Murder on the Orient Express

A play adapted from Agatha Christie's classic mystery Murder on the Orient Express by Tony-nominated playwright Ken Ludwig (Lend Me a Tenor, Crazy for You).

Murder on the Orient Express is widely regarded as one of Agatha Christie’s greatest literary achievements. First published in 1934, the stylish, suspenseful murder mystery about an unlikely cast of potential suspects - including a colonel, a princess and a countess, all with alibis – trapped aboard the luxurious Orient Express during a snow storm features one of the most iconic fictional detectives of all time – Belgian private detective Hercule Poirot. Ludwig’s stage adaptation promises fans of the mystery classic the same suspenseful, thrilling ride.

The play had its world premiere at the multi-award-winning McCarter Theatre, Princeton in 2017, directed by Emily Mann (Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years and A Streetcar Named Desire on Broadway). Ken Ludwig has said of adapting the production, that the goal was to give the audience two hours with "glamorous, interesting people."

Show synopsis

Eight suspects, one thrilling ride... Winter 1934. The Orient Express is travelling through Europe when its journey is halted by a snowdrift. A man is found stabbed in his bed, and famous detective Hercule Poirot - who happens to be on his way back to London from Istanbul - is called upon to investigate the murder. Each of his fellow travellers is suspicious...

A love letter to the original material, with a swift moving script adaptation by Ken Ludwig. ... [E]verything you could want - broadly drawn characters, exotic settings, and a spectacular murder with no shortage of suspects.

Broadway World

UK Staging, 2022

Murder on the Orient Express steams into two English theatres in the summer of 2022. The show will be staged at Chichester Festival Theatre 13th May - 4th June, before moving on to Theatre Royal Bath 9th - 25th June.

Henry Goodman makes a welcome return to Chichester to play Poirot, following his appearances in Yes, Prime Minister (2010) and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (2012/13), also directed by Jonathan Church, and which both transferred to the West End. His many other roles encompass his Olivier Award-winning Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, Roy Cohn in the UK premiere of Angels in America and Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls (all National Theatre), Volpone for the RSC, and Assassins for which he also won an Olivier Award at the Donmar Warehouse.

Joining double Olivier Award-winner Henry Goodman as Hercule Poirot are: Marc Antolin (as Michel the Conductor), Philip Cairns (Colonel Arbuthnot), Samuel Collings (Hector MacQueen), Joanna McCallum (as Princess Dragomiroff), Taz Munyaneza (Mary Debenham), Patrick Robinson (Monsieur Bouc), Laura Rogers (Countess Andrenyi), Sara Stewart (Helen Hubbard), Joanna van Kampen (Greta Ohlsson) and Timothy Watson (Samuel Ratchett), together with Matt Addis, Kelvin Ade, Joelle Dyson, Jacqueline Tate and juvenile actors Sophie Bye and Eleanor Sebastian.