And Then There Were None

So as you all have been hearing over the past months, I volunteered for putting the high school play together this year. I have little to no experience with it but I figured everything should be okay if we just work at it long enough and hard enough. Mercifully, I was right on this one! 

There are definitely things I would do differently another time around but quite honestly, everything went as well as I ever felt it could have. The scariest things were things that were way out of our control like the majority of the cast getting sick in the month leading up to the play and our truck coming an hour late when we were supposed to set up for the dress rehearsal. But when all was said and done, the scary bits were small and the whole thing went very well! 

The play was in a "culture house" that's about 2 blocks from our apartment and about 4 from the school. We were all able to walk there and back which was a lifesaver when the truck didn't show up!

The "culture houses" (it's not a very graceful translation; sorry!) were built in the Soviet era and are like community centers. On the floor below us there was a large dance hall and the night of the dress rehearsal there were little ballet students running around on our floor. 

Our little theater. This picture actually makes it look bigger than it was.

Dress rehearsal! 

I made the call to have a little audience for the dress rehearsal partly because our space was small and I wanted to give more people the chance to come and partly to "acclimate" the kids to having an audience that isn't me. It was nice (in my opinion; I think they might argue with me on that point) because it gave them a chance to practice ad libbing , etc where things got stuck. 

Backstage

Leading up to the play, I tried to keep a "pretty good" lock on my nerves though it did show at times. Like the night before the play. I must admit that for several hours before (and even after) we went to bed I kept exclaiming at intervals "We are all going to die!" :-) 

And now for the play! :-) 

And Then There Were None is a murder mystery by Agatha Christie. I wanted to do a drama but tragedies are hard because if the emotion is off then the whole thing is just awkward. This was the very first play I read in my quest to find one and I was completely in love with it. 

It's based on her book of the same title (she authored the play herself) and it actually ends very differently. Both have the highest body count of any of her stories but the play has a much more hopeful ending while the book is darker. 

So here is the play in pictures! (Some are from the dress rehearsal but most are from the performance.)

Play opens with Mrs. Rogers (left) and Narracott (right). 

Ethel and Esther Rogers (right) explain that a party of 8 will be joining them at this house that is built on a completely isolated island. 

(Mrs. Rogers accidentally broke a glass later on in the play and so these sizable pieces of glass were lying around. Fortunately different kids collected them throughout the play and no one was hurt!)

First to arrive are Vera and Lombard. Vera has to serve as the hostess since Mr. and Mrs. Owen (the owners and hosts) have not arrived yet. Lombard is taken with Vera and stays close to her throughout. 

Blore arrives posing as a South African millionaire. Later it's revealed he's a hired detective. 

(This character is truly the worst detective ever!)

Antonia Marston arrives (front) followed by General MacKenzie (window) and  Emily Brent (blue dress). 

One of my favorite conversations in the play. :-) 

MacKenzie steals Judge Wargrave's chair because his chair at the club he goes to is in about the same spot and he doesn't like to sit anywhere else. 

Dr. Armstrong (left) arrives late and has a confrontation with Marston over her driving.

Lombard is a flirt. :-)

That evening when everyone is gathered together, a record is played that accuses everyone in the group of murder. (Of course this was voiced by Matthew!)

In a moment that I think will live in legend, Mrs. Rogers screams and faints after the record has stopped playing. The girl who played this part had been doing this since the very first practice and was pretty astounding to watch! 

Judge Wargrave takes charge of the room and questions everybody about how they came to be there and the accusations that were made against them.

The first victim is Marston, who is poisoned. Everyone assumes it was suicide until the next day. 

The next day, Armstrong tells the group that Mrs. Rogers died in her sleep the night before. This leads the group to realize they are trapped here and someone is out to kill them all. 

After talking to Wargrave, Lombard realizes that the rhyme "Ten Little Indians" is their warning and that the Indians on the fireplace disappear with each murder. 

General MacKenzie confesses to the murder of one of his officers. 

(This monologue was one of my very favorite parts of the play. The boy who played this part always made you feel so much empathy and pity for the character.)

Emily Brent then gives her own "confession" where she justifies herself by the idea that she was acting in a "moral" way. (Again, impressive because this girl is so sweet!)

The group then discovers that General MacKenzie has been killed and they realize that the murderer has to be one of them. 

The afternoon becomes stormy and Lombard and Rogers search for any help. Rogers offers to get a fire going and is later discovered, dead. 

Lombard points out that the next part of the rhyme has to do with a bee sting and they realize that Emily Brent has been dead for some time in the very same room as them. (Quite a display of endurance since she had to sit like that for at least 15 minutes!)

That night the lights are completely gone due to a power failure and the remaining five are distrustful and tense. 

Armstrong confesses to the murder he was accused of, an accidental death during a surgery that should have been easy. Vera leaves and moments later a scream brings the men out of the room. There is a gun shot and then the group slowly reassembles on stage. 

Wargrave is discovered dead and dressed in various stolen items to look like a judge. 

The next day three are left and they are sure Armstrong was the killer. 

Blore is killed by a booby trap after he rushes outside because he hears a boat. 

Then the remaining pair find Armstrong's body, revealing that they are the only two left and Armstrong is not the killer. 

Vera gets Lombard's gun from him and shoots him in panic.

Wargrave turns out to not be as dead as we thought! In a long (and fantastically performed) monologue he explains how he killed everyone and how he knew they were all guilty but since they had gotten away they had to be punished outside the law. 

Vera is left all alone with Wargrave and a noose. Luckily  Lombard was not killed and he takes out Wargrave just in time. (The" just in time" bit was always an interesting game of timing. :-P)

Lombard voices appreciation that women can't shoot straight (a line always good for a laugh!) and he explains the alternate ending of the rhyme is that the remaining two gets married. 

Ta da! :-) 

And this is my lovely cast and crew. I was very honestly impressed and bursting with pride by the time all was said and done. They put a ton of time into all of this and they were absolutely amazing. 

Next year we may have to go for some lighter fare! That was a ton of work! Luckily I had a group that rose to the occasion. 

Spring Break

Hello!

We had a busy but very fun spring break with two of our friends from college who came to visit us. They were a lot of fun to have and we were able to see, do, and eat a ton of different things! 

Of course we did all of the usual things (the Kazan, the Spilled Blood, St Issac's, etc) so I'm just going to hit on some of the highlights.

The first day they were here we took them out to the gulf by our house. The ice was still frozen (it was March!) and it was a very windy -12 C! 

This clock gives a countdown to the Sochi Winter Olympics. Unfortunately the snow makes it look like I've been redacted from the picture, but it's still the best one. :-P

On the same pedestrian street there is this statue of Gogol. He's famous for "The Nose" and "The Overcoat." If you take a closer look at his own nose you can guess why! He's an excellent short story writer and much of his writing falls under absurdism. 

When our friends went out exploring on their own they encountered this scary spring event. If you look closely you can see that the huge drainpipe was frozen solid and that the weight actually tore it off of the building where it then shattered on the sidewalk! Depending on what the winter is like this can be an extremely dangerous part of spring!

We all went to the Russian Museum which is one of my favorite museums I've been to. The art is all from Russian artists and the modern art is wonderful. 

Here's a picture of our friends "looking Russian" (a.k.a. not smiling) with a bust of Dostoevsky. 

This is one of my very favorite things there. It's Madonna and Christ and I just adore how beautiful it is. It's very detailed and the black and white makes it very striking as well.

Three of us hanging out in front of the museum.

We also took them to Vyborg, which is a city on the border of Finland that Matt and I traveled to last summer. We were able to climb the tower and wander around on the river surrounding the fortress. 

We also climbed the bastions across from the fortress.

We visited the Buddhist temple as well. We were very impressed by how lovely and colorful the temple was. 

Since we are all Dostoevsky fans we did a walk that covers major sites from the book Crime and Punishment. Above we are on a bridge where the main character stands and stares into the river. We also visited the last flat that Dostoevsky lived in. Below there is a tobacco box with the date of his death and the words "Today Papa died" written on it by his daughter.

Our guests were very brave and decided one of the things they wanted to do was visit a banya. Banya is like a sauna. You have a room with very hot, dry heat and you alternate between that room and another that has colder water to douse yourself in. We visited a nice public banya near our church and it was a wonderful experience. There was a grandmother there who was very enthusiastic about helping us get the most out of the experience as well, coaching us on what to do and hitting us with birch branches (it's considered to be like a massage). :-) She was very sweet and gave us an orange. In the banya you wear felt hats to cover your hair and keep it from being damaged so we have a picture of us with our hats and  the orange. 

Another site we went to was the Peter and Paul fortress. Unfortunately the tower was under remont but we checked out these cool chairs instead. There are 12 of them in a circle and designed by different people, and they are based on a famous satire book called "The Twelve Chairs." In the book two men go looking for each chair of a 12 chair set because they know someone has hidden jewels in one of them. The main character, Ostap, was so well loved that though he dies at the end of the book the writers brought him back to life for a sequel. 

Sadly we couldn't get into the mini St Petersburg but there is a very large series of statues of the planners of the city next to it. One can't help but do fun poses with them!

On our guests' last night with us they treated us to dinner and we went to a place called Ruski Kitch. As you can see it lived up to it's name! 

The four of us split a samovar of tea, which I had never done before. Samovars are essentially large kettles for tea but the style is very Russian. 

And our lovely food! In the center is hachipuri, which is a Georgian bread filled with salty cheese. Easily one of my favorite dishes here!

Now our attention is solidly focused on the school play coming up on April 27th. It seems so close and like there is so little time (!!!!!!) but I think the students will do well. Pray that things go smoothly and everyone stays healthy.

A last prayer request is for a car. We no longer have a car in the US and will be searching for one the next couple months. If you know of anyone who might have an extra car we could borrow, please let us know!