The Man in the Brown Suit
Anne Beddingfeld has come to London looking for adventure. It soon finds her when she witnesses a death in the London Underground, and an unknown man in a brown suit flees the scene.
Armed with only the smallest of clues, her wits, and her gumption, Anne’s journey will take her from the English countryside to the heart of Africa as she tracks down the mysterious man and attempts to bring a killer to justice.
Inspired by the Republic film serials of the 1940’s and the classic radio adventures of the early 20th century, The Man in the Brown Suit is a story for anyone seeking mystery, romance, and adventure.
The Man in the Brown Suit premiered on June 26, 2021 as part of the Globe Theatre’s Art Out Loud Festival. It served as the listening party event hosted at The Hotel Saskatchewan.
based on the novel by Agatha Christie
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Conceived during the COVID-19 pandemic, The Man in the Brown Suit is an audio production recorded and edited entirely in isolation. Each actor recorded their role, at home, on the equipment already available to them (in many cases, a cell phone). As expected, this does lead to some variable qualities, as well as flaws in the audio. The production team has done our best to mitigate most flaws, however they are impossible to eliminate entirely. Every errant click, or hiss, or echo, or likewise, we ask that you think of as a sign of passion and dedication. These are the maker’s marks of a team of actors dedicated to bringing you a little adventure when you needed it most. We hope you enjoy the show.
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Agatha Christie is the best selling author of all time. Her work spans 66 mystery novels, 17 plays, 14 short story collections, 6 romance novels, a handful of nonfiction works, and nearly eight decades of the 20th century. She was a master of her craft and her work stands as a testament to her talent. In an essay for Ploughshares at Emerson College, Christine Ro sums it up nicely:
“Christie should be lauded not just for the intricacy of her plotting, but for her wit, her characterizations, and her ability to distill truths about human nature into a single sharp sentence.”
However, she goes on to say “… there’s also a lot about Christie for the contemporary reader to dislike. The books are at various points nakedly anti-semitic, racist, sexist, and homophobic–even if it was uncommon to use these terms at the time she was writing.” Published in 1924, The Man in the Brown Suit is no different, and it is vital that the story be contextualised and discussed, especially in the adaptation process.
The novel presents colonial Africa as a world of adventure and danger without acknowledging the brutalities of the system or the long term effects of colonial rule. Despite being set 25 years before the formalisation of apartheid, it is easy to glimpse between the lines on the page. There are discussions of “workers” at the De Beers’ diamond mines and how they are treated, but the topic is treated as a thrilling story rather than a horrifying reality. Indigenous African characters are rarely featured, and when they are they conform to old racial stereotypes. The novel’s treatment of this world through a lens of adventure denies the brutality of colonialism, as well as how it laid a legacy of racial inequality.
‘At the time,’ of course, is one way that scholars and readers have sought to excuse the sins of great authors. As products of their time, the thinking goes, prejudiced and ignorant tendencies can be viewed more benignly. This argument only works up to a point. Social progress happens because groups and individuals take a stand against prevailing prejudices. And it seems fairer to an author’s legacy to acknowledge what makes their works distasteful, along with what makes them great. Attempting to sweep something under the carpet is a superficial way of disengaging from what may be an important aspect of that body of work.
The Women’s Company has made several changes to the contents of the show in adapting it from the original novel. The majority of these changes were the removal or alteration of racist and ignorant language and stereotypical depictions of some of the indigenous African characters. Some specific examples were:
The removal of the term “gypsy”.
The removal of the term “kaffir”, a colonial word for indigenous South Africans, used without derogatory connotations at the time of the novel’s writing. It has been officially recognized as a slur by the South African government since 1976 and is extremely offensive.
Tweaks to the off-stage character of Batani, an indigenous African woman who is friends with Harry Rayburn. In the novel she is portrayed in an extremely stereotypical way common to adventure stories of the 1920’s. We have removed the majority of her scenes in favour of highlighting the more fleshed-out characters that were pulled from Agatha Christie’s actual experiences of the continent and its people.
