Vertigo Theatre’s production of Murder on the Links is an exciting and layered investigation of secrecy and doubleness
By Hannah Caparino, December 8 2024—
Vertigo Theatre presents Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Links and will follow the titular detective Hercule Poirot and his charming assistant Captain Arthur Hastings on their journey to solve the murder of Paul Renauld. The plot of the play features twists and turns that will leave audiences in a state of curiosity and intrigue. The curtains unravel and reveal the parts of the French villa, including a terrace set and green, grass-textured flooring to mimic a golf course. The villa set pieces move to create different rooms and sets that each of the actors can play in.
Hastings (Javelin Laurence) narrates the events of the play and provides the audience with insight as to how all the characters are connected. The play opens with Hastings riding the train back home where he connects with an excitable woman, named “Cinderella”, who takes immediate interest with Hastings’ occupation in helping Poirot solve murders. The interaction is short lived and Hastings is left enamoured with the important woman. Following the train ride, the crime-solving pair are asked to investigate a threat made against Paul Renauld (Graham Percy). The two find that when they arrive at the French villa that the man who asked for their help (Paul Renault) has been murdered. Trevor Rueger portrays the seasoned detective Hercule Poirot, and plays him with a confidence and intellect of a man who’s seen it all. Rueger has the mannerisms of a detective who can anticipate the killer’s moves and examine their motives, which contrasts Hasting’s optimistic but misguided intentions.
After Poirot and Hastings arrive at the villa, they encounter a mother-daughter duo, Madame Daubreuil (Meg Farhall) and Marthe Daubreuil (Heidi Damayo), a girl with “anxious eyes”. While Poirot questions the servants it is revealed that Madame Daubreuill had visited the late Paul Renauld on the night he was killed. Speculations of an affair sends the investigation into a new direction as Poirot explores Madame Daubreuil’s intentions with Paul Renauld alongside a change of Paul Renauld’s will, as it shows that all properties and assets will be left with his wife and not his son, making his son Jack Renauld a new suspect in the case.
Todd Houseman plays a number of characters including Jack Renauld, and while a fight did occur between him and his father, it wasn’t about the will, but about Jack’s possible romantic affiliation with Marthe Daubreuil. While Poirot brings some of the investigation to Paris to investigate Madame Daubreuil’s relationship to Paul, Hastings continues to be involved with a woman with the alias “Cinderella” who is actually Dulcie Duveen (Heidi Damayo). Damayo’s comedic timing as Dulcie and other secondary characters like the maid for the Renauld household was an alleviating presence that contrasted the seriousness of the murders.
From missing murder weapons and a second murder, the investigation comes to a head as Poirot learns of decade-long murder mysteries being unraveled and being repeated in the present-day. Betrayal and revenge drive the story and is wrapped in a gripping and emotionally intensive mystery where all actors portray all the ranging emotions, like grief or rage.
Murder on the Links has it all, between secret identities and blackmail, audiences were thrown into a mystery that had deep layers which required attention and keen observation. Murder on the Links will be playing at Vertigo Theatre until its extended date of Dec. 21. For tickets and information click here.