enjoyed writing it originally, but it is in no way a thriller.'
¹⁴²

Davis, who met with Christie before commencing work on the script, set about the task of revising it with great alacrity, and there was some lively correspondence between them at the start of 1972, in which she gave her comments on his amendments and interpolations. The ‘Fiddlers Five' had now become ‘Fiddlers Three', partly through the amalgamation of the older and younger female roles originally intended for the Lockwoods: ‘Sally now comes out a very good leading-lady's part . . . and I even wonder if Sally Blunt might not be developed for the play “you are going to write when you are 83!”' Davis explained, going on to say that he was hoping to interest Irene Handl in the role, and emphasising that ‘Speed is now of the essence if we are to get the play off the ground this season . . . and if we could we'd like to be well established
in the West End when all your American fans arrive – so we need your OK to go ahead just as soon as you can give it, please.'
¹⁴³

Despite increasing ill health, Agatha relished the opportunity to reshape her play yet again, and made it clear that she was not prepared to relinquish the driving seat to Davis. In particular, she was keen to retain a scene where one of the conspirators sends a cheque to the Chancellor by way of ‘conscience money' at the end of the play: ‘I think Sally wanting to send conscience money to the Chancellor of the Exchequer shows herself as a very endearing and lovable character.'
¹⁴⁴
This concept had appeared in one of the very first notes for the piece.

Fiddlers Three
(not to be confused with the 1991 Eric Chappell comedy of the same title) opened at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford, on 1 August 1972, again in the presence of the now very fragile Agatha, who received a standing ovation when she entered the auditorium on the arm of the theatre's director. ‘In all the creative arts there are exponents who transcend the rules . . .' reported the
Surrey Advertiser
. ‘No one could disguise the play's basic weaknesses, but a playwright whose box office support outstrips that of Coward, Rattigan and Bolt, not to mention Shaw and Sheridan, can afford to make her own laws. And a mere journalist denigrates a cult goddess at his peril.'
¹⁴⁵

The play included the following exchange, as Henry explains to Sally that his father has bequeathed him £100,000 that he once won in a bet:

       
HENRY: Father drew up a deed making that money mine – on the day he reached seventy years of age . . . He gave it to me because he said it would teach me a sharp lesson.

       
SALLY: Teach you not to gamble, you mean?

       
HENRY: The other way round – teach me the advantages of gambling and of taking risks. He's always thought I'm a terrible sissy not to want to gamble.

       
SALLY: Your father must be an extraordinary man.

       
HENRY: Oh he is. I've always been a great disappointment to him. I'm so – well, ordinary and cautious.
¹⁴⁶

As a crushing put-down aimed by the cult goddess at her own daughter, this could not have been more direct.

Irene Handl hadn't bitten, but popular Welsh comedienne Doris Hare took the role of Sally, which had originally been written ten years previously for Margaret Lockwood, and by all accounts made a good job of it. Although the Guildford production, and the short tour thereafter, had been intended as a stepping stone to the West End, nothing was to come of it. James Verner instead mounted yet another production for a twenty-week tour in 1973, with yet another director at the helm. Peggy Mount now took on the role of Sally, and the indomitable James Grant Anderson, having stepped aside at Guildford, again took on the relatively small role of solicitor Mr Truscott.

It seems that Verner was, perhaps, less of a player than he himself had made out. In his book
The Worst It Can Be Is a Disaster
(2009), Braham Murray, director of his 1975 production of
The Black Mikado
, is less than complimentary about Verner's business dealings.
¹⁴⁷
I couldn't possibly comment; but consigning Christie's final play to the touring circuit evidently suited her advisors, so I can't imagine that any objections were raised. Had
Fiddlers Three
transferred to the West End, as intended, in September 1972, it would have been performed in a very different theatrical environment from that in which
Black Coffee
had opened in 1931. Alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company's repertoire at the Aldwych and the National Theatre's at the Old Vic, and an Arnold Wesker play at the Royal Court, the Palace Theatre was showing
Jesus Christ Superstar
and
Godspell
was playing at Wyndham's. Meanwhile,
No Sex Please, We're British
was at the Strand,
Hair
was in its fourth year at the Shaftesbury,
Oh! Calcutta
was in its third year at the Royalty, the Whitehall was home to ‘London's controversial sex comedy'
Pyjama Tops
and the Duchess was hosting
The Dirtiest Show in Town
(‘makes
Oh! Calcutta
seem like
Little Women
' said the
New York Times
).
The title of
Ten Little Niggers
may have been changed in 1966, but in 1972 the Black and White Minstrel Show was playing at the Victoria Palace as the Dance Theatre of Jamaica arrived to perform at Sadler's Wells. You couldn't make it up.

Amidst this smorgasbord of theatrical delights,
The Mousetrap
was advertising its ‘twentieth proud year' and Anthony Shaffer's
Sleuth
was in its ‘third thrilling' year at the neighbouring St Martin's Theatre, where Peter Saunders had acquired the lease four years previously. West Street was now known as ‘thriller alley', and in June Christie had attended
Sleuth
at Shaffer's invitation.

In November 1973 Christie, now aged eighty-three, was enthused by what she saw as an opportunity for
Miss Perry
to reach the stage. She had received an enquiry about a possible play from her friend Cicely Courtneidge, now aged eighty, to tour with her husband Jack Hulbert, and urged Cork to send them her unperformed comedy; evidently this was with a view to Courtneidge playing the role of Poppy, which had been written for a considerably younger Margaret Lockwood. ‘It could be made very funny by Cicely going all out and people seem to love her doing it!!' she wrote to Cork. ‘It's a funnier play than Fiddlers Three and I should really like to see it done.'
¹⁴⁸
It wasn't; and the following month Hughes Massie took an advertisement in
The Stage
to say that Agatha Christie's ‘high comedy'
Fiddlers Three
was ‘now available for repertory', the main selling point evidently being that it only required ‘two easy sets'.
¹⁴⁹
By contrast, 1973 had also finally seen the publication of Christie's then unperformed historical drama
Akhnaton
, with its epic staging requirements. She had found it in a drawer the previous year and, encouraged by the success of the Tutankhamun exhibition which was attracting big crowds at the British Museum, carried out some final edits and sent it to Collins.

In early 1974 Saunders' lease on the Ambassadors came up for renewal and, unable to agree terms with the owners, he decided to move
The Mousetrap
across the alley to St Martin's Theatre, where he had taken over the lease six years previously;
Sleuth
moved on to the Fortune. The relocation of
The
Mousetrap
was achieved over the weekend of 23 March, without missing a performance. It has remained in its new home ever since: the longest running theatrical production of any kind, ever. Despite the protests of Rosalind, the very frail Agatha, who had suffered a heart attack the previous month, proudly co-hosted the play's annual birthday party in November. In December, she suffered a fall at her house, Winterbrook, in Wallingford, where she now spent her time.

When Agatha Christie died, aged eighty-five, at home with her beloved Max, on 12 January 1976, two West End theatres dimmed their lights: the St Martin's and the Savoy, where a successful touring revival of Moie Charles and Barbara Toy's
Murder at the Vicarage
, produced by Ray Cooney, had found a home. Barbara Mullen was reprising the role of Miss Marple, which she had first played in 1949. This time, she was old enough for the part.