Interview: Michael Susko on MURDER AT THE VICARAGE at Kismet Theatre

Playwright. Director. Choreographer. Dancer. Actor. Teacher. Award-winning horror screenwriter. All-around-awesome-human. Michael Susko is the king of the theatrical multi-hyphenate, and the best part is that he is genuinely great at all the hyphens.

Susko directed at regional houses from Arizona to Arkansas, spent over a decade serving as the resident director of the New Bedford Festival Theatre, toured with broadway companies, and had his own plays hit the Off-Broadway stages. In 2023, he gave NJ audiences the world premier of House on Haunted Hill at the Kismet Performing Arts Theatre.

Now he and kismet are coming back together for another world premier, Susko’s adaptation adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Murder at the Vicarage, directed by Kathleen Kellaigh. The play runs for two weekends at the Clifton Arts Center starting November 6th. I sat down with Michael to chat about the whodunits, village gossip, and what it takes to turn a Christie’s reigning Queen of Crime into a great theatrical protagonist.

Here’s what he had to say.

---

Agatha Christie. Miss Marple. A world premiere in New Jersey. Why should someone get out of their PJs and come see this show?

Because it’s Agatha Christie - Queen of Crime! It’s one thing to see it on TV, but it is so much fun to experience it in person with a room full of people all trying to solve it at the same time.  Also, there aren’t a lot of opportunities to see Miss Marple on stage! It’s usually Hercule Poirot.  You can be one of the first people to see a stage adaptation of Murder at the Vicarage.  Get off your couch and come meet me!

Christie's catalog is enormous. What made you say, "The Murder at the Vicarage, that's the one”?

Director Kathleen Kellaigh was actually the one that brought the novel to my attention.  Kismet had great success with And Then There Were None.  They wanted another Christie play, but it’s difficult to get the rights to them.  I had written House on Haunted Hill for them, and in January she mentioned that Murder at the Vicarage had just entered the public domain.  I read it, was hooked, and I took that as a challenge.  Two months later I had the first draft.  

What is it about Christie that still hooks readers a century later? Why do you think audiences keep lining up to be fooled?

First, Christie knows how to create a fabulous knot that we enjoy trying to unravel.  Second, her characters are such good company.  But the real secret is that she plays fair. Every clue is right in front of you. She knows exactly where you’re going to look, and where you won’t. So, when the solution comes, you don’t feel tricked, you feel outsmarted, and that’s awesome. 

Adapting a beloved novel is a huge undertaking. What did you have to change? What did you absolutely refuse to change? And where did you let yourself go wild?

This was the first novel to feature Miss Marple, and in the original, the story is narrated by the Vicar.  I was surprised at how small the role of Marple was.   So, the biggest change I made was making her the narrator.  She breaks the fourth wall and talks directly to the audience. You’re there with her. 

A novel can have an unlimited cast and locations. A stage play, if it wants to be produced, can’t. Were characters cut? How did you handle that?

Christie used the entire village of St. Mary Mead.  Obviously, that was impossible because a cast of twenty-plus characters isn’t feasible for the stage.   So, I combined some characters and eliminated others altogether.  My biggest regret is losing the chorus of older village women, because their dialogue is hysterical.   Gossip is the engine of St. Mary Mead, but happily I’ve kept that intact through Miss Marple. 

What's your trick to keeping an audience guessing when half the room has read the book.

We have an advantage here: this isn’t as widely known as Orient Express or And Then There Were None, so a lot of people will be coming in fresh. And for those who have read it, they’ve never seen it this way. And honestly, I trust that even if you know whodunit, you’ll enjoy the roller coaster ride. I know how The Mousetrap and Witness for the Prosecution end, but that’s never stopped me from enjoying every production and seeing how new artists interpret the same material. 

Your last adaptation, House on Haunted Hill, had its world premiere in New Jersey with Kismet Performing Artists' Theater. What did you learn from that experience that you brought to this one?

House on Haunted Hill taught me how to trust the process.  Everyone at Kismet enjoys working on new work.  Thankfully, it’s a very collaborative environment, and we’ve all given each other permission to be critical of the piece day by day.  It’s all in service to the play.  I can’t tell you how many conversations we’ve had that dealt with the timeline of this story.  The director and actors would constantly ask questions about the where, whens, and whys.  No detail was too small.  Especially with a mystery, it all has to add up, and that can only make the play stronger.   

Is there a through-line in your work, whether it's Fck, Marry, Kill, Haunted Hill, or Christie? What makes a story a "Michael Susko story”? Besides a literal or figurative body count?

Besides the body count? What fun is that??  I’m drawn to genre stories: horror, thrillers, mysteries. What interests me is what pushes ordinary people to do terrible things, and how society makes them complicit. That’s why Christie fits right in. The Little Village of St. Mary Mead looks peaceful, but how many people have died there over the years??  I mean seriously.  I’ve also been writing horror screenplays. Meridian won Best Unproduced Screenplay at the NYC Horror Film Festival last year, and Opening Night won Best Slasher and Readers’ Choice at the Bloody Mirror Film Festival, so I must be doing something right.  Keep your fingers crossed for me. 

You're also a director with a long list of regional credits. Has directing shaped the way you write?

Being able to think like a director, an actor, and a playwright can only help. When I write, I’m directing the play in my head: I see the staging, the entrances, where the audience’s eye goes. And I can put myself inside each character and ask whether a line actually plays, whether an actor would know what to do with it. I just keep changing hats, and the work can only be stronger for it.  Of course, the director and actors are going to, and should, make their own choices and see things differently - but I hope I’ve made their job a little easier.

For anyone wanting to do an adaptation, what would be your advice? 

Make sure you have the rights before you write a single word! I could only write Murder at the Vicarage because it entered the U.S. public domain this year. I’ve seen too many writers spend months on a project that will never see the light of day because they didn’t do their due diligence. If you’re not sure, a lawyer can advise you. Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts helped me with House on Haunted Hill.  (Great organization!)

You also have a fascinating substack, The Game changers. Tell me about it. 

Thanks for asking! Every week on Substack I write The Gamechangers, which looks at a Broadway musical - or a moment in Broadway history - that changed the game. My theory is that Broadway doesn’t evolve gradually; it ruptures. One show comes along and suddenly everything after is different. It might be how Oklahoma! changed the way song and dance tell a story, or something as unexpected as Broadway’s first TV commercial. (That honor is widely given to Pippin.) I originally imagined it as a book, but a weekly article turned out to be far more realistic, and a lot more fun.

---

There’s a reason Michael Susko’s name keeps appearing on marquees. He doesn’t just work in theatre, he lives it. Besides all of his impressive hyphenates, he is truly one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet in the business.

A corpse. A village full of secrets. Miss Freakin’ Marple. This is a world premier you won’t want to miss. Grab your tickets and bring your favorite armchair sleuth. Can you solve the mystery before Miss Marple reveals the killer? Only one way to find out.

For tickets, click here.

To learn more about Michael, visit his website.

And to read his Substack, The GameChangers, click here.