In 1972, Agatha Christie responded to a fan with a list of her ten favorite novels. Towards Zero was listed because Christie “found it interesting to work on the idea of people from different places coming towards a murder, instead of starting with the murder and working from that.” In this fifth book featuring Superintendent Battle, he is partnered with his nephew, Inspector Leach, who is local to the Saltcreek area where the story takes place.

This play version departs from the storyline in the novel somewhat to create a single location (always easier in the theatre) and to increase dramatic effect. The initial version we endorsed was adapted by Gerald Verner and written in 1956 and features the eleven characters you will see tonight. But Christie had adapted her own version with the original thirteen characters in 1944. The adaptation before you, completed later in the 50s, is a combination of the two plays but preserves many of the shifts that Verner made but more emphasis on the psychological power of Christie’s version.

Mia L. Self —