Virginia Repertory Theatre is kicking off its new season the way any sensible theatre should: with a train, a murder, and a detective who’s just trying to make sense of it all. Murder on the Orient Express is Agatha Christie’s great reminder that people are both awful and fascinating, sometimes in the same hour.
The setup is simple enough. A detestable man named Samuel Ratchett is found dead in his compartment. Locked door, no way in, no way out. Cue Hercule Poirot, Christie’s world-famous detective with the mustache and the patience of a saint, trying to untangle a train car full of liars. There’s a blizzard outside, secrets inside, and a solution that refuses to play by the usual rules.
Rick Hammerly, Virginia Rep’s artistic director, picked the show to open the season because, as he puts it, it’s “classic storytelling, thrilling suspense, and unexpected humor.” Which is another way of saying: people love watching people squirm, especially when everyone might be guilty. Leading the cast is two-time Helen Hayes Award winner Lawrence Redmond, making his Virginia Rep debut as Poirot, joined by a solid roster of Richmond actors who know how to keep an audience leaning forward.
A Little History
Christie wrote the novel in 1934, after spending time on the actual Orient Express. The book became famous not just because it was a page-turner, but because Christie broke the rules. She didn’t just shuffle suspects around like playing cards; she rewrote the deck. The detective genre had been built on the promise that if you paid attention, the clues would lead to one inevitable, tidy answer. Christie blew that up. She reminded readers that life doesn’t always hand out clean solutions, that morality and justice can be messier than any locked-room puzzle.
Nearly a century later, the ending still lands like a sucker punch, because it forces us to admit something we’d rather not: sometimes everyone has blood on their hands, and sometimes that’s the only way the story makes sense.
That audacity helped cement Poirot as Christie’s most enduring character and inspired decades of adaptations from Sidney Lumet’s star-studded 1974 film, to Kenneth Branagh’s glossy 2017 remake, to Ken Ludwig’s stage version now pulling into Richmond.
Enjoy the show
Murder on the Orient Express more than just a clever period piece. It’s a story about justice, morality, and whether neat solutions ever really exist.
And beyond the themes, the show gives Richmond audiences something they could use right now: a reason to dress up, sit together in a darkened room, and watch other people’s problems spiral out of control instead of their own.
Performances start in this week at the Sara Belle and Neil November Theatre. Tickets are on sale now HERE or by calling the box office at (804) 282-2620.
Photo by Ben White
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