20 – 24 February

Lucy Bailey’s production of Agatha Christie’s gripping thriller AND THEN THERE WERE NONE tours to Bath starring Bob Barrett, Andrew Lancel and David Yelland.

A new staging of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None visits the Theatre Royal Bath from Tuesday 20^th to Saturday 24^th February, directed by Lucy Bailey, whose acclaimed site-specific production of Witness for the Prosecution has been running in London since 2017. Based on the best-selling thriller of all time and reinvented for the 21^st century, this dark and captivating tale promises to keep audience members on the edge of their seats as each murder unfolds.

Ten strangers are lured to a solitary mansion off the coast of Devon. When a terrible storm cuts them off from the mainland, and with their hosts mysteriously absent, the true reason for their presence on the island becomes horribly clear, as secrets from their past come back to haunt each and every one of them.

Bob Barrett, who plays the role of Doctor Armstrong, is best known on television as Sacha Levy in Holby City since 2010. His screen credits also include guest roles in EastEnders, The Bill, Shakespeare in Love, Wonderful You, Casualty and Father Brown. His previous performances at the Theatre Royal Bath include Yukio Ninagawa’s production of Hamlet in 2004, and The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby Parts 1 & 2 in 2007, a Chichester Festival Theatre production, directed by Jonathan Church and Philip Franks.

Andrew Lancel, who plays the role of William Blore, is well known on television as the villainous businessman Frank Foster in more than 130 episodes of Coronation Street; DI Neil Manson in over 270 episodes of The Bill; Andrew in the ITV series Unforgotten; Ian Callaghan in Liverpool 1 and Dr Andrew Collin in Cardiac Arrest. Andrew has previously performed at Bath’s Theatre Royal in Conduct Unbecoming in 1996, Twelve Angry Men in 2015 and Stumped in 2023.

Bath favourite David Yelland, whose numerous screen credits include The Crown, Chariots of Fire and Poirot, plays the role of Judge Wargrave. Now marking his 16^th production during the past forty years at the Theatre Royal Bath, he has most recently visited in Henry IV Parts 1 & 2, as part of The Peter Hall Company Season in 2011 and Farm Hall in 2023.

General Mackenzie is played by Jeffery Kissoon, whose screen credits include Allelujah, EastEnders, Star Wars: Episode VII and Grange Hill. His previous productions at the Theatre Royal Bath include Great and Small in 1983, The Free State in 2000 and War and Peace in 2008. Katy Stephens, who appears as Emily Brent, is an RSC Associate Artist. Her many roles for the Royal Shakespeare Company include Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra, Rosalind in As You Like It and Tamora in Titus Andronicus. Her film and television credits include Relative Values and London’s Burning. Lucy Tregear, who plays Georgina Rogers, recently performed in Lucy Bailey’s staging of Agatha Christie’s Witness for the Prosecution in London. Her television credits include Manhunt, The Robinsons, Footballers’ Wives, Family Affairs and Peak Practice. She has performed at the Theatre Royal Bath previously in Two Gentlemen of Verona in 1993.

The cast also features Joseph Beattie (Hex, Silent Witness) as Philip Lombard; Oliver Clayton (The Play That Goes Wrong) as Anthony Marston; Nicola May-Taylor (Rutherford and Son) as Jane Pinchbeck; Sophie Walter (The Girl on the Train) as Vera Claythorne and Matt Weyland (Witness for the Prosecution) as Narracott.

And Then There Were None is not only Agatha Christie’s most read work, but also the best-selling crime novel of all time, with over 100 million copies sold since its first publication in 1939. In recent years there have been several high-profile modern takes on Agatha Christie’s much loved titles in films, on television and on stage, proving the enduring popularity and modern relevance of her work with global audiences.

Following her hugely successful production of Witness for the Prosecution, director Lucy Bailey returns to the work of Agatha Christie with UK Theatre Award-winning set and costume designer Mike Britton, lighting designer Chris Davey, sound designer and composer Elizabeth Purnell and movement direction by Ayse Tashkiran in this bold reinvention of Christie’s greatest murder mystery.

Director Lucy Bailey wrote to Samuel Beckett at the age of twenty asking to stage his story Lessness, before directing the world premiere at Oxford University in consultation with the author. Since then she has worked with the National Theatre, Glyndebourne Opera, Shakespeare’s Globe and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her RSC production of The Taming of the Shrew toured to Bath’s Theatre Royal in 2012; followed by her West End and touring production of The Importance of Being Earnest in 2014; her staging of Hitchcock’s thriller Dial M For Murder in 2009; her production of Gaslight starring Martin Shaw in 2019, and the world premiere stage production of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel which played Bath in 2022. Lucy directed King Lear starring David Haig for Theatre Royal Bath’s 2013 Summer Season. At Bath’s Ustinov Studio, she directed Switzerland starring Phyllis Logan in the 2018 Summer Season, and in 2020, she directed Oleanna, a production which opened in Bath before returning to the Ustinov Studio by popular demand in 2021, prior to a West End transfer. Her recent work also includes Ghosts at the Royal & Derngate Northampton, and her production of Agatha Christie’s Witness for the Prosecution, which continues to delight audiences at London’s County Hall.

Agatha Christie is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime. Her books have sold over a billion copies in English, with another billion sold in foreign languages. She is the most widely published author of all time and, in many languages, out-sold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. The author of 66 crime novels, over 150 short stories, over 30 plays, and six novels written under the name Mary Westmacott, Agatha Christie’s numerous iconic works include Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, and the genre-defining And Then There Were None.

And Then There Were None appears at the Theatre Royal Bath from Tuesday 20^th to Saturday 24^th February. To book tickets call the Theatre Royal Bath Box Office on 01225 448844 or visit www.theatreroyal.org.uk

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan