RENOWNED film, stage and television actor Michael Maloney will star as Hercule Poirot in an Agatha Christie classic at Plymouth’s Theatre Royal next month.
Lucy Bailey’s new UK production tour of Murder on the Orient Express will be steaming into the venue between September 24 and 28.
Gripping, tense and masterfully cryptic, this brand-new production is a deliciously thrilling ride and an ingenious murder mystery, guaranteed to keep you guessing until the end of the line.
Winter 1934 and an avalanche stops the Orient Express dead in its tracks. An American tycoon lies dead in his compartment, stabbed eight times, his door locked from the inside. Trapped in the snow with a killer still on board, can the world’s most famous detective, Hercule Poirot, crack the case before the train reaches its final destination?
Said Michael on playing the famous Belgian detective, ‘I am very excited and honoured to be joining a long line of extraordinary actors who have taken on the role of Hercule Poirot and hope I can be so, too.
‘To work with such a talented director as Lucy Bailey and with top producers Fiery Angel is a gift and a privilege.’
Michael’s extensive film and television work includes Belfast, Iron Lady, Young Victoria, Notes on a Scandal, Branagh's Hamlet, Zefferelli's Hamlet and Truly Madly Deeply On the stage, his many roles for the RSC include Edgar, Romeo and Prince Hal.
For the National, he has appeared in Light Shining in Buckinghamshire as Cromwell, Alice’s Adventures Under Ground as Lewis Carroll and Once in a While the Odd Thing Happens as Benjamin Britten. In the West End, he has appeared in Peer Gynt (in the title role), Can You Hear Me at the Back? and Taking Steps.
Joining him on stage will be Bob Barrett as Monsieur Bouc, Mila Carter as Countess Elena Andreyni, Rebecca Charles as Greta Ohlsonn and Debbie Chazen as Princess Dragomiroff,
Bob Barrett is best known as Sacha Levy in the long-running Holby City, a role he played from 2010 to 2022. On stage, he most recently appeared in the UK Tour of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, also directed by Lucy Bailey.
Debbie Chazen’s more recent television and film appearances include Sister Boniface Mysteries, Dalgliesh, Sable in The Last Kingdom, and Red Joan. Recent work includes Jews in Their Own Words and Ruth in the original cast of The Girls, the Gary Barlow/Tim Firth musical.
Also appearing in the production are Simon Cotton as Samuel Ratchett, Jean-Baptiste Fillon as Michel, Christine Kavanagh as Helen Hubbard, Paul Keating as Hector MacQueen, Iniki Mariano as Mary Debenham, Rishi Rian as The Colonel and Alex Stedman as Head Waiter.
For ticket details and performance times see https://theatreroyal.com/whats-on/orient-express