About the Play:

Murder on the Nile is a full-length mystery by Agatha Christie. A newlywed couple take their honeymoon on a paddle steamer on the Nile River, with a bevy of colourful characters as fellow passengers. But their serene cruise is jolted by a murder, and everyone onboard becomes a suspect – except Canon Pennefather, the clergyman who solves the mystery in Agatha Christie's classic thriller Murder on the Nile.

Murder on the Nile begins as a group of travellers embarks on a picturesque journey through Egypt. Among the passengers are Simon Mostyn, who has recently married Kay Ridgeway, a wealthy and spoiled socialite, having thrown over his former fiancé Jacqueline. The couple are on their honeymoon on the Lotus, a paddle steamer on the Nile. Among those present are Kay's uncle and guardian, Canon Ambrose Pennefather, a middle-aged clergyman; as well as Jacqueline, who has been dogging their footsteps all through the honeymoon. Also on the boat are a rich, ill tempered old woman with her niece and companion, a rather direct young man, a German who nurses a grudge against Kay's father and Kay's maid. During the voyage jilted Jacqueline works herself into a state of hysteria and shoots at Simon, wounding him in the knee. A few moments later Kay is found shot in her bunk. The situation quickly escalates into a complex web of deceit and jealousy. Everyone's a suspect as the investigation unfolds and the remaining passengers become increasingly suspicious of each other. By the time the boat reaches its destination, Canon Pennefather has laid bare an audacious conspiracy and has made sure the criminals shall not go free.

It premiered in 1944 at Dundee Repertory Theatre under the title Hidden Horizon before opening in 1946 as Murder on the Nile at the Ambassadors Theatre in the commercial heart of British theatre, the West End of London. The play has been performed in regional, high school, college, and community theatre productions.

Cast: 5 female, 8 male

What people say:

"As slick a vehicle as any theatre company could wish for." — New York Times

About the Playwright:

Agatha Christie (1890-1976) is known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime. Her books have sold over a billion copies in English with another billion in foreign languages. She is the most widely published author of all time and, in many languages, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. In a writing career that spanned more than half a century, Agatha Christie wrote 66 crime novels, 150 short story collections, over 20 plays, and six novels written under the name Mary Westmacott. Her work includes Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, and the genre-defining And Then There Were None. In addition several of her original works were adapted for the stage by third parties.