These elements are not intrinsic to the contents of the story, but they serve as a painful reminder of the colonial reality of the time. We do not believe any of those choices in the novel were made with malicious intent. Agatha Christie was an extensively well-traveled woman, and it is in the small moments pulled from her actual trip across southern Africa where her love for the continent and its people shines. Rather, most of these issues appear to come about through an ignorance to the realities of colonialism and a reliance on the more prejudiced elements of adventure fiction of the time period. Regardless, these depictions and language are racist, prejudiced, and ignorant. They were wrong then and they are wrong today, and we feel that to make alterations in the adaptation without an explanation and a denouncement of those original elements would be irresponsible.
We welcome anyone who would like to continue this discussion about the production, the original novel, or Agatha Christie and her legacy.
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Like many artists across the world, The Women’s Company was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. We were in the preliminary stages of many projects, both as a company and as individual members, as well as in the midst of co-producing a new play to premiere at the 2020 Edmonton International Fringe Festival. Overnight, we all lost jobs and projects across the country.
When it became clear that this would not be just a two-week lockdown and a few precautions, we shifted gears and began to think about a project that could be done in isolation. Eventually, we arrived at the idea of an audio drama, based on a classic work of literature, something that anyone could access for free during isolation.
To our surprise and delight, a few of Agatha Christie’s earliest works had passed into the public domain in 2020, and were available from Project Gutenberg. I have read many Agatha Christie books in my life, but I was interested to see one I hadn’t encountered before, an early novel called The Man in the Brown Suit.
Interestingly, The Man in the Brown Suit is not a typical Agatha Christie mystery novel. Rather than the manor houses, complex puzzles, and experienced detectives (be they amateur or professional); The Man in the Brown Suit is an adventure story in the classic style. There is a mystery to be sure, but there is also romance, action, and globe-trotting adventure.
It is also one of her most personal novels. The book has many parallels to the incidents and settings of a round-the-world work trip taken by Agatha Christie with her first husband, Archie Christie, and headed by his old teacher from Clifton College, Major Ernest Albert Belcher.
Dining with the Christies before the trip, Belcher had suggested setting a mystery novel in his home, the Mill House, and had insisted on appearing in the story as well. While he is the inspiration for the central character, Sir Eustace Pedler, many other characters that appear in the novel are pulled directly from Christie’s life as well. Major Belcher’s secretary, Mr. Bates, is certainly the inspiration for the character of Guy Pagett. Likewise, the hot-headed Harry Rayburn bears a striking resemblance to Archie Christie. However, it is in the young and adventurous Anne Beddingfeld that Christie draws her most successful fictionalisation… of herself.
While a rollicking adventure on its own, The Man in the Brown Suit presents a secret snapshot of that time in Agatha Christie’s life. She has captured her own youthful hopes, lust for adventure, and the romantic ideal of her husband, but this would all soon come crashing down around her. Just over a year after its publication, Agatha Christie vanished in the night. The subsequent police investigation would uncover a very public affair between Archie Christie and Nancy Neele, another former associate of Major Belcher. More than a thousand police officers, 15,000 volunteers, and several airplanes searched the countryside, and Christie’s disappearance was featured on the front page of The New York Times. When she was discovered 11 days later, she was checked into a hotel in Yorkshire under the name Mrs. Neele from Capetown, South Africa. Four months later, she finally granted Archie the divorce he had privately asked for months earlier.
Of course, Agatha Christie would go on to become an incredibly renowned novelist and playwright, eventually becoming the most successful novelist in history. Just over a year after her disappearance, Agatha boarded the Orient Express to Baghdad where she met Max Mallowan, an archaeologist 13 years her junior. They were married within a year. She accompanied Mallowan on his archaeological expeditions, and her travels with him provided inspiration for many of her novels, including Death on the Nile and Murder on the Orient Express. They remained married until her death in 1976 at the age of 85. Through all the heartbreaks and struggles, successes and failures, Agatha always remained, at heart, a true adventurer.
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The £500 Agatha Christie received for the first publication of this story paid for her first car - a grey bottle-nosed Morris Cowley.
Published in 1924 by The Bodley Head, the novel was first serialised in The Evening News under the title Anna, the Adventurous.
The novel was first adapted for television by CBS in 1988, and featured Edward Woodward, Tony Randall, Rue McClanahan and Ken Howard in major roles. The production updated the story to the 1980's and Americanized many of the characters.
A graphic novel adaptation was first published in France in 2005, and was later translated to English and released in the UK and Canada.
