Agatha Christie's THE CORNISH MYSTERY to Wrap Up The Resident Ensemble Players' 2020-2021 Season

The Resident Ensemble Players will wrap up the 2020-2021 season with Agatha Christie's The Cornish Mystery, the REP's final story in The Poirot Mysteries. This suspenseful audio production, adapted and directed by REP company member Michael Gotch, will captivate and intrigue you as the famous Detective Hercule Poirot expertly sorts through a web of lies.

The mystery begins when Detective Poirot is asked to help Mrs. Pengelley, a woman from Cornwall who believes she is being poisoned by her husband. She has no proof, only suspicions - and the discovery of a half empty bottle of weed-killer!

Poirot visits her home to investigate but arrives too late - she is already dead. But is her husband really guilty of the poisoning? Only Detective Poirot's expert mind can find the truth.

Listeners may recognize the voice of company actor Lee E. Ernst, who delighted audiences as Detective Poirot on stage in the REP's 2019 production of Murder on the Orient Express. "The thing I find really intriguing about this particular story is Poirot makes a big mistake, which is a fairly rare thing," Ernst says referring to Poirot finding Mrs. Pengelley already dead when he arrives to investigate. "He brow beats himself over having incorrectly handled something that has a negative outcome because of his inaction. It's interesting to see this expert, who exhibits signs of vanity and hubris, make a mistake and how he deals with it. I found that to be quite startling and gave Poirot more dimension."

How anyone deals with errors in judgement is telling of their character. Some try to hide their mistakes; others learn from them. For Detective Poirot, his error fuels the need to find the absolute truth.

The cast includes REP company members Stephen Pelinski* (Capt. Arthur Hastings), Lee E. Ernst* (Hercule Poirot), Kathleen Pirkl Tague* (Mrs. Hermione Pengelley, Jessie), René Thornton, Jr.* (Dr. Adams), Mic Matarrese* (Jacob Radnor), Elizabeth Heflin* (Freda Stanton, Miss Marks), Michael Gotch* (Newsman), and Hassan El-Amin* (Mr. Edward Pengelley). *Members of Actors' Equity Association.

The creative team includes Michael Gotch (Adaptor and director), Eileen Smitheimer (Sound Designer), and Ryan Touhey (Composer).

Mystery fans will be able to stream the REP's audio production of The Cornish Mystery for free, anytime from April 23rd to May 21st through their website at https://www.rep.udel.edu/presentations/the-poirot-mysteries/the-cornish-mystery.

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