Built during the late 1920s, the Minerva Club currently houses a group of thespians with a shared goal of transporting theatergoers to the following decade.
Since mid-July, the Santa Maria landmark has played an important role in the Orcutt Community Theater’s production of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, set in the late ’30s.
“The building becomes a character in the play in its own right,” the show’s director, Dan Bullard, said about the Minerva Club’s historic clubhouse facility designed by famed architect Julia Morgan in 1928.
Performances of the play, adapted from Christie’s 1939 whodunit novel, run through Sunday, July 30. Bullard said that the Orcutt Community Theater is grateful for the opportunity to use the space for its latest show, thanks to a partnership with the Minerva Club Building Preservation Fund and its director, Ethel Donati.
Setting this stage adaptation of And Then There Were None at the venue, completed nearly a decade before the publication of the original Christie novel, gives the show an extra dose of old-timey charm, Bullard explained.
“Staging this play in the Minerva Club has provided a unique, ideal, but also challenging situation, as we are using the entire space as the setting of the play itself, which is a mansion located on a deserted island off the coast of Devon, England,” Bullard said. “It creates just the right atmosphere and ambience. I knew this was the right place to stage this show, and figuring out the logistics of it all has been fun.”
The play was penned by Christie herself, who wrote the 1943 adaptation four years after her classic novel was released. Like the book, the show’s plot follows a group of strangers lured to a mansion on an isolated island.
A violent storm traps them there, where dark secrets about each of the strangers are gradually revealed, and death seems to pluck them off one by one at an alarming rate.
“I had seen a film version of And Then There Were None years ago and had read the novel, so I was very familiar with the story,” Bullard said. “I am a longtime fan of the mystery/thriller genre, and Agatha Christie is truly the queen of mystery.”
The ensemble cast that brings Christie’s characters to life in the Orcutt Community Theater’s new spin on the tale is made up of both regulars and newbies in the local group, Bullard said.
“I am very fortunate to be working with such an outstanding cast,” the director said. “Several of them I have had the great pleasure of working with before and others are brand new to Orcutt Community Theater, which is terribly exciting for us. We are counting on seeing much more of them in the future.”
The director described his approach as “one of collaboration” on this production and past plays.
“Everyone has an equal voice, cast and crew, and I encourage them all to share their ideas. That was certainly the case here,” Bullard said. “Each and every cast member made valuable suggestions and contributions, all in service to the play and their characters.”
Actors enter and exit the center stage, surrounded by audience members on every side, in various directions, which can make attendees feel like they’re actually there, in the middle of the play’s mysterious mansion, Bullard said.
“It becomes an immersive experience for the audience,” the director said. “It’s perhaps not so much ‘theater in the round’ as it is ‘theater in the hexagon.’”
Without giving away spoilers, Bullard said that his favorite segment of the play to direct was its final act.
“The third act contains powerful, confrontational moments in which the actors achieve a level of tension and suspense that does not let up for a moment, all leading to the stunning climax of the story,” Bullard said. “It’s a gripping and surprising conclusion.”
Arts Editor Caleb Wiseblood is in the mood to play Clue. Send candlesticks and lead pipes to cwiseblood@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jul 27 – Aug 6, 2023.