Colonel Race is the only character from The Man in the Brown Suit who appears in any other Agatha Christie novels. He can also be found in Sparkling Cyanide, Cards on the Table, and most famously, Death on the Nile.
Notes
Cast (in order of appearance)
Madame Nadina / Ticket Officer……………………Jane Neumier
Narrator……………………Pamela Uhrmann
Anne Beddingfeld……………………Erin Johansen
Mrs. Flemming……………………Robyn Sanderson
Mrs. James……………………Gabrielle Dufresne
Officer / Purser / Shop Man……………………Brett Williams
Lady Nasby……………………Abbey Thiessen
Kodak Clerk / Stewardess……………………Rachel Walliser
Sir Eustace Pedler……………………Tyler Toppings
Guy Pagett……………………Ryley Fraser
Harry Rayburn / Redbeard……………………Jahrus Weir
Suzanne Blair……………………Angeline Lypka
Colonel Race……………………Carson Walliser
Rev. Edward Chichester……………………Liam Coady
With Special Appearances by
Inspector Meadows / Milray / Gov. Man……………………Greg Digout
Doctor / Steward / Clerk……………………Kiefer Lypka
Creative Team
Producer & Editor……………………Landon Walliser
Audio Engineer……………………Philippe Bouchard
Based on the Novel by……………………Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie learning to surf in South Africa. (1924)
Agatha Christie with the wooden animals she purchased in South Africa. (c. 1925)
Archie Christie, Major Ernest Belcher (basis for Sir Eustace), Mr. Bates (his secretary and basis for Guy Pagett), and Agatha Christie. (c. 1924)
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Jane Neumier
as Madame Nadina / Ticket Officer
Jane is a multi-disciplinary theatre artist who grew up in a small town in Saskatchewan, and recently finished her big city schooling at George Brown Theatre School in Toronto. If you asked her parents, they would tell you that she’s been telling stories since before she could read, singing before she could talk, and dancing before she was born. She is now back on the prairies where her heart sings the loudest; searching and planning for her next big adventure, drinking coffee, snuggling with her two cats, and reading until the early hours of the morning.
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Pamela Uhrmann
as Narrator
Pamela Uhrmann (she/her/elle) is a Regina-based theatre & film artist located in Treaty 4 Territory. She has worked both on stage and behind the scenes with a variety of theatres in southeast Saskatchewan. Her most recent completed production before the pandemic was It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play. Pamela spent 6 years on the board of Theatre Saskatchewan Inc., 2 years on Regina Summer Stage's board, and is now on the steering committee for one of Saskatchewan's newest NPOs: On Cue Performance Hub. Being one to love new experiences and meeting new people, she embraced this production as her first opportunity to work with The Women's Company.
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Erin Johansen
as Anne Beddingfeld
Erin Johansen is a theatre artist originally from Regina, Saskatchewan and currently based in Nanaimo, B.C. This is her second production with The Women’s Company, the first being Love, Loss, and What I Wore which toured to various Fringe festivals across Canada. Erin has been heavily involved in the Regina theatre community from a young age and is currently finishing up her bachelor’s degree in theatre from the University of Regina online. She has taken part in many productions during her time at the university including ReMeasure, Spring’s Awakening, The King Stag, and Philistines (a co-production with Rose Bruford). Erin is very excited to be taking part in her first audio drama and hopes you enjoy this classic Agatha Christie adventure!
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Robyn Sanderson
as Mrs. Flemming
Robyn Sanderson (she/her) has cultivated her craft here in Saskatchewan, and is proud to be from Regina. She is a graduate of the University of Regina's BFA acting program, as well as the Globe Theatre's Conservatory program. She has worked in both film and theatre across the province including most recently The Globe Theatre's Behind the Screams theatrical ghost tour. She had a lot of fun being a part of this large collaborative project, and hopes you enjoy the ride!
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Gabrielle Dufresne
as Mrs. James
Gabrielle (elle/she/her) is a Fransaskois actor and theatre artist currently based in Saskatoon. She holds her BFA from the University of Regina and her MA from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. She is a proud member of The Women’s Company, and Co-Creator and Co-Artistic Director for the Tic Toc TEN Festival. She is very thankful to be working as the theatre school coordinator for La Troupe du Jour, and you can catch her on their stage in Pandamour, a devised musical summer show. Thanks for listening!
