"Agatha Christie Made Me Do It"
This item is available in full to subscribers.
To continue reading, you will need to either log in to your subscriber account, or purchase a new subscription.
If you are a current print subscriber, you can set up a free website account and connect your subscription to it by clicking here.
If you are a digital subscriber with an active, online-only subscription then you already have an account here. Just reset your password if you've not yet logged in to your account on this new site.
Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing.
Please log in to continue |
EVANSTON — Evanston’s Sagebrush Theatre wrapped up its fall production on Saturday, Oct. 27, with the final of five performances of Eddie Cope’s “Agatha Christie Made Me Do It.” The three-act play, directed by Larissa Sneider, kept audiences guessing and laughing from opening night on Thursday, Oct. 18 through the final curtain.
Sneider also acted in the production, taking on the role of police officer Hootspah, who uses an Agatha Christie playwriting guide book to craft his own “who done it,” as the action he envisions takes place on stage. The mystery features young and wealthy Monte Brainard, who awakens one morning to find it is Tuesday when he believes it to be Monday. He also discovers he married not one, but two women during that missing day, which is not welcome news to his fiancée.
When Brainard’s business associate turns up dead and his greedy cousin Ruperta shows up intent on cashing in on some of his wealth, he must figure out why he has no memory of the missing Monday and who exactly was plotting against him.
The role of Brainard was played with exuberance and bravado by Scotty Heckert, while his two wives were brought to life by Maggie Jones and Shelby Bowman. Brainard’s greedy cousin Ruperta was played by Katie Heckert, whose performance, and repeated wig changes, drew loud laughter from the audience.
Other cast members included Tyler Hughes as the very proper butler Waldo, Agnes Halvorson as Annie the chambermaid, Vern Hopkin as Brainard’s murdered business associate, David Torres as Brainard’s attorney Sam Sears and Drew Cope as Dutch Winters, the brother of one of Brainard’s wives. Athena Donahue played Cindy, Brainard’s fiancée, who is revealed to be the mastermind of the murderous plot.
After learning he was drugged and impersonated and that Cindy betrayed him, at the conclusion of the play Brainard ends up with one of the two wives, while officer Hootspah steps into the action to pair off with the other rather than remaining on the sidelines writing the play. With a sly smile Hootspah confesses he never intended to end the play that way, but “Agatha Christie made me do it.”
