Witness for the Prosecution (play)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Witness for the Prosecution is a play adapted by Agatha Christie based upon her short story titled The Witness for the Prosecution.

1 Production history

[edit] Production history

The very first performance of Witness for the Prosecution was in the form of a live telecast which aired on CBS's Lux Video Theatre on 17 September 1953 and which starred Edward G. Robinson, Andrea King and Tom Drake [1].

[edit] London

The play opened in London on October 28, 1953 at the Winter Garden Theatre (although the first performance had actually been in Nottingham a month earlier). The London opening starred David Horne as Sir Wilfrid Robarts, Q.C., Derek Blomfield as Leonard Vole and Patricia Jessel as Romaine. It was produced by Peter Saunders.

[edit] Broadway

It opened in New York at Henry Miller's Theatre on December 16, 1954, produced by Gilbert Miller and Peter Saunders. Francis L. Sullivan played Sir Wilfred, Patricia Jessel repeated her London role of Romaine and Gene Lyons played Vole. Sullivan and Jessel both won Tony Awards for their performance. The play ran for 645 performances.

[edit] Film adaptation

The film version was released in 1958 and directed by Billy Wilder. Charles Laughton played Sir Wilfred, Marlene Dietrich played Romaine and Tyrone Power played Vole in his second to last role. A character not in the play, Sir Wilfred's nurse Miss Plimsoll, was created for the film and played by Laughton's wife Elsa Lanchester. Una O'Connor who had played Janet MacKenzie, the housekeeper of the murder victim, on the New York stage, reprised her role in the film. Laughton and Lanchester were nominated for Academy Awards.

[edit] Television adaptation

A later adaptation was made for television in 1982 with Ralph Richardson, Deborah Kerr, Beau Bridges, Donald Pleasence, Wendy Hiller, and Diana Rigg. It was adapted by Lawrence B. Marcus and John Gay from the original screenplay and directed by Alan Gibson.

Agatha Christie
Detectives: Hercule Poirot • Miss Marple • Tommy and Tuppence • Ariadne Oliver • Arthur Hastings • Superintendent Battle • Chief Inspector Japp • Parker Pyne
Novels: The Mysterious Affair at Styles • The Secret Adversary • Murder on the Links • The Man in the Brown Suit • The Secret of Chimneys • The Murder of Roger Ackroyd • The Big Four • The Mystery of the Blue Train • The Seven Dials Mystery • The Murder at the Vicarage • The Sittaford Mystery • Peril at End House • Lord Edgware Dies • Murder on the Orient Express • Three Act Tragedy • Why Didn't They Ask Evans? • Death in the Clouds • The A.B.C. Murders • Murder in Mesopotamia • Cards on the Table • Death on the Nile • Dumb Witness • Appointment with Death • And Then There Were None • Murder is Easy • Hercule Poirot's Christmas • Sad Cypress • Evil Under the Sun • N or M? • One, Two, Buckle My Shoe • The Body in the Library • Five Little Pigs • The Moving Finger • Towards Zero • Sparkling Cyanide • Death Comes as the End • The Hollow • Taken at the Flood • Crooked House • A Murder is Announced • They Came to Baghdad • Mrs McGinty's Dead • They Do It with Mirrors • A Pocket Full of Rye • After the Funeral • Hickory Dickory Dock • Destination Unknown • Dead Man's Folly • 4.50 From Paddington • Ordeal by Innocence • Cat Among the Pigeons • The Pale Horse • The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side • The Clocks • A Caribbean Mystery • At Bertram's Hotel • Third Girl • Endless Night • By the Pricking of My Thumbs • Hallowe'en Party • Passenger to Frankfurt • Nemesis • Elephants Can Remember • Postern of Fate • Curtain • Sleeping Murder
As Mary Westmacott: Giant's Bread • Unfinished Portrait • Absent in the Spring • The Rose and the Yew Tree • A Daughter's a Daughter • The Burden
Short story collections: Poirot Investigates • Partners in Crime • The Mysterious Mr. Quin • The Hound of Death • The Thirteen Problems • Parker Pyne Investigates • The Listerdale Mystery • Murder in the Mews • The Regatta Mystery • The Labours of Hercules • Poirot's Early Cases • The Harlequin Tea Set
Plays: Akhnaton • The Mousetrap • Witness for the Prosecution • Verdict • Rule of Three • Fiddlers Three