Soon the death toll reaches the point that it is obvious the murderer is among the remaining guests, and accusations begin to fly again. Each new murder is increasingly unusual and all fall within the foreboding instructions of the namesake poem. Then all the fun begins: After the first guest is killed, a domino effect ensues and the rest of the guests start dropping like, well…little Indians. However, things begin to pick up intensely with the coming of the second act. Up until this point, the plot moves at the pace of a dead Labrador retriever. After much deliberation and deep thinking, the group comes to the brilliant conclusion that someone is trying to kill them all, for reasons unknown, using the poem as an outline for the methods. Eventually the guests notice the large poster on the wall that contains the poem “Ten Little Indians,” the first line of which reads: “Ten little Indians going out to dine/One choked his little self, and then there were… Nine”. Oh, but it’s only for a brief moment-immediately things get quiet again, one of the guests dies (choked to death, apparently) and chaos rages again. After some raised voices and hurt feelings, the guests settle down a bit. The guests each deny the accusation and begin pointing fingers at each other for supposed misdeeds. Shortly after the group’s arrival, a cryptic message (voice courtesy of Satan) is played over gramophone claiming that each of the guests is, in fact, a murderer. “Ten Little Indians” begins with the 10 main characters arriving at the paradisiacal Indian Island under the pretense that a mutual friend invited them all on a vacation. Such is the humble and incredibly generic beginning of Pioneer Theatre Company’s presentation of Agatha Christie’s “Ten Little Indians,” a play indicative of all Christie stood for: agonizingly slow beginnings, almost comical murder plotlines and incredibly dynamic characterization. The shadows become figures, and those figures begin to move-the world becomes whole and a plot begins to evolve.
The curtains rise, the lights begin to brighten and cheap sound effects begin to play.
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