Running from November 6 to 8, Stevens students have put on the play And Then There Were None. This play is based on a book by Agatha Christie, first published in 1939 with over 100 million copies sold worldwide since. It was rewritten for theater later by Christie herself, with the ending changed slightly to be less “grim.” There will be full spoilers for the play and novel ahead, so if you want to see the play or read the book without knowing what happens, stop reading here.
And Then There Were None is about 10 people trapped on an island as each of them gets brutally murdered in different ways for unknown reasons. Each of these people has a secret, though; each of them has murdered someone before arriving on the island. As each person begins to fall they start to turn on each other, wondering who may be the one killing everyone. The tension starts to peak when there are only five of them left, and as they all sit and stare and suspect each other, it builds a lingering feeling of dread. The cast members of the play portrayed this distrust and anger well, each of them playing their various roles to their extremes.
The title of the play and novel are a reference to a rhyme published in the 1800s, later renamed to “Ten Little Soldier Boys.” As the characters die, it follows the rhyme almost perfectly, leaving them afraid as they can almost see what comes next and how each of them will die. In the original novel, one more person dies—an agent who helped put everything into play—but this detail is outside of the storyline and not part of the rhyme. In the play, the poem would glow red as each person died to really point it out to the audience. As well as the poem glowing, there were little soldier toys positioned on the stand below it, and as a new person died, a soldier would either disappear or break.
The play differs from the original novel in that the play was rewritten to have a better ending, with the final two characters, Lombard and Vera, being innocent of their crimes, surviving, and later falling in love. In the original novel, Vera shot Lombard, then hanged herself; a much darker ending that Christie changed to be lighter. There is also a bit of exposition that was skipped, with the death of the agent that the judge caused, and the judge’s written confession at the end of the novel. Even with those differences, the play is still very enjoyable, and the cast members did a phenomenal job portraying their characters, making it a riveting watch.
And Then There Were None is a play filled with suspense and thrills at every turn, making you suspect everyone as much as the characters suspect each other. The singular setting really makes the entire play feel very claustrophobic, and that feeling of enclosedness can grip any audience member. There’s a reason it has sold so well, and it is perfect for anyone who wants a big mystery to draw them in and try to figure out themselves as they experience it.
