It's Agatha Christie, so you expect "Witness for the Prosecution" to be a whodunit. But it's also a taut psychological thriller, with twists that leave you gripping the armrests. Through Saturday, the Providence Players of Fairfax are presenting Christie's 1953 stage adaptation of her short story, which became a West End and Broadway hit. It differs somewhat from the 1957 film, which Billy Wilder refashioned for Charles Laughton, playing opposite Marlene Dietrich and Tyrone Power. The film amplified Laughton's role as a wily defense attorney, making it as much a study of that eccentric character as it was a courtroom thriller. The play, though less colorful, still is compelling.
Delving too much into the tale might flatten your roller-coaster ride. But the outline has Leonard Vole (played by David Whitehead), a mild, unaccomplished man in 1950s London, accused of murdering an older, well-to-do woman to benefit from her will. Vole's barrister, a woman in this production, is Lady Winifred Robarts (Sara Bennett), who seeks defense testimony from Vole's exotic wife, Romaine (Beth Whitehead), his only alibi witness. But Romaine acts oddly, and it quickly becomes unclear whether she will help or hurt Leonard's case. She's an enigma, a German rescued from postwar Berlin and taken to England.
The story begins after the murder, resulting in considerable exposition in the first of the three acts as we learn about the characters through conversation, not deeds. It's slow going, but momentum eventually increases until you find yourself on a wild ride through law, deception and the darkness of human hearts.
The major roles are filled with quite capable actors, and the twists, even if you know the story, raise goose bumps. David Whitehead is superb as Vole, projecting a convincing aura of innocence and frankness that wins the audience's empathy. Bennett is crisp and commanding as Lady Winifred, properly stiff in her professional role and a bit earthy in private, particularly when conversing with Vole's solicitor, solidly played by Gerry Vans. The barrister role is fairly one-dimensional, particularly when compared with the way Wilder enhanced it for Laughton, but Bennett makes the most of it. Scenes in which she spars with the prosecutor, played by Chip Gertzog with dispassionate but dogged resolve, are absorbing. Beth Whitehead is slightly less successful in the difficult role of Romaine (the Whiteheads are married onstage and off), an unusually nuanced, difficult-to-capture character who must keep the audience off balance. Beth Whitehead struggles with the German accent, mostly sounding Transylvanian.
The supporting cast suffers even more under the burden of English accents, making most of their performances dreadful. More American community theater productions may have been ruined by English accents than any other challenge, but a wise director realizes when her cast is in trouble and de-emphasizes foreign tones, getting the actors to concentrate on acting, not dialects. Bennett, in fact, barely affects an accent, and it doesn't weaken her performance.
But director Beth Hughes-Brown lets a dozen supporting actors wind themselves into awkward facial contortions and unnatural stances as they torture themselves to sound English at the expense of character development and credibility. Critical courtroom moments are spoiled because the actor portraying the judge is incomprehensible. It sounds as if no attempt was made to teach the actors how to speak in the various accents required. There is a program credit for the person who supplied a wastebasket for the set, but no mention of a dialect coach.
"Witness for the Prosecution" is performed at the James Lee Community Center Theater, 2855 Annandale Rd. in the Falls Church area. Showtime is 7:30 p.m. tomorrow and Saturday. For tickets and information, call 703-425-6782 or visithttp://www.providenceplayers.org.
