Director's Notes: TEN LITTLE INDIANS Blog 9

For those of you who weren't able to see the show, below are my director's notes that appeared in the program.
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“Good evening.” That’s such a pleasant greeting. Yet, that greeting is forever attached in my mind to a rather large and rotund British man: Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock used that phrase regularly at the beginning of his tv series to greet the audience. It’s such a pleasant phrase, yet when spoken by Hitchcock that greeting took on an eerie and almost supernatural aura of suspense. That’s why it’s the perfect phrase to welcome you to Hard Road Theatre’s production of Ten Little Indians.

Though we’ve updated the setting, Ten Little Indians is a play written by another Brit: Agatha Christie. Christie adapted the play from her novel of the same name. Originally published under a very un-politically correct title, the novel is one of Christie’s best known novels and the play is one her most performed plays. Both works are now usually published under the title of And Then There Were None.

Though murder mysteries have become fairly common, as far as I know Christie’s novel is the first of its kind. It’s the first story where a group of unrelated people who have never met are invited to spend a weekend together in a somewhat exotic locale by a mysterious host none of them have met, but the host turns out to be a killer who murders each of them off one by one and in a twist, the host…well, I don’t want to give too much away now, do I.

I hope you thoroughly enjoy tonight’s performance. The cast is a great mix. Some have never acted on stage before while others are hardcore theatre veterans. They’ve been lots of fun to work with and almost every night I reveled in seeing them discover and reveal different nuances of their characters. I’ve enjoyed working with each and every one of them and thank them for all their work and for making this experience such a positive one. I would enjoy working with all of them again.

It takes a tremendous amount of time and effort to put together a show. It takes more than just actors and directors to make a show work. A theatre production needs people to design and help build sets, gather props, find and create costumes, set-up and run the sound and lights, stage help to set and remove props, businesses and individuals to donate money, etc. If you have any interest at all in being involved in a future Hard Road production in any way, please let us know. We would love to meet you and help get you involved! Talk to one of us after the show, sign the registration book, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

So, sit back, but don’t get too comfy. This is a murder mystery, after all. But, do have a “good evening."