Agatha Christie's THE SECRET ADVERSARY to Premiere in 2015 at Watermill Theatre

Agatha Christie's 1922 thriller The Secret Adversary will receive its world stage premiere at The Watermill Theatre on 12 February 2015 where it will play for 44 performances, prior to a six-week national tour. Introducing crime-fighting duo Tommy and Tuppence to the stage for the very first time, The Secret Adversary will be brought to life in a new adaptation by Sarah Punshon and Johann Hari. Tickets go on sale at The Watermill Theatre from 10 November 2014.

The Secret Adversary presents the first new stage adaptation of Christie's work in over a decade. Agatha Christie Limited has chosen the award-winning Watermill Theatre to bring two of Christie's most vibrant characters to life as part of its 125th anniversary celebrations in 2015. With a fresh and inventive theatrical approach, this production promises fast-paced action, shot through with comedy, romance and live music.

The first of five Tommy and Tuppence thrillers which spanned Christie's writing career (and indeed the lives of the two characters), The Secret Adversary follows the daring and dizzying adventures of the duo through 1920s London. Home from the First World War, flat-broke and unemployed, our intrepid young heroes embark on an outlandish business scheme: 'The Young Adventurers Limited' - willing to go anywhere, willing to do anything. Their first assignment plunges them into more danger than they ever imagined and they quickly find themselves sucked into a perilous world of political intrigue, criminal conspiracy, murder and mayhem. Will the nation survive? And who exactly is Mr. Brown?

The Secret Adversary is directed by Sarah Punshon and designed by Tom Rogers, with original music and musical arrangements by Alex Silverman, lighting design by Howard Hudson, sound design by David Gregory and movement direction by John Nicholson. The production will be presented as a play with live music, featuring an ensemble cast of eight performers. Casting is yet to be announced.

Mathew Prichard, Chairman of Agatha Christie Limited, said "We are delighted to be working with The Watermill Theatre and Sarah and Johann to bring their unique and intimate production style to my grandmother's freshest characters. The Watermill is the perfect place for Tommy and Tuppence to make their stage debut".

Writer and director, Sarah Punshon said: "I've been a huge fan of Tommy and Tuppence since I was a teenager. I love the partnership between them: I love how funny and fearless and full of life they both are. It's so different to anything people expect from Christie. When she wrote The Secret Adversary, she was younger than I am now. It was 1920, and young ladies weren't even supposed to cross their legs in public: but Christie writes this incredible gutsy young woman, who swears and tells jokes and comes up with daring plans - she's stupendous! I'm so delighted to have the chance to introduce audiences to Tommy and Tuppence: my favourite ever fictional couple".

Tommy and Tuppence are set to be the detective couple on everyone's lips in 2015 when the glamorous pair will also feature in the new BBC television adaptation, Partners in Crime, starring David Walliams and Jessica Raine.

Sarah Punshon's directing credits span stage and television. For theatre, she has directed: How To Occupy An Oil Rig (Daniel Bye / ARC Stockton); Story Hunt (Daniel Bye / ARC Stockton / Festival of the North East); The Glass Menagerie and And A Nightingale Sang (New Vic / Oldham Coliseum); The Lady in the Van (Salisbury Playhouse); Don't You Leave Me Here, My Mother Said I Never Should, Gluey and the Lion, Coming Around Again (West Yorkshire Playhouse); The Caretaker, Of Mice and Men, Frozen, The Birthday Party (Theatre by the Lake, Keswick). She has directed more than 21 hours of popular television drama including EastEnders, Doctors and Shameless.

Johann Hari is a journalist who has written for the New York Times, Le Monde, the Los Angeles Times and other leading global newspapers. He was a columnist for the Independent newspaper for nine years and has been twice named 'Newspaper Journalist of the Year' by Amnesty International for his reporting from the Congo and Dubai, and was named 'Cultural Commentator of the Year' by Editorial Intelligence. His new book, Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs is published by Bloomsbury in the US and UK in January 2015.

The Secret Adversary is presented by The Watermill Theatre in association with Eleanor Lloyd Productions. The Watermill Theatre receives funding from Arts Council England and West Berkshire Council.

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