Steaming into Salford theatre complex The Lowry from this Friday (to September 14) is the mighty tale of intrigue and murder that is Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express
Director Lucy Bailey’s new production opens its UK tour in Salford with hugely-respected stage and film actor Michael Maloney as Christie’s famous detective, Hercule Poirot, and former Holby City star Bob Barrett as Monsieur Bouc, Poirot’s friend and fellow countryman and the man in charge of the train (and if you don’t remember that character, it’s because various film and TV adaptations have played around with his name and situation).
We spoke to the star pair in advance of their arrival in the North and asked what audiences can expect from the director whose previous big hit was the site-specific (and still-running, almost a dozen casts later), Witness for the Prosecution in London’s County Hall.
“Well, it’s funny, it's exciting and it's adventurous – and it'll also make you think,” said Bob.
“If we get the speed right and the pace right, people won't be able to think fast enough during the show itself. It will be a night of intrigue with a great denouement,” added Michael.
“Poirot is a genius and Bouc isn't, so he's often a sounding board and there's a little bit of Sherlock-Watson in it,” Bob suggests. ”Sometimes Bouc pushes back and questions things; at other times he just watches as Poirot weaves his magic. There’s a great bond between them.”
But the genius comes at a price, Michael believes: “There are some very interesting scenes in which Poirot just observes, and I think he's quite a lonely person. To be on top of his game he has to distance or isolate himself from being too involved with people - so he can objectively see what they're up to. But he and Monsieur Bouc are old friends and in fact we've made up a bit of a back-story for them, where they fought together in World War One and Bouc saved Poirot's life.”
Poirot has been played by many actors over the years, and we were keen to know what differentiates Maloney’s version: “When you play a role it will naturally become your own, but I carry the memory of everybody I've watched play him with me. I don't try to compete with them and I like to acknowledge what they've done.
"I've really enjoyed all their performances, but I think David Suchet in particular has dominated the national consciousness because he did it for about 20 years on television. To veer far away from that would not be right, but because it is a stage production, there is more expression involved and there is slightly more passion involved.”
The two actors have great rapport, so it isn’t surprising to hear they have worked together before: “In fact this is our third time,” Bob noted. “We were in Hamlet together, the first time; he was Hamlet and I was Rosencrantz. Then I was Horatio to his Hamlet. Both times it was blissful.”
Michael feels the same way: “It’s very difficult not to enjoy working with him. He's a big-hearted man and actually I think he's the heart of the engine of the company as a result. It's a pleasure to be working with him again.”
Both men are Christie fans: “She’s the best at what she does,” says Bob. “If you are in the mood for a murder mystery, she takes it to another level. She's very good on the psychology of people in extremis, so when people are pushed to the edge she's so accurate about human nature. I think that's why people keeping come back to her stories.”
For Michael, the current production gives him the best of the writer:”It’s one of her all-time greats,” he says. “Her writing is very dependable. You have a world created for you, which you can observe from the audience and not feel threatened by, but you're intrigued by the terrible goings-on in other people's lives – which is the function of theatre a lot of the time anyway.”
Bob’s wife, Rebecca Charles, is also in the show (as Grace Ohlsson). It will be the first time the pair have worked together since 2000, which isn’t what Bob expected when the two met.
“We met on Cyrano de Bergerac in the West End in 1993, and then for the next seven years a lot of what we did was together. I thought it was great and was going to be the norm for the rest of our careers - but the last time we worked together was in 2000, so it's been quite a long time!”
The tour opens in Salford, which both have played before - both in Hamlet, and Bob in Nicholas Nickleby, as well as several roles in productions by much-admired company Propeller. Michael’s northern experience includes All My Sons with the late, great John Thaw in the 1980s.
After Salford the tour visits northern venues Newcastle Theatre Royal (January 14-18), Sheffield Lyceum (February 4-8) and York’s Grand Opera House (March 25-29), among theatres around the country.
More info and tickets here