London - As the mistress of the whodunnit, she was one of the most successful playwrights of all time.
Now, on the 125th anniversary of her birth, ten “new” Agatha Christie plays have been uncovered after a theatre producer turned literary detective and tracked them down.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the previously unknown or forgotten dramas include several murder-mysteries.
The news will delight fans of the writer, who created fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple.
Producer Julius Green uncovered five full-length and five one-act dramas after being given unprecedented access to archives, including those of Christie’s family.
Among them is a 1945 stage adaptation of her novel Towards Zero – not to be confused with an existing 1956 adaptation. This is “an entirely different play”, said Mr Green. He added: “It’s got a lot of different characters.
“It’s set in the open air which is unusual for her plays. The characterisation is much stronger, much truer to the spirit of the original book.” Mr Green also unearthed previously unpublished letters by Christie, who died in 1976. One includes her views of leading actors of the day such as Ralph Richardson, whose face she described as “queer”.
The writer’s books have sold two billion copies and her classic murder mystery The Mousetrap is the world’s longest-running play – now into its 63rd year after more than 25 000 performances.
Hilary Strong of Agatha Christie Limited which manages her literary rights, said Mr Green’s discoveries were “hugely exciting”. They will be included in his book Curtain Up: Agatha Christie – A Life in Theatre, to be published on September 10. His research brings the total number of Christie plays to 30, excluding “second-rate” adaptations by other writers.
Mr Green found her previously unknown version of Towards Zero in the archives of America’s oldest theatrical production company, the Shubert Organisation.
He said: “They brought up a box from the basement, and had no idea what it was.”
Unpublished material includes a letter sent in 1945 by producer Lee Shubert to Christie. It reveals that he commissioned Towards Zero and “tried out” the play for just one week before asking her to rework it.
He wrote: “We found the climax came too suddenly and the final situation was not plausible to the audience.” Christie never did rework the play and it “completely disappeared from history”, Mr Green said.
Daily Mail