Witness for the Prosecution is for the most part a courtroom drama that is based on a short story called “Traitor’s Hands” that Christie wrote in 1925, then adapted into a play in 1953. Leon Vole is accused of murdering a wealthy spinster after befriending and charming her into making him the sole beneficiary in her will. With means, motive and opportunity stacked up against him, Vole’s only defense is the alibi provided by his German wife Romaine who can testify that he was at home with her at the time of the murder. Vole’s defense attorney Sir Wilfred Robarts Q.C. intends to call Romaine as his key witness but as the title of the play alludes to, she somehow ends up as a witness for the prosecuting side instead.I previously watched the iconic 1957 film version of Witness for the Prosecution starring Tyrone Power as the accused, German actress Marlene Dietrich perfectly cast as his wife and the wily, irrepressible Charles Laughton as the defence counselor. In the movie, the wife’s name was inexplicably changed to Christine. Agatha Christie had deliberately selected the name Romaine to sound more foreign and exotic, which becomes an important plot point. Given the timing of the original short story which came out shortly after WWI and the play, which was adapted shortly after WWII, making this character of German descent played on any residual resentment left over from the wars that might be felt by the audience.
Known for her clever narratives and surprise endings, Agatha was not satisfied with the original ending of her short story and accordingly, added a second plot twist when she adapted the play. The movie version took it one step further and added a final zinger. This means that there are three different endings between the short story, the play and the movie, with each subsequent version building on top of the previous one.
Shaw Theatre’s version of Witness for the Prosecution adhered to the ending set up by the 1953 play”. As was done for The Mousetrap, a plea is made to the audience at the end of this play to “keep the secret” of the twist ending so as not to spoil it for future viewers. I will accede to this request and not give away the surprise ending. Because I already knew the gist of the main twist, I did not get that same element of surprise as I did on my first exposure to the story. As we exited the theatre after the play, we overhead two young women who obviously had not known what to expect and they were blown away by the ending. Unfortunately, you can only experience that sensation once.![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXBfzda5wxrLCfjDClSqpPGleVFOjzDSdK1-Cz518qz2AUm6m5Qyvu3Tn2BH30Q5cLXcBQjpVHB62acnGH0slKOJH3kZc8gtRe_MycrypDei5hWloW0nzWYGqzH7LjZ3YDBvQb5UqXd6YWEw9t6HML_GaKNJDwzPMO-x6Aq9y5Iy09NClns1Sc/w640-h182/Play3.jpg)
The play has two main sets which the action toggles between. The first is the defense lawyers’ office where Robarts and his assistant Mayhew interview Leonard and Romaine and discuss the case. The second is the impressive court room complete with a judge perched up high with an image of the Scales of Justice appearing over his head, stenographer/clerks’ boxes, the witness box and the box holding the accused. There is no jury box or presence of a jury on stage. The attorneys turn towards us in the audience to plead their cases. We are called upon to be the jury as we make our own decisions of Vole’s guilt or innocence while listening to the testimony. In the lobby of Shaw’s Royal George Theatre were scaled down miniature models of the two sets as well as a few props from the show, which we were able to inspect during the play’s intermission.
Watching Witness for the Prosecution after already knowing how it ends took away a bit of that initial thrill of admiring Christie’s genius in spinning a twisty tale. But this was still a fun play to watch and ultimately, a good plot is still a good plot, so we enjoyed it nonetheless.
In 2017 there was a West-end revival of the play whose venue was London’s County Hall Court House, made up to look like the Old Bailey in the 1800s. Some audience members were selected to sit in the public galleries and in the jury box. That would have been a cool way to watch an old show!