Photos from left: Rachel Landon as the Movie Star, Chris Gibson as Captain Hastings, Rachel Landon as the Femme Fatale, Stuart Landon as Inspector Japp, Rachel Landon as the Awkward Femme Fatale, Stuart Landon as Hercule Poirot.
Fun fact: it takes a novel 95 years from the date of publication to lose its copyright. Another fun fact: every year, countless great stories fall into the public domain because of this law, and sometimes we don’t even notice.
This applies even to stories by renowned authors like Agatha Christie. Her short story collection, “Poirot Investigates,” was published in 1924, which means that, at the height of the pandemic, many of Poirot’s escapades became fair game.
This was something that Stuart Landon, producing artistic director at Open Stage and long-time fan of Christie, could not let go to waste.
“I was like, ‘I get to adapt one of my favorite things, and play one of my favorite characters!’” he recalled.
He and the theater’s “disease cluster,” as he put it—a handful of Open Stage staff—were already planning several theater/film hybrids in the quarantine interim and decided to put on Poirot. Landon adapted the script. They set up some cameras, and, by the fall of 2020, Poirot was gracing Open Stage’s YouTube page.
“It was this tongue-in-cheek, ridiculous adaptation of some of [Christie’s] short stories, but made with all the love,” Landon said.
It was a great chance for people to be distracted from the global panic—and to laugh. Open Stage had done comedic shows before, but never something quite so farcical. But they had a blast with it.
“Some takes, I was barely keeping it together,” Landon said.
Of all the theater/film hybrids they made that year, Landon said that it felt the most like theater. Now, he wants to bring that farcical glory to the stage.
The chosen story is “Adventure of the Western Star,” one of the two classics that they filmed during quarantine. And naturally, all the familiar characters will be back: Poirot and Hastings, two highbrow, rich guys who are very entitled in the way they behave, and two other actors juggling the rest of the characters and supporting the storytelling.
One of the most outlandish characters from the story, Lady Yardley, has some hilarious moments, Landon recalled. I won’t relay them here because, well, the laughs she elicits are so much better in person.
This version will be different.
“It’s gonna be shorter, and it’s gonna be simpler,” Landon said. “We are building this specifically to bring to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2024.”
But it will have that same silliness to it. The mystery almost feels secondary to the frivolity that plays out.
Landon is excited to see what the theatrical performance will look like. As he will be both directing and acting—a feat he’s never done before Poirot—he is a little nervous to see it all come together.
“But I also have a really great team with me,” he added
And that confidence, plus the security of a great story, will work to the team’s advantage.
And it really is a brilliant piece of theater. While we may not need as much of a distraction in 2023 as we did in 2020, Poirot and his high-camp, lowbrow cast of characters will bring just as much lighthearted joy as they did the first time around.
“I hope that the audience is able to just have a good belly laugh and take home a smile,” Landon said. “And have a damn good time while they’re here. I’m looking forward to that.”
“Poirot Investigates! The Adventure of the Western Star” runs May 27 to June 17 at Open Stage, 25 N. Court St., Harrisburg, Tickets can be bought at the box office or online at www.openstagehbg.com.
UPCOMING EVENTS
At Open Stage
www.openstagehbg.com
717-232-6736
“Tiny Beautiful Things”
A new play based on the Cheryl Strayed memoir
Now through May 7
Black NewsBeat with Dr. Kimeka Campbell
Join us in the studio audience for an episode taping.
May 10 and 24 at 7:30 p.m.
June 14 and 27 at 7:30 p.m.
EFF (Erotic Fan Fiction) Live!
Naughty readings of fanfics
Friday, May 19 at 7:30 p.m.
“Poirot Investigates! The Adventure of the Western Star”
A farcical adaptation of the Agatha Christie short story
May 27 to June 17
OSHKids Summer Theatre Camp
“The Wizard of Oz”
June 8 to 30
At Gamut Theatre
www.gamuttheatre.org
717-238-4111
Popcorn Hat Players
“Rollicking Ripsnorters: American Tall Tales”
May 6 & 13 at 1 p.m.
Stage Door Series
“Dreadful Marches to Delightful Measures: A Staged Reading of Shakespeare’s War of the Roses”
May 19 & 20 at 7:30 p.m.
May 21 at 2:30 p.m.
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