Witness for the Prosecution, County Hall review ★★★★★

A rich woman is found dead. Her younger lover and only heir, Leonard Vole, is on trial for the murder.

You are invited into the courtroom, to witness the dramas of a trial as they unfold, in a new site-specific production of Agatha Christie's classic crime story. With Jazz-era glamour, the shadow of the first world war, and an especially slippery key witness, it offers plenty of intrigue and atmosphere for director Lucy Bailey (Titus Andronicus, The Globe).

The setting and story work together magnificently; echoy marble corridors and sumptuous leather seats of County Hall’s Chamber courtroom provide the perfect backdrop.

From the public gallery, you see into the barristers’ chambers and then watch the murder trial twisting and turning to its gasp-worthy conclusion. Leonard Vole (played by Jack McMullen) is a picture of guileless good intention, while his wife Romaine (Catherine Stead) is a slippery Bond-villain menace. And David Yelland is impressive as suave yet dogged defence barrister Sir Wilfred.

Director Lucy Bailey ekes out the theatricality of the trial, as impassioned cross examinations play out against a detailed backdrop of stenographers, court clerks and ushers.

Photo by Sheila Burnett

Witness for the Prosecution was Christie's favourite of all her works ('It was one of my plays that I like best myself,’ she recalls in her autobiography). The 1925 short story-turned-play is just as popular with audiences; it has been adapted for film, international theatre and various TV series, most recently 2016's three-part BBC drama featuring Kim Cattrall, Toby Jones and David Haig.

This is the first major production of an Agatha Christie play to open in London since the 1960s. The last, The Mousetrap, is still going strong after 65 years on the West End. It's unlikely that the headquarters of the London County Council will allow its Chamber space to be used for a performance for quite that long, so catch Witness for the Prosecution while you can.