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Brett Williams
as Officer / Purser / Shop Man
Brett is a recent graduate of MacEwan University’s Theatre Arts Program, and has been pursuing theatre since a young age. During his time at MacEwan Brett was a part of several productions including Spring Awakening, Pippin, The Crucible, and Legally Blonde. Brett has recently been accepted to Capilano University’s Musical Theatre program and is excited to continue his training. He is thrilled to have his first experience with voice acting be with this amazing team and hopes you enjoy the show!
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Abbey Thiessen
as Lady Nasby
Abbey Thiessen (She/Her) is Co-Artistic Director of Tic Toc TEN Short Performance Festival and has a BFA in acting from the University of Regina. She has recently been working with Fight or Flight Theatre and Theatre Saskatchewan on Other People’s Heaven by Beau Dixon. It is a glimpse into the unjust arrest of Viola Desmond in 1946, this virtual production is in honour of Black History Month. After the completion of Tic Toc TEN 2021 Abbey will be focusing her energy on writing something of her own and preparing for the Miss Canada Globe Productions pageant. Abbey isn’t a person to say no to a challenge or an adventure. Here’s to Tic Toc TEN 2021.
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Rachel Walliser
as Kodak Clerk / Stewardess
Rachel Walliser (She/Her) is a theatre artist, and student at the University of Regina currently finishing her Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre and Performance with a minor in Women’s and Gender Studies. She has been a part of many shows at the University of Regina as an actor and dramaturge including 4OUR, Spring Awakening, and Blood Relations. She has also worked on various University of Regina Film student projects, University of Regina Theatre Students’ Association shows, and at the Regina International Fringe Theatre Festival, among others. Rachel is also training to become an intimacy director/co-ordinator for theatre, film, and television. She was recently chosen as one of the 2021 winners of Saskatchewan Playwrights Centre ‘Write Like You Mean It! Program.
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Tyler Toppings
as Sir Eustace Pedler
Tyler Toppings is a theatre artist based in Regina, SK; strengthening and supporting theatre arts is his top charge. He is the theatre program coordinator for the Creative City Centre, the artistic administrator (South) for the Saskatchewan Playwrights Centre, and artistic director of ShoulderBirds Productions. His primary practice is as an actor for the stage in scripted and movement theatre. Tyler has worked with many theatre organizations in and around Regina for over a decade, as an actor but also as producer, director, stage manager, and volunteer.
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Ryley Fraser
as Guy Pagett
Ryley is a recent graduate from the theatre diploma program at MacEwan University. He has been involved in performing since a very young age, and seeks to continue pursuing the performing arts craft in all of it’s forms. He has recently taken an interest in voice acting, and was very excited to be involved with this opportunity, as a way to make a start in that area. He hopes you enjoy listening as much as he enjoyed his part of the process creating it.
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Jahrus Weir
as Harry Rayburn / Redbeard
Jahrus is thrilled to be in his first audio drama. He was in musical theatre for many years through Do It With Class and has been heavily involved in the theatre community. Most recently, he was cast as Tom Buchanan in a production of The Great Gatsby, before it was unfortunately cancelled due to COVID-19. Before being cast in The Great Gatsby, he was an assistant stage manager for Flashdance and starred as Ash in Evil Dead: The Musical back in December 2019. Other productions include: Chicago: The Musical with Regina Summer Stage, Titanic: The Musical, Les Misérables, Godspell, Cats, and more. He hopes you enjoy the adventure!
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Angeline Lypka
as Suzanne Blair
In her second production with The Women’s Company, and her first-ever audio production, Angeline is ecstatic to be a part of The Man in the Brown Suit. Angeline (she/her) found her love of theatre at a young age when she became an avid member of Free My Muse Theatre Company in 2005, and continued on through her high school drama club productions, where she won an acting award of merit for Schoolyard Games and the Debbie Baker award for Among Friends and Clutter. After taking part in Love, Loss, and What I Wore with The Women’s Company, and awakening her passion for performing, Angeline is overjoyed to be able to work creatively in the strange state of the world. She is especially excited to be working (virtually) beside such a talented team!
