The Original Theatre Company presents Agatha Christie’s The Mirror Crack’d UK Tour from September 2022 with Susie Blake starring as Miss Marple.
Agatha Christie’s The Mirror Crack’d UK Tour
The award-winning Original Theatre Company are delighted to announce Miss Marple’s return to the stage in a brand new production of Rachel Wagstaff’s acclaimed adaptation of Agatha Christie’s The Mirror Crack’d directed by Philip Franks.
The Mirror Crack’d UK Tour will star Susie Blake as Miss Marple with further casting to be announced.
In 1960s England, a wind of change is blowing through the land. It has even reached the sleepy village of St Mary Mead. There’s a new housing estate, which alarms the villagers as much as it intrigues them and, even more unsettling, a rich American film star has bought the manor house. Jane Marple, confined to a chair after an accident, is wondering if life has passed her by. Then there is a shocking murder, and Miss Marple must unravel a web of lies, danger and tragedy. This adaptation of Agatha Christie’s famous novel brings real emotional depth and psychological insight to a thrilling story of secrets, loss and revenge.
The Mirror Crack’d From Side to Side was published in the UK in 1962 and adapted as a feature film, The Mirror Crack’d, in 1980, starring Angela Lansbury as Miss Marple, Elizabeth Taylor, Kim Novak, Rock Hudson and Tony Curtis. On television, adaptations of the novel have starred Joan Hickson as Miss Marple in 1992 and Julia McKenzie as Miss Marple in 2011.
Director Philip Franks said of the new stage adaptation, “Rachel Wagstaff’s new version of Agatha Christie’s fascinating mystery has real heart and depth as well as tension. It’s witty, exciting, fresh and surprising.”
Rachel Wagstaff said, “I am so excited to be working with The Original Theatre Company on this new production of The Mirror Crack’d, a fascinating mystery, packed with a rich constellation of characters, all struggling with loneliness and the long shadows cast by grief. I have always loved Miss Marple’s wry observations about human nature and her desire to put the world quietly to rights, so it’s a pleasure to welcome back the acclaimed and wonderful Susie Blake to play the role of Jane Marple.”
James Prichard, CEO and Chairman of Agatha Christie Limited, said, “I am delighted that Rachel’s excellent stage adaptation of The Mirror Crack’d is coming back to UK theatres with such a formidable creative team behind it. Miss Marple is one of literature’s greatest detectives, and I am excited to share this production with audiences throughout the UK.”
Susie Blake said of the role, “Playing Miss Marple is every actor’s dream over the age of 50. To play a bright, independent, older woman is surprising and exciting for the period it was written in as well as in our society today.”
Susie Blake is best known for playing the Continuity Announcer in Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV, as well as her regular roles of Bev Unwin in ITV’s Coronation Street and Hillary Nicholson in BBC’s Mrs Brown’s Boys. She has recently appeared in series one and two of Kate & Koji (ITV), Not Going Out (BBC One) and The Real Marigold Hotel (BBC One). Her films include Fierce Creatures and Nativity 3: Dude, Where’s My Donkey?!. Her theatre credits include Fisherman’s Friends: The Musical (Hall for Cornwall), Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em (UK Tour), My Fair Lady (Grange Festival), Grumpy Old Women Live 2 & 3, When We Are Married (West End), Pygmalion(Chichester Festival Theatre), Madame Morrible in Wicked (West End) and Belinda Blair in Noises Off (National Theatre).
The Mirror Crack’s UK Tour will be directed by Philip Franks (Barnes’ People, The Haunting of Alice Bowles, The Habit of Art, The Croft and A Cold Supper Behind Harrods) and designed by Adrian Linford, with lighting design by Emma Chapman, sound design by Max Pappenheim and casting by Ellie Collyer-Bristow CDG.
The UK Tour will be produced by Alastair Whatley and Tom Hackney for The Original Theatre Company, the production company behind the critically acclaimed lockdown online productions of Sebastian Faulks’s Birdsong Online, Louise Coulthard’s Watching Rosie, Torben Betts’s Apollo 13: The Dark Side of The Moon, Philip Franks’s The Haunting of Alice Bowles and Peter Barnes’s Barnes’ People, as well as the stage productions A Splinter of Ice, The Habit of Art, Invincible and Birdsong.
The Mirror Crack’d Tour Dates
Eastbourne Devonshire Park
8 – 17 September 2022
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Darlington Hippodrome
20 – 24 September 2022
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Cheltenham Everyman
27 September – 1 October 2022
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York Theatre Royal
4 – 8 October 2022
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Oxford Playhouse
10 – 15 October 2022
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Mold Theatr Clwyd
17 – 22 October 2022
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Northampton Royal and Derngate
31 October – 5 November 2022
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Norwich Theatre Royal
8 – 12 November 2022
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Malvern Festival Theatre
14 – 19 November 2022
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Churchill Theatre Bromley
22 – 26 November 2022
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Southend Palace Theatre
28 November – 3 December 2022
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More venues to be announced
