Review: Desert Stages Theatre Presents Agatha Christie's VERDICT

Virginia Olivieri (who lately has been registering high marks as a thoughtful director of dramatic plays ~ Glengarry Glen Ross, The Woman in Black, Dial M for Murder) is putting another notch in her belt with a riveting production of Agatha Christie's VERDICT. (Desert Stages Theatre in Scottsdale through March 4th).

Dame Christie's VERDICT is a thinking person's drama, a morality play loaded with irony that puts a learned man and his unwavering adherence to principle in the dock. The questions before the court of audience opinion are tricky and complicated. Should one's commitment to a principle be absolute? Are there circumstances when bending one's principle is the moral thing to do ~ particularly when the motive is to serve a personal convenience rather than a common good? Is such steadfastness admirable or even ethical if it ultimately causes unintended and harmful, if not devastating, consequences?

Christie's plot is more paradox than puzzle. We witness the crime, we know its perpetrator, we are left, however, to judge the character and the actions of the man left behind. To adjudicate what is "good" and what is "bad."

Anya Hendryk (Olivieri doing double duty as an ailing and despondent wife) is poisoned by Helen Rollander (Bella Tindall), a pretentious and flirtatious devotee of Anya's scholar husband Karl (Peter Cunniff). In a fit of pique and delusion, Helen confesses her crime to Karl, claiming it as a necessary act of love that spares Anya her debilitating pain and frees Karl and her to be together. Karl spurns her advances. He shares what has befallen with Anya's dutiful caretaker Lisa (Carrie Ellen Jones) and physician (J. Kevin Tallent). Despite their exhortations that Karl notify the police, he refuses. He fears that he might be culpable in some way for giving Helen reason to assume his affection, and in a jaw-dropping twist of logic, Karl sees no value in condemning young Helen's life when it will not bring Anya back. His obstinance precipitates a frightful turn of events.

The construction of the play is vintage Christie ~ methodically and cleverly laying the groundwork for what ensues, each scene and interaction a precursor of what follows, each character serving a purpose.

The playwright wastes no time in the first act setting up the theme that informs VERDICT and its tensions. Lester (Jackson Ramler), a student whom Karl believes has the makings of a very fine scholar, confesses that he has stolen and sold one of the professor's invaluable books because he needed money to date a very special girl. Karl, the estimable man of principle, in a surprising assertion of ethical relativism, responds, "...if you have to do bad things I am glad that you do them for a good motive."

Doing "bad" things for "good" motives! An uncomfortable proposition that resonates throughout the play and frames the actions of its principal characters. Whether it is the distasteful bargain between Karl and Helen's wealthy father (Charles Sowder) that has the professor reluctantly taking Helen on as a tutee in exchange for a treatment that could relieve Anya's condition. Or Lester's theft. Or Lisa, a trained physicist, forgoing employment opportunities, ostensibly to nurse her cousin Anya, albeit there may be other personal interests at play. Helen's crime itself is tinged with the notion of a favor that serves a higher purpose. Even the very chatty and self-righteous housekeeper, Mrs. Roper (CJ Boston), is flawed, caught filching cigarettes, although Christie has engaged her to serve as this play's pivotal witness for the prosecution.

Christie has laid out the breadcrumbs for a different kind of mystery. Olivieri has followed the trail, and, in a wise directorial choice, has dispensed with dialects in order to put the accent on the story, allowing the playwright's scheme a wide berth.

Olivieri delivers a gripping performance as Anya. Confined to a wheelchair, suffering the debilitating pain of multiple sclerosis, ruing the day that Karl and she had to flee their native country, longing for the home she loved, crying out (ironically) for relief ~ Olivieri captures the full range of Anya's emotions. For the relatively brief time that she is on stage, she dominates it.

Peter Cunniff registers an equally compelling portrayal of Karl, masterfully managing subtle shifts in facial expression, the timbre of his voice, and posture to reveal the torment of a man whose ambivalence cries out for resolution and whose passions are confused.

Bella Tindall radiates the callousness and lust of an amoral and ambitious femme fatale, although a bit of subtlety in the delivery might be more impactful.

Carrie Ellen Jones gives Lisa an appropriate aura of stoicism and mystery. J. Kevin Tallent is the epitome of balance, the doctor you'd want tending to your wounds.

VERDICT is a smartly crafted and provocative script, intelligently directed, and skillfully performed ~ all the ingredients that merit a trip to Desert Stages Theatre's beautiful new digs in Scottsdale Fashion Square.

Photo credit to Renee Ashlock

To post a comment, you must register and login.