This veddy British mystery gives Asolo's repertory of actors roles that match their talents, looks and ages. In the great green-brown-gold room, with garden porch, of a Tudor country manse, its lord, Henry Angkatell (comfy David S. Howard), is surrounded by textured furnishings holding artifacts from his old post in India. The Hollow, though, lacks the grandeur of Ayneswyck, Lady Lucy's childhood home pictured above their mantel. How much does she envy her cousin Edward (V Craig Heidenreich, correctly starchy), a self-deprecating man who inherited the estate? Absent minded and sometimes confused, Sharon Spelman's Lucy is gossipy and demanding. She's also so charming (ditto for Spelman) that, as her husband says and daughter Henrietta agrees, Lucy could get away with murder.
Sculptress Henrietta (intense Tessie Hogan), who has fashioned a strange bust kept beyond a drape, has long had the estate for the asking, since Edward often proposes to her. The one who really loves him (which Bryn Boice longingly conveys) is Midge, Sir Henry's young, working-poor relation. Henrietta prefers John Cristow, her lover, a brilliant doctor who's "interested in diseases, not patients." (Patrick James Clarke catches both his arrogance and charm.) He brings along for the weekend with the Angkatells his homely wife Gerda (Carolyn Michel, seeming long suffering indeed), who worries about leaving their house and kids. What a contrast to lovely Henrietta as well as, coincidentