Agatha Christie: A Life in Theatre. Julius Green

      

      Agatha Christie on the set of Witness for the Prosecution (1953).

       ‘Agatha has the gift of doing what all women want to do, but only men have the chance. She achieves something. Men climb Everest, race fast cars, invent atom bombs, fight wars, become famous surgeons and man lifeboats. In her heart every woman, too, would like to do these things. But all we can do is dream. It is all we can do. It’s a man’s world. The only consolation I get is that Agatha kills off a few of you.’

      Margaret Lockwood

      17 January 1954

      

       Copyright

      Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

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       www.harpercollins.co.uk

      This edition published 2018

      First published as Curtain Up 2015

      Text © Julius Green 2015, 2018

      Agatha Christie archive papers © Christie Archive Trust 2015

      Agatha Christie quotations © Agatha Christie Limited 2015

      Agatha Christie^® Poirot^® Marple^® and the Agatha Christie signature are registered trademarks of Agatha Christie Limited in the UK and elsewhere. All rights reserved.

       www.agathachristie.com

      Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2018

      Photographs courtesy of The Christie Archive Trust, The Shubert Archive, The University of Bristol Theatre Collection, The National Portrait Gallery, The Peter Saunders Archive, The Museum of the City of New York Theatre Collection, The Theatre Royal Bath Archive and Getty Images.

      Julius Green asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

      A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

      Source ISBN: 9780007546961

      Ebook Edition © April 2018 ISBN: 9780007546954

      Version: 2018-02-21

       Dedication

       To Dianne

      Contents

       Cover

       Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Foreword

A Note from the Author

Agatha Christie’s Family Tree

Behind the Scenes

Act One: The People’s Playwright

Scene One: The Early Plays

Scene Two: Poirot Takes the Stage

Scene Three: Stranger and Stranger

       Scene Four: Broadway Bound

       Scene Five: Towards Zero

       Act Two: Saunders Saves the Day

       Scene One: The Binkie Effect

       Scene Two: The Disappearing Director

       Scene Three: Saunders’ Folly

       Scene Four: Hat-Trick

       Scene Five: The Late Plays

       Curtain Call

       Picture Section

       Endnotes

       Bibliography

       Index of Agatha Christie Works

       General Index

       Acknowledgements

       Mousetrap Theatre Projects