Verdict is a 1958 play by British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 mystery writer Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie

Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...

. It is unusual for Agatha Christie plays in more than one way: for example, it is an original play, not based on a story or novel; and though there is a murder in the story, it is a melodrama more than a typical 'whodunnit' mystery as the murder takes place on stage.

It was first produced by Peter Saunders and directed by Charles Hickman, with decor by Joan Jefferson Farjeon. The play premiered at the Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton

Wolverhampton

Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...

 on 25 February 1958, before moving to the Strand Theatre

Novello Theatre

The Novello Theatre is a West End theatre on Aldwych, in the City of Westminster.-History:The theatre was built as one of a pair with the Aldwych Theatre on either side of the Waldorf Hotel, both being designed by W. G. R. Sprague. The theatre opened as the Waldorf Theatre on 22 May 1905, and was...

, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 on May 22, 1958. It ran for 250 performances. In 1987 the play ran in the Arena Players Main Stage Theater in East Farmingdale, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, and in May 2009 it premiered with an international cast in Luxembourg's Abbaye de Neumunster.

Synopsis

The play tells the story of Karl Hendryk, a brilliant professor who, with his wife and her cousin, have fled persecution in their country. It is not explicitly mentioned that they are Germans persecuted by Nazis — and Agatha Christie has probably deliberately given the characters names that are not evidently traceable to any national origin. The professor is contentedly ensconced in a British university, where he is respected by students and faculty alike. His wife, Anya, an invalid suffering from a progressively debilitating disease, bitterly regrets having been forced to leave her home and her friends and is unhappy with all aspects of her life in England. Her cousin and close friend, Lisa Koletzky, has moved with them to care for Anya and to manage the professor's home. Karl and Lisa have suppressed feelings for each other, and the situation is further disturbed when a young rich student, Helen Rollander, takes on private lessons with the professor.

Synopsis of scenes

The action of the play passes in the living-room of Professor Hendryk's flat in Bloomsbury

Bloomsbury

-Places:* Bloomsbury is an area in central London.* Bloomsbury , related local government unit* Bloomsbury, New Jersey, New Jersey, USA* Bloomsbury , listed on the NRHP in Maryland...

. Time: not clear but probably in the 1950s.

ACT I

• Scene 1 - An afternoon in early spring
• Scene 2 - A fortnight later. Afternoon.

ACT II

• Scene 1 - Four days later. About midday.
• Scene 2 - Six hours later. Evening.
• Scene 3 - Two months later. Late afternoon.

Cast of London production

• George Roubicek
  George Roubicek
  George Roubicek is an actor, and a dialogue director and script adaptor for English-language versions of foreign films and television shows. Born in Austria in 1935, Roubicek appeared in a number of small roles throughout the 1950s, 60s and 70s, including the films The Bedford Incident, Billion...
  
   played Lester Cole
• Gretchen Franklin
  Gretchen Franklin
  Gretchen Franklin was an English actress with a career in showbusiness that spanned over eighty years.She was born in Covent Garden, west London, a cousin of the actor Clive Dunn. She was best known for playing the character of Ethel Skinner in the long running BBC One, soap opera, EastEnders...
  
   played Mrs. Roper
• Patricia Jessel
  Patricia Jessel
  Patricia Helen Jessel was an English actress for stage and film...
  
   played Lisa Koletzky
• Gerard Heinz
  Gerard Heinz
  Gerard Heinz , born Gerhard Hinze, was an actor. He later moved to England, where he changed his name to Gerard Heinz. He appeared in almost 60 movies , and a number of stage productions...
  
   played Professor Karl Hendryk
• Derek Oldham
  Derek Oldham
  Derek Oldham was an English singer and actor, best known for his performances in the tenor roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company....
  
   played Dr. Stoner
• Viola Keats
  Viola Keats
  Viola Keats was a British film and television actress. She made her first screen appearance in the 1933 film Too Many Wives, and went on to have starring roles in films such as A Woman Alone. From the 1950s she largely worked in television...
  
   played Anya Hendryk
• Moira Redmond
  Moira Redmond
  Moira Redmond was a British actress.She was born in Bognor Regis, England, the daughter of the actress Molly Redmond and her husband who was a stage manager...
  
   played Helen Rollander
• Norman Claridge played Sir William Rollander
• Michael Golden
  Michael Golden (actor)
  -Selected filmography:* Send for Paul Temple * Hungry Hill * Pool of London * Salute the Toff * The Gentle Gunman * The Square Ring * Murder by Proxy * The Green Scarf...
  
   played Detective Inspector Ogden
• Gerald Sim
  Gerald Sim
  Gerald Grant Sim is an English actor who is perhaps best known for playing the Rector in To the Manor Born. He is the younger brother of actress Sheila Sim and brother-in-law of actor/director Lord Attenborough.- Career :...
  
   played Police Sergeant Pearce

Publication history

The play was first published in 1958 in a paperback edition by Samuel French Ltd as Acting Edition No. 833 priced at six shillings

Shilling (United Kingdom)

The British shilling is an historic British coin from the eras of the Kingdom of Great Britain and the later United Kingdom; also adopted as a Scot denomination upon the 1707 Treaty of Union....

. It was first published in hardback in The Mousetrap and Other Plays by Dodd, Mead and Company

Dodd, Mead and Company

Dodd, Mead and Company was one of the pioneer publishing houses of the United States, based in New York City. Under several names, the firm operated from 1839 until 1990. Its history properly began in 1870, with the retirement of its founder, Moses Woodruff Dodd. Control passed to his son Frank...

 in 1993 (ISBN 0-39-607631-9) and in the UK by Harper Collins in 1993 (ISBN 0-00-243344-X).