The School of Theatre and Dance will stage Ken Ludwig’s adaptation of the classic novel, Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express. The performances will take place in the Center for the Performing Arts Theatre at 7:30 p.m., April 14-15, and 19-22.
Dame Agatha Christie was a British novelist who was dubbed the “Queen of Crime” for her thrilling and intricate detective plots. Even in what has come to be called the “Golden Age of Detective Fiction,” Christie’s works dominated the international literary scene. The Guinness Book of World Records identifies Christie as the best-selling author of fiction of all time; UNESCO’s Index Translationum measures her as the most-translated author ever. Her works—especially Murder on the Orient Express—continue to capture public attention.
Ludwig’s stage adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express was written and premiered alongside a separate 2017 film adaptation (starring Leslie Odom Jr., Daisy Ridley, Judi Dench, and Josh Gad, among others). Ludwig—a well-respected American playwright of comedies and mysteries in his own right—was requested specifically by the Christie estate to undertake the adaptation.
Murder on the Orient Express is the tenth of Christie’s well-admired book series featuring the detective Hercule Poirot. In this story, Poirot boards the Orient Express at the last moment, hoping to return home to London from Istanbul. He joins a diverse (and suspicious) cast of characters—a Russian princess and her German maid, a Swedish missionary, an American captain of industry, an English governess, and a Hungarian aboard the train. All is going smoothly until the train is stopped due to a snowstorm overnight. The next morning, a man is found stabbed to death in his bed. The murderer could not have escaped the train; the train cannot move; and there are no police available to investigate the crime. It is up to Detective Poirot to solve the mystery before it is too late.
Hop aboard for the ride: tickets for Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express can be purchased in person at the Center for the Performing Arts Box Office on the campus of Illinois State University, by calling (309) 438-2535, or online.
