Review: AND THEN THERE WERE NONE at Carousel Theatre Of Indianola

It's that time of year again, when everyone gets into the spooky season for Halloween. Some people like to go to scary or suspenseful movies, but what if you could experience this live as part of your Halloween plans. Carousel Theatre of Indianola is giving their audiences that opportunity with their production of "And Then There Were None,' by Agatha Christie. Their suspenseful production opened up on October 22 and runs right through Halloween on October 31.

The show starts as 8 people arrive at a house on an isolated Island off the coast of Devon. When they arrive, they are greeted by the butler and housekeeper. As they try and figure out who each other is, and why they have all been invited, a record plays and accuses all 10 people in the house of committing murder. They notice a nursery rhyme hanging up above a mantle that has ten soldiers. When one of the 10 suddenly dies after having a drink, they notice that one of the soldiers has subsequently fallen and broken. As the play continues, these characters continue to be killed off, one by one. Each death matching the nursery rhyme on the wall. Will they be able to find the killer before all of them have been killed off? That you will have to attend the show to find out.

What adds to the suspense of the show is the set designed by Joel Hade, which included multiple different places for cast to enter and exit. It made this one level set feel as though it could be a room in a giant mansion, where it seemed feasible that a murder could happen without anyone figuring out who the murderer was. While the set may not take you to an isolated island, the sound design by Tony Rogers does. From the start of the show, a soundscape of waves and storms plays in the background for the full three-hour show.

One of the technical aspects I felt tied the full show together, were the 10 soldiers in the background, and the costumes designed by Molly Larche. Each soldier of the 10 soldiers were painted a different color, similarly, each cast members had some kind of accent on their costume that matched the color of one of the soldiers. As the soldiers started to disappear, those cast members died on stage. The only issue that arose from this, was that some of the soldiers disappeared before the cast member died, either onstage or off. This gave some of the show away as when a scene would start, you could tell which characters were about to die.

You can't tell a suspenseful story onstage without an ensemble of talented storytellers. Director Matthew Kerns has assembled some of Carousel's best actors along with some new faces to the community to bring this suspenseful story to the stage. As the cast found themselves startled by the events on stage, I found myself as an audience member feeling the same way.

While the majority of the play focuses on the ensemble of actors rotating on and off stage through the first act, there are a few roles which get to be seen through the show. Returning to the Carousel stage, Sam Sides leads the show as Philip Lombard alongside Karissa Lyons as Vera Claythorne, who is making her Carousel stage debut. There was an interesting chemistry on stage with them. It wasn't romantic, but their characters seemed to form a bond as they watched different characters die on stage. There was a unique bond with them that continued to grow until they were the only two characters left onstage. It put them each in a unique situation where their character had to kill or be killed.

Whether you are looking for an evening out, or looking to see something that will make you jump in your seat, Carousel's production of "And Then There Were None," is the perfect way to celebrate the spooky season. The talented cast and the fantastic production team make for an suspenseful evening out, that will have audiences unfamiliar with the story guessing to the end. Performances are being held at Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Innovations in Indianola.

How To Get Tickets

To find out more information about the show, visit https://carouseltheatre.org/?page_id=190

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