Review of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Westport Country Playhouse
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Agatha Christie's much respected murder mystery, has been adapted for the stage by Mark Shanahan and, lovingly directed by him, is playing at Westport Country Playhouse through August 1st. It's an entertaining and involving drama about concealment and revealing.
The Company of Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Westport Country Playhouse; photo by T. Charles Erickson
Fernly Park is a grand mansion looming over a quaint English village called King's Abbot. It is owned by rich Roger Ackroyd whose midlife love, Mrs. Ferrars, a recent widow, has been found dead just before the story opens. Our informant on these goings on is the town's only doctor, the affable James Sheppard. Together with his gossipy sister, Caroline, James brings us up to speed on Ackroyd's difficulties with his stepson, Ralph Paton, believed to be engaged to Flora Ackroyd, Roger's niece, but absent from the area.
Surprisingly included at a dinner at Fernly Park, Dr. Sheppard is made a confidant by Ackroyd, giving him information about blackmail and possible foul play in the deaths of Mrs. Ferrars' husband and herself. The plot thickens considerably when Ackroyd himself is found dead later that night after receiving a mysterious letter.
John Rapson as Dr. James Sheppard, Anthony Cochrane as Hercule Poirot, Erin Noel Grennan as Caroline Sheppard, and Katy Tang as Ursula Bourne in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Westport Country Playhouse; photo by T. Charles Erickson
As it happens, a newcomer to the village lives next-door to the Sheppards. Agatha Christie's sleuth Hercule Poirot (famed both in reality and in the play's fiction) has retired to this out-of-the-way hamlet only to be beseeched by Flora to investigate her uncle's death. Poirot cautions her that, once he begins to investigate he will continue to the end, when the truth will be known, no matter whom it compromises. As we come to learn: everyone here has something to hide, and this complex mystery gets juicier as it goes, once we begin to see the levels of duplicity involved.
Mark Shanahan's adaptation is a wonder of economy, keeping the wheels of the plot turning and giving everyone in his stellar cast of twelve at least a scene or two of dramatic crux. The skillful cast is able to be both comic and anxious, mystified and aggravated, playing well "the mask" that Poirot claims each hides behind. It's a superlative mystery delivered with Westport Country Playhouse's characteristic panache.
John Rapson as Dr. James Sheppard, Karen Ziemba as Gertrude Ackroyd, and Anthony Cochrane as Hercule Poirot in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Westport Country Playhouse; photo T. Charles Erickson
Shereen Ahmed's Flora is a graceful ingenue apt to get upset, but her effort to enact an experimental recreation lets Ahmed display fun comic touches; Joe Delafield, as Ralph Paton, unfortunately gets little stage time as he spends much of the play in hiding, but his fraught phone-call to Sheppard is early gold; Allen Gilmore as earnest Inspector Raglan is mostly a comic foil to Poirot, generally a few steps behind but believing himself ahead; Erin Noel Grennan as Dr. Sheppard's discerning sister gets the best of her every scene as the play's most sympathetic character; as Major Hector Blunt, Richard R. Henry gets to bluster and, at a key moment, explode into unexpected violence; Tom Hewitt plays Parker, Ackroyd's longsuffering butler, with the air of someone who deserves so much better than his "betters"; Nicole Shalhoub plays Helen Russell, Ackroyd's secretary and a patient of Sheppard's, as someone who seems to know much more than she tells; Katy Tang is a discontented maid who becomes a key informant, with her own secret to reveal; Karen Ziemba's Gertrude Ackroyd is a memorable evocation of the once grande-dame fallen on hard times—grasping, scheming and entirely intolerant of her social inferiors; as Dr. Sheppard, John Rapson is likeable and forthcoming—particularly about his confusion and his lack of penetration when it comes to human subterfuge; Mark Silence, as Ackroyd, is suitably jangled and unsettled, a man whose worries urge him to find a confidant; finally, Anthony Cochrane's Hercule Poirot is a triumph, giving us both the Belgian sleuth's unctuousness, but also showing surprising passion and, at times, a dark turn of mind that suits well this deft play's delve into hidden depths.
Anthony Cochrane as Hercule Poirot in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Westport Country Playhouse; photo by T. Charles Erickson
More than is the case with many murder mysteries, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is about revelation, showing that the truths of motive, opportunity and means expose how fallible any of us could be. Poirot's relentless search for the truth keeps us fully engaged through all the twists and turns and red herrings.
Most of the play takes place in the handsomely accoutered Fernly Park, a wonderful set by Charlie Corcoran that exudes both grand taste and a stately settled quality that plays well against the querulous emotions of its inhabitants and guests. Other locations—the Sheppards' home, the garden that joins the Sheppards and Poirot, the boathouse where some significant clues are discovered—are suggested by minor props, and so the whole drama keeps returning to the spacious drawing room at Fernly. Costumes by Jeni Schafer are a feast for the eyes as well, that, together with Julie Duro's Lighting Design and John Gromada's Sound Design, give the whole a cinematic grandeur that makes the play seem truly another world.
John Rapson as Dr. James Sheppard and Anthony Cochrane as Hercule Poirot in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Westport Country Playhouse; photo by T. Charles Erickson
Take the time to inhabit Fernly Hall, you won't be sorry—but please, turn off your cellphone if you do! If you don’t, we may be forgiven our murderous thoughts.
Agatha Christie's
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Adapted for the stage and directed by Mark Shanahan
Scenic Design: Charlie Corcoran; Costume & Wig Design: Jeni Schaefer; Lighting Design: Julie Duro; Sound Design & Original Music: John Gromada; Fight Choreography: Seth Andrew Bridges; Assistant Director: Bruce Warren; Props Supervisor: Chloe Cobb; Production Stage Manager: Kevin Jinghong Zhu; Assistant Stage Manager: Matthew Rohan; Production Assistant: Sarah Rachel Katz
Cast: Shereen Ahmed, Anthony Cochrane, Joe Delafield, Allen Gilmore, Erin Noel Grennan, Richard R. Henry, Tom Hewitt, John Rapson, Nicole Shalhoub, Mark Silence, Katy Tang, Karen Ziemba
Westport Country Playhouse
July 14-August 1, 2026