Whodunit 'Hollow': Adobe Theater bringing Agatha Christie to the stage

“The worst of murder is it does upset the servants so. We were to have duck for lunch. Still, cold duck can be quite nice.” — Lady Angkatell in “The Hollow”

An unhappy game of romantic follow-the-leader explodes into murder one weekend at The Hollow, home of Sir Henry and Lucy Angkatell.

The Adobe Theater is staging Agatha Christie’s rarely performed play “The Hollow” beginning on Friday, Oct. 13, and running on weekends through Nov. 5.

Christie celebrated 1951 by ditching Hercule Poirot from the West End stage version of her 1946 mystery novel “The Hollow.”

The book marked his 22nd appearance in print. But growing weary of the Belgian sleuth, Christie discreetly replaced him with the tough talking Inspector Colquhoun of the Yard.

Dr. Cristow, the Harley Street lothario, is at the center of the trouble when, assembled in one place, we find his dull but devoted wife Gerda, his mistress and prominent sculptor Henrietta, and his former lover and Hollywood film star Veronica. Also visiting are Edward and Midge, whose romantic assertions are likewise thrown into the mix. As the list of romantic associations grow, so does the list of potential suspects when Cristow is shot dead. Nearly everyone has a motive, but only one of them did the deed.

Director Pete Parkin first staged the play 30 years ago when he was working as a theater professor at Los Angeles Valley College.

“It’s kind of a murder mystery and soap opera,” he said. “Everybody’s after this one guy.”

“There are several people who have problems with him,” Parkin continued, “including the three women he’s fooling around with.”

Whodunit 'Hollow': Adobe Theater bringing Agatha Christie to the stage

Almost nothing untoward happens until well into Act II, when unexpectedly, the hated Dr. Cristow, a bumptious, chain-smoking Harley Street consultant, is felled by a single bullet from a Smith & Wesson, fired at close range but just out of view of the audience.

Practically everyone had a reason for slaying him, especially the three women in his life: his put-upon wife, discovered with a revolver in her hand as she crouches sobbing over his body; his rejected former mistress — a famous film star who arrives in the night unannounced; and his latest lover, a sculptor who has suddenly become seriously jealous of her actress rival.

The weekend host Sir Henry Angkatell is a keen collector of small arms, with his own shooting range in the grounds, and who naturally comes under suspicion. As does his self-effacing butler, spotted nervously handling a pistol at the time of the murder by a junior maid, who rushes off to inform Colquhoun.

“People like the twist at the end,” Parkin said. “They don’t see it coming.”

“There’s a lot of humor in it,” he added.

“The Hollow” stars Douglas Vanderwinckel and Lorri Layle Oliver as Sir Henry and Lucy Angkatell. Matthew Van Wettering is the lothario Dr. John Cristow; Devoney Wilhite is his dull but devoted wife Gerda. Nicee Wagner plays his mistress and sculptor Henrietta; Clair Gardner is his former lover and Hollywood film star Veronica.