AND THEN THERE WERE NONE To Be Performed At The Players Ring

Just in time for the spooky season, “And Then There Were None,” written by Agatha Christie and directed by Ben Bagley, will be on stage at the Players Ring from October 23 through November 15.

Ten strangers are summoned to a remote island mansion—each drawn there for reasons that don’t quite add up. None of them knows their elusive host, and yet… it soon becomes clear that someone knows far more about them than they do about each other.

Not long after they arrive, the atmosphere shifts. What begins as unease turns into something sharper, more dangerous. A pattern emerges—one that feels anything but accidental. Isolated from the mainland, with trust eroding by the hour, the guests are forced into a quiet, mounting realization: the danger isn’t outside the house… it’s already among them. Christie’s best-selling mystery of all time, is a masterfully constructed thriller packed with shocking twists, mounting suspense, and one of the most famous endings in theatre history.

“I read Christie’s novel “And Then There Were None" several years ago, and it was really one of those ‘whoa’ moments for me,” said Director Ben Bagley. “I found there to be an incredibly modern quality to the storytelling and I almost immediately started visualizing it for the stage. At a glance, the book was a twisty-turny locked room mystery, but the ‘special sauce’ was the direct insight into the psychology of each of the characters.”

Bagley said when he read the play version, it didn’t contain the internal thoughts of the characters the way the novel did. “I saw that as a really exciting challenge: to create that thrilling tension in a different medium – in other ways that only a live theater experience can provide,” he added. “The most important thing became finding an incredible cast of really smart and thoughtful actors that would be able to deliver so much more than what was on the page.”

Bagley said that The Ring gives the audience this great gift of being so close to the action. “In many ways it opens the door to more modern and fresh styles of storytelling – it’s more cinematic,” he said.  “It allows for these great actors to exist in a world of true authenticity without the larger-than-life needs of bigger spaces. There’s an undeniable nature to it. The character is right there; you could reach out and touch them. It gives a story like this a really haunting quality – it’s a locked room mystery where you’re locked in the room with them."

The Ring’s Executive Director Margherita Giacobbi echoes that same quality about the theatre. “The more I work at the Players Ring, the more I realize that our recipe for success is the ability to juxtapose excellent brand-new plays with published titles, contemporary or classic, without ever giving up on the ambition to be original and innovative in our approach,” she said. “Our space lends itself beautifully to this: the audience experience is so immediate and intimate that even a familiar play can look and feel completely different here.”

The cast for “And Then There Were None” includes Elly Berke, Sanford Farrier, Noah J. Fox, Jim Manclark, Niko McPherson, Joshua P. Moore, Bretton Reis, Krysten Schmelzer, Matthew Schofield, Constance Witman and Collin Young. The creative team is Ben Bagley for Set, Lighting and Sound Design; Joshua Mills for Set Construction; Valerie Smith for Costume Design and Niko McPherson as Production Manager.

The Ring’s neighbor, The Puddle Dock restaurant, and its sister restaurant, Tour on Lafayette Road, are both offering a 10% discount on food to Players Ring patrons. Visit their websites to reserve, and present your ticket when you ask for your check.

Performances will run Oct. 23 – Nov. 15. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. Exceptions: Saturday, Oct. 31 at 2 p.m. only and Sunday, Nov. 1, at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. at Players Ring, 105 Marcy Street, Portsmouth NH.  Tickets are  General Admission: $33; Seniors (65+)/Students/Veterans/First Responders: $31.

This play is included in The Ring’s subscription packages. Visit www.playersring.org for more information and to purchase tickets. Inquire about group discounts at the Box Office.