Review – BLACK COFFEE at the Festival Theatre, Malvern, from Monday, April 7 to Saturday, April 12, 2014.

IT was back in 1920 that the Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, first surfaced in the world famous Agatha Christie crime novels and he has been portrayed over the years on stage by several great actors, as well as for television and film.

Thinking back over almost a century a few of the big names to play the diminutive but quirky detective have been Charles Laughton – that was way back, Albert Finney, Peter Ustinov and, of course, David Suchet, who is arguably the one most associated with the role having played him on television from 1989 to 2013.

It’s easy to reflect on how Poirot has been brought to life, the qualities each put into the part, and it’s also worth considering how Agatha Christie described him when he was introduced in The Mysterious Affair at Styles.

Here, she said, was a man who was ‘hardly more than five feet, four inches, but carried himself with great dignity. His head was exactly the shape of an egg, and he always perched it a little on one side. His moustache was very stiff and military. The neatness of his attire was almost incredible. I believe a speck of dust would have caused him more pain than a bullet wound.’

So, how would someone new slot in to this and the perceived public view of Poirot?

Christie wasn’t that struck all those years ago with Laughton, and through Poirot is not a big man they are definitely big shoes to fill, but it’s highly likely she will have been quite struck by Robert Powell’s offering.

He’s an excellent choice and delightfully delivered the familiar appearance, along with those particular traits, the mannerisms, and those little hand gestures and looks that spoke a thousand words.

Powell looked totally comfortable in the role and provided a believable Poirot as he put his ‘little grey cells’ to good use to deduce who had poisoned eccentric inventor Sir Claud Amory (Ric Recate) and stolen a secret and considerably valuable formula. Even the accent should have satisfied the most critical.

As well as a top quality cast, designer Simon Scullion also offers a first rate set – a stunning art deco drawing room in an English country pile – where the Amory family are gathered along with a mysterious Italian guest.

Liza Goddard was on top form as Sir Claud’s sister, Caroline, and there were other splendid offerings from Olivia Mace as the highly strung Lucia Amory and Ben Nealon (her husband, Richard), along with Gary Mavers’ Italian Dr Carelli.

There were any number of enjoyable moments but one of the high-spots was the flirting of the excellent Felicity Houlbrooke (Barbara Amory, Sir Claud’s niece) with Robin McCallum (Captain Arthur Hastings, Poirot’s faithful friend).

Hugely enjoyable and a great credit to the Agatha Christie Theatre Company with what is their 11th tour production.

Plenty of suspense, mystery – with any number of suspects, and a nice sprinkling of humour too ensured a full house enjoyed a theatrical treat.