The classic murder mystery whodunnit by the Queen of Crime herself: Death on the Nile is quintessential Christie, and many people’s favourite. With an ingenious modus operandi which the egghead Belgian super sleuth calls “perfect”, ensuring that the murderers have cast iron alibis, this is a crime unlike any other. In many versions Poirot suspects before he works it out for certain and there is a delicious hint at it in this version, where two people who are apparently not communicating use the same words to describe a situation, showing they had discussed it: this could have cleverly been drawn out further.

This is a slick and stylish production set mainly on the paddle steamer cruise on the Nile. With sliding wooden slat doors often backlit with interesting lighting showing hints at shadows or silhouettes or even obvious characters which then come in and out of all the various locations in the boat: it’s a great use of space. However the scenes taking place on the top deck are quite difficult to see if you’re near the front of the stalls due to the angle of having to look up and the bars on the railings masking faces. The costumes are sumptuous and they all look beautifully elite and rich, although the really obvious positioning of personal mics on some of the actors is a little off putting. The opening on Poirot’s tell-tale figure shrouded in mist is beautifully done.

The movement used in transition is also beautifully done: very stylised with some furniture choreography which is interesting to watch. There is quite a lot of comedy in this version and whereas we might always appreciate a chance to laugh, which may also result in a round of applause, but almost dipping into panto territory, when you think about the story being told here it does seem a little incongruent at the least and when joking light heartedly next to a dead body, it’s debatable whether this lands, and certainly doesn’t land in a way to further the story.

The Agatha Christie novels are very visual and incredibly easy to imagine and you’d think they would make easy translations to film or stage, but very often you see adaptations, particularly in television, where the characters don’t translate in a realistic way. So too here: they all seem a little too big, or overdone, which gives them too much distance from us all when trying to tell the story. The love story between Camilla Anvar as Rosalie Otterbourne and Nicholas Prasad as Ramses Praed is natural and sweet: lovely to watch evolve. They create a likeable and believable pair in the wrong place at the wrong time and we root for them. However, all in all, it’s a little too much style over substance, but stylish it certainly is. The people are beautiful and the opulence and time period comes across well: and the whodunnit and how is an amazing narrative.

Theatre Royal Brighton, 31 March 2026
Death on the Nile runs until 4 April 2026
Photos credit: Manuel Harlan