Review: Renaissance City Theatre Brews Strong BLACK COFFEE at the Granite

Hercule Poirot, Agatha Christie's most celebrated sleuth, is on the case at Westerly's historic Granite Theatre. The Belgian detective steps into the footlights in the rarely performed Black Coffee, Christie's first stage play. Renaissance City Theatre (the producing entity at the Granite) does the script full justice, delivering a well-acted, well-paced, and well-staged mystery sure to keep audiences guessing "whodunit" until the very end.

The play contains two conundrums for Poirot's "little grey cells." Tensions are high when scientist and inventor Sir Claud Amory assembles his guests together in the Abbot's Cleve library. He announces that one member of the group broke into the study safe and robbed his secret formula for an atomic weapon. Sir Claud has summoned Poirot to find the thief, but gives the guilty party a chance at redemption first: Return the formula under cover of darkness and face no consequences. The room goes dark at Sir Claud's command, but when the lights come back on, the formula is still missing and the scientist is dead in his chair. Poirot and his colleague Captain Hastings arrive only moments before the lifeless body is discovered, and an autopsy soon reveals the cause of death was a potent poison slipped into Sir Claud's evening coffee.

Black Coffee features some of the most popular tropes of Golden Age mysteries: a locked-room murder, clues hidden in plain sight, a chillingly methodical approach to deadly poisons, and a full cast of characters with the means and motive to kill. Christie aficionados will recognize a plot point or two from Poirot's literary adventures in this script, but solving the case may not be as straightforward as it seems. Black Coffee's twists and turns keep nearly all members of the household under suspicion through the play's final act.

Michael Jepson is the man behind Poirot's meticulously groomed mustache. He delivers an excellent performance, blending the detective's noted personal fastidiousness and intensity together with a soft-spoken warmth that makes it easy to understand why other characters come to trust and confide in him. Jepson portrays Poirot's shrewd, quick perceptions through the tilt of his head or a sparkle in his eyes, subtly signaling new deductions without tipping his hand.

Jepson also has wonderful interactions with each member of the cast, particularly Greg Bliven as Poirot's trusted friend Hastings and Veronica Strickland as the troubled Lucia Amory. Bliven paints Hastings as lovably dim but demonstrates a determined loyalty and ready helpfulness that underscore the long camaraderie between Poirot and Hastings. Strickland ably gives life to Lucia's inner turmoil. She communicates Lucia's introspection and burden of weighty secrets through her posture and facial expressions, but she carries herself with dignity and grace.

Mary Peaver, another standout in the Granite's talented cast, brings wonderful comic relief to the stage as Sir Claud's sister, Miss Caroline Amory. Peaver masterfully delivers Miss Caroline's rambling prattle and breathless tangential associations. Even the most tongue-twisting run-on sentence comes through with an easy, natural chattiness and wide-eyed guilelessness.

Director John Cillino keeps Black Coffee's pace brisk, skillfully prompting the audience to focus on each character's words and movements for potential clues. Cillino knows when to ramp up the tension (the discovery of Sir Claud's body, the revelation of the poisoning, Poirot's eleventh-hour encounter with the murderer), but also brings a lightness to the staging that is a hallmark of cozy mysteries. Poirot and Hastings' interrogation of Miss Caroline, for example, is timed brilliantly to mine the scene for its inherent humor while never dismissing the fact that a cold-blooded murder is being investigated.

David Jepson, Renaissance's producer/artistic director, is to be commended for transforming the Granite into a charming 1930s English country house. His staging contains lovely period furnishings and accents selected with the Amory family's station and fortune in mind (the ornate gramophone horn is especially memorable), and his understated lighting design softly indicates changes in the time of day as the play's action unfolds.

The Renaissance City Theatre presents Black Coffee at Westerly's Granite Theatre through October 2, 2016. Tickets cost $20 and can be purchased online at www.granitetheatre.com or by calling the Box Office at 401-596-2341. Child and senior discount rates are available. The Granite Theatre is located at 1 Granite Street, Westerly, RI 02891.

Pictured: Michael Jepson and Veronica Strickland
Photo Courtesy Renaissance City Theatre/Granite Theatre

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