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Carson Walliser
as Colonel Race
Carson is a recent graduate of MacEwan University’s Theatre Arts Program, and also holds a BA in acting from The University of Regina and he currently lives in Edmonton, Alberta. While at MacEwan he worked on projects such as The Laramie Project, Spring Awakening, Pippin, The Crucible, and Legally Blonde. He has worked as an assistant stage manager, writer, producer, lighting designer, fly man, production assistant, set designer, costume designer, and of course, actor. As one of the founding members of the Women’s Company, he is very proud of this project, and the work of his fellow company members. Enjoy the show!
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Liam Coady
as Rev. Edward Chichester
Liam is a Alberta based actor and writer currently residing in Calgary. He holds a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Drama from the University of Alberta. He was part of the Malachite Theatre’s Winter Shakespeare Festival (2020) where he played Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Cassius in Julius Caesar. He was also part of Concrete Theatre’s TYA production of Undercover (2016). Besides his work as an actor, Liam is an accomplished spoken word poet, performing his work internationally for the last 10 years. He is honoured to be part of this amazing team in his first ever audio drama, and hopes you enjoy the show from wherever you may be listening!
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Kiefer Lypka
as Doctor / Steward / Clerk
Kiefer (He/Him) is a spirited supporter of The Women's Company. Although his acting experience is limited, he enthusiastically accepted the task of filling in where required to support his wife and her need to be involved in the theatre community during this trying year. He hopes that you enjoy his efforts and appreciates the opportunity to be involved in one of the many ways that artists have managed to express themselves creatively during a global pandemic.
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Landon Walliser
Producer & Editor
Landon Walliser is a producer and director, currently based in Regina. His previous credits include: Love, Loss, and What I Wore (Producer & Co-Director, Canadian Tour), Philistines (Assistant Director, University of Regina & Rose Bruford College), Small Boy Dreams (Publicity, Curtain Razors & National Tour), and Young Frankenstein: The Musical (Assistant Director, Prairie Skies Musical Theatre). He currently serves as a board member for On Cue Performance Hub as well as the Saskatchewan Playwrights Centre. In 2019, he was honoured to receive two BroadwayWorld awards for his work with The Women’s Company on Love, Loss, and What I Wore at the Edmonton International Fringe Festival.
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Philippe Bouchard
Audio Engineer
Philippe Bouchard (he/him) has been surrounded by music since he was 10 years old. Originally from Quebec, he graduated from Laval University in music performance, and has worked on numerous shows in both Quebec and Saskatchewan. In addition to finishing his Masters on Jazz Improvisation, he has recently been working on a variety of audio projects, including his own podcast, Note de Fumée, and mastering the songs of various other musicians. In a time where we all had to cope with isolation, it was a wonderful and challenging experience to help bring the performances from this talented cast together. He hopes you enjoy listening to it!
Prologue
Paris, France
Part One: Kilmorden Castle
The Village of Little Hampsly, England
The City of London, England
Marlow, Buckinghamshire, England
Kilmorden Castle
Part Two: Wooden Animals
Cape Town, South Africa
Muizenbera, South Africa
The Karoo, South Africa
Kimberley, South Africa
Bechuanaland (present day Botswana)
Bulawayo, Rhodesia (present day Zimbabwe)
The Matoppos. Rhodesia (present day Zimbabwe)
Victoria Falls, Rhodesia (present day Zimbabwe)
Part Three: A True Adventurer
Victoria Falls, Rhodesia (present day Zimbabwe)
Livingstone, Northern Rhodesia (present day Zambia)
Johannesburg, South Africa
Cape Town, South Africa
Muizenberg, South Africa
Victoria Falls, Rhodesia (present day Zimbabwe)
Thank You
The production team would like to thank:
Lee Taylor, for making it so difficult to be apart again that I had to distract myself by making a six-hour radio play. I love you. Here’s something to enjoy on the plane ride back.
Thee Lingerie Shoppe, Victory Vintage Co., Sweet Pea & Noelle, and Mabel & Martha; without your support during our previous production and tour, we would not be here.
Philippe Bouchard, for making us all sound like we weren’t recording in bed, under the covers, on our phones.
AtomicAgePictures on Youtube, for being an invaluable reference and resource for vintage Republic adventure serials.
Project Gutenberg, for archiving and making public domain works as easily accessible as possible, to everyone, everywhere, for free.
And the many people who supported our adventure to The Man in the Brown Suit.
