The Orient Express is leaving the station, now arriving at the Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts this week.
Burloak Theatre Group is set to open their 2023/24 season starting tonight with their production of Murder on the Orient Express - a stage adaptation about a glamorous, murderous train ride based on Agatha Christie's most famous novel.
The play was adapted by Tony-winner Ken Ludwig, known for multiple other murder mystery plays of his own. This adaptation of the script was set to premiere in Toronto back in summer 2021 before being cancelled by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Director Ryan Fisher calls this show, "the original 'who done it.' Even if you don’t know who Agatha Christie is, you’ve heard of this story."
An official description for the show reads, "Just after midnight, a snowdrift stops the Orient Express in its tracks. The luxurious train is surprisingly full for the time of the year, but by the morning it is one passenger fewer. Isolated and with a killer in their midst, the passengers rely on detective Hercule Poirot to identify the murderer – in case he or she decides to strike again."
The show was chosen to open the season just in time for Halloween; who wouldn't want to see a murder mystery this time of year? Producers are also hoping audiences in the mood for spooky entertainment will be excited by the story's alluring murder mystery.
Agatha Christie's works remain greatly popular with modern audiences: not only was the character Hercule Poirot recently the star of the movie A Haunting in Venice last month, but Murder on the Orient Express itself was adapted into a star-studded movie back in fall 2017.
Playing the famous Hercule Poirot is local actor Matthew Lazaris-Brunner, last seen in BOTG's An Ideal Husband last season. He says the best part of playing Poirot every night is "getting to tackle such an iconic and complex character and make him my own."
"Poirot is such a famous character," continues Lazaris-Brunner, "and lots of skilled performers have played him. I’m not comparing myself to them, but I obviously draw inspiration from them and I want to find the aspects of Poirot that resonate with me. I want to find where I can naturally inhabit the character, stepping into his skin instead of pretending."
One challenge of bringing this lavish show to the stage are the technical challenges of staging a show set on a moving train inside the theatre. (Fisher and Lazaris-Brunner are pictured above on the set - though that's all Oakville News was allowed to show in advance.)
Fisher says that "Staging was the biggest challenge - there’s a lot of moving parts and it’s not easy to do a community theatre budget."
His favourite part? The opening scene at the Istanbul train station, where the mystery begins. "The introduction of the train is incredible. The lights, the set, the sound, the fog - it was fun seeing it all come together. Seeing the characters and the train come to life was magic."
The show is sure to thrill audiences both familiar and new to what is arguable among the most famous murder mystery stories of all time.
Lazaris-Brunner promises that the play will be a pleasant and entertaining evening: "Theatre as a community installation is meant to bring people together and this show will both entertain you and have you question morality and ethics of the characters in a great mystery."
Murder on the Orient Express
Adapted by Ken Ludwig, based on the book by Agatha Christie
Directed by Ryan Fisher
Starring Matthew Lazaris-Brunner, José Andrés Bordas, Laurel Candler, Katrina Gibson, Jhuntue D. Grey, Cher Guest, Marie Henning, Mike Ingram, Rebecca Kilburn and Jacob Kroeker.
Now playing at the Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts until October 21, 2023.
Tickets are available online here. Subscriptions for the entire BOTG 2023/24 season also available online.