Theater Review—

‘Something’s Afoot’ At Goodspeed, And It’s All In Great Fun

By Julie Stern

EAST HADDAM — If you’re up for an evening of lovingly staged, absolutely good natured silliness, Goodspeed’s revival of Something’s Afoot, a show by James McDonald, David Vos and Robert Gerlach, which first premiered there forty years ago, is your cup of tea. In a cheerful spoof of Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Indians the play is set in 1935, at Rancour’s Retreat, the country home of the wealthy Lord Rancour, on an island somewhere within a day’s journey from London.

An assortment of  stock characters have each been invited for the weekend: Dr Grayburn, the family doctor; Colonel Gillweather, the bumbling ex-army man; Nigel Rancour, the dissolute nephew; Lady Grace Manley-Prowe, the grande dame; Hope Langdon, the sprightly ingénue; and Miss Tweed, the amateur detective.

They are attended to by Flint, the shifty caretaker; Lettie, the saucy maid; and Clive, the saturnine butler. Lord Rancour is not able to welcome them, however, as he has just been murdered in his bedroom. This news is accompanied by ominous cracklings of thunder and the report by Flint that the bridges to the mainland have been washed out by the storm. Nobody can leave the island.

With that, the butler keels over, killed by a booby trapped staircase, and so begins a series of bizarre murders. Who is killing the guests, and why?

Each murder takes place in plain sight of the audience, each involving some piece of furniture or fixture. Can Miss Tweed, the confident frizzy haired spinster figure it out? She thinks so… And can she do it in time to save the lovely Hope Langdon? And is it really by chance that the handsome young collegiate rower appears on the scene after his shell capsizes in the storm?

The charm of the show lies in the musical numbers which are filled with clever visual details, reminding us that we are in Christie territory:  In the opener, “A Marvelous Weekend,” each of the guests wanders in laden with the things he might bring to a holiday in the country, so that we know how they plan to spend the time: the doctor shoulders his golf clubs, the Colonel arrives prepared for some shooting, with his personal shotgun.  Nigel is quick to locate the drinks cart, and Miss Tweed carries her easel. She shall paint…

And then there’s  the thread of burlesque, as when the incorrigible Flint invites Lettie to escape the island with him in his boat, coyly singing about how he “has a little dinghy”… and Miss Tweed’s chorus line rendition of “I owe it all to Agatha Christie…” Well, you get the picture.

And pictures are here aplenty. Adrian W. Jones’ scenic design is wonderful in its depiction of a 1930s manor house, replete with huge family portraits, stuffed trophy heads, and chandeliers with all the menace of pitcher plants.

The show is clearly derivative, but in fact, the more derivations and references you can recognize, the more you’ll enjoy it.

Based on the recent Thursday evening audience, Goodspeed appeals most to people of a certain age. That they were pleased with what they saw was evident by the jaunty way they marched to the parking lot afterwards, and what most captivated me was the sight of all those happy couples —they were smiling and holding hands.

Agatha would be delighted.

(Performances continue until December 9. See the Enjoy Calendar, in print and online, for curtain, ticket and other information.)