The Other Agatha
Agatha Christie was born in Torquay in 1891 and died in1976. She was a prolific writer of mystery stories. The Mysterious Affair at Styles began her career in 1920. Her mysteries are noted for clever and surprising twists of plot and for the creation of two unconventional fictional detectives, Hercules Poirot and Miss Marple. Poirot is the hero of many of her works, including the classic The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and The Curtain, in which the detective dies. She is the most widely published author of all time in any language, out-sold by only the Bible and Shakespeare.
Her first marriage, to Archibald Christie, ended in divorce in 1928. In 1930, while travelling in the Middle East, Christie met the noted English archaeologist Sir Max Mallowan. They were married that year, and from that time on Christie accompanied her husband on annual trips to Iraq and Syria. She used the expeditions as material for Murder in Mesopotamia (1930), Death on the Nile (1937), and Appointment with Death (1938).
Christie's plays include The Mousetrap, produced continuously in London since 1952, and Witness for the Prosecution (1953; film 1957), for which she received the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for 1954-1955. Her stories have been made into a number of television series and films, most centring on her characters Hercules Poirot and Miss Marple. In 1971 she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
In 1926 Agatha, already upset by the recent death of her mother, disappeared. All of England became wrapped up in the case of the now famous missing writer. She was found three weeks later in a small hotel, explaining to police that she had lost her memory. Thereafter, it was never again mentioned or elaborated upon by Christie. Perhaps the spookily parallel story of Agatha Crispie can throw some light on this mysterious episode……..
See how many of the underlined or other references to Agatha you can spot in different guises in the play!
