I need to confess that no matter how I try I cannot fathom the appeal of Agatha Christie, which is undeniably widespread and enduring. Her characters to me are nothing more than cardboard cut-out stereotypes with all the depth and complexity of a saucer. And they are repeated in most of her stories: the military man, the spinster, the attractive young lady, the dashing young man, the doctor, the adventurer, the policeman, the upper-class sir or lady. And they all say and think exactly, and only, what you would expect them to say and think.

Having said that, Mordialloc theatre Company’s latest offering, ‘And Then There Were None’, was very much enjoyed by the audience when I attended and there was a bum on every seat, which says a great deal about the play and Christie’s popularity.

The play was adapted by Christie from her book of the same name. The original title, when the book was released in 1939, was an extremely un-PC version, which the Americans changed immediately for its release there and which has, fortunately, now been adopted everywhere.

There’s a glaring, truck-size plot chasm (it’s much more than a hole). It’s not giving anything away to reveal that all ten people on the island have each committed, or been responsible for, a murder. How any single person could possibly know this deep dark secret about ten completely disparate individuals, especially given that most of them have never revealed their dastardly act to anyone else, is glossed over. Few people seemed to mind this, apart from me.

I don’t believe dialogue was ever Christie’s strong suit and some of it got a lot of laughs from this modern audience, which I’m sure was not what Christie was aiming for.

Most of the actors, very much looked exactly as you would imagine their character to look, clearly thanks to the director’s astute casting. The cast did as well as one could with the bombastic, dated dialogue, which they almost all imbued with as much realism as was possible.

Neil Barnett played the dementing General very well. Christine Bridge was the prim, judgemental and censorious spinster. She did a very fine job and never let her persona slip in any way.

Tim Byron was the policeman, who started off with a very convincing South African accent, which is a very tricky one to master, and then switched very neatly to a lower class English accent. Top marks. Rob Coulson played the doctor admirably, being both authoritative and anxious.

Stuart Daddo-Langlois apparently had a fifty-year acting hiatus, but you wouldn’t know it. He was eminently believable and pompous as the retired judge. Welcome back to the stage. Chris Kirby as the butler, I felt needed a little more dignified deference in his demeanour.

Rory McGrath’s upper class English accent needed refining and accentuating and perhaps more fluidity in his dialogue. Kay Morton, to be fair, had very little indeed to work with, her dialogue being some of the most banal in the play. But she made as much of it as was possible. She seemed a little stilted in her physicality. More “stage business” to keep her occupied would have perhaps helped.

Josh Radford had a very small role (only his second) as the boat skipper, and we wish him well for his future acting endeavours. Many more roles ahead, fingers crossed.

Monique Wasa gave a sterling performance as the secretary. She had the most of all the cast to work with and was very much up to the task. An impressive performance in every way. Brett Whittingham as the adventurer was very convincingly swaggering yet dashing at the same time. Well done.

Director Travis Handcock, wrangled the large cast of eleven, many of whom were on stage at the same time, very well, managing to draw our attention to where it was needed and away from other spots. Very effective and spooky illumination of the now-dead victims at the end of the play was a master touch. A grandfather clock appears earlier in the same inventive way. He realised extremely clever (yet completely safe for the actor) use of a noose, which very gradually and realistically chokes one of the victims.

The set concept, also by the director, was extremely effective. Concept, I assume, means he came up with the ideas. Then they were translated by Martin Gibbs and Neil Barnett into a design that could be drawn up and then built. Top marks to all three and to the set builders also, too numerous to mention by name. We could believe we were in an upmarket, art-deco mansion, apart from the red curtains framing each doorway which seemed a little out of place.

The very simple backdrop beyond the nicely constructed French doors opening to the terrace was illuminated in many varied colours that very convincingly conveyed the time of day and the weather. That thanks partly to the lighting designer, Julian Camara, who did an overall excellent job, especially in the eerie scene when the actors enter with real candles.

Costumes by Juliet Hayday, were all very good, especially the three piece suits for the older gentlemen, apart perhaps from Miss Claythorne’s opening dress, which seemed a bit modern.

The little “soldier” figurines, crucial to the plot, three of which are smashed during the performance, were all made by Neil Barnett. Top marks for his work, which would have meant making a large number of the intricately painted and detailed “soldiers”. As each victim died, one soldier was removed from the set, very deftly and cleverly. I never saw one being whisked away.

A fine production by a large team of skilled cast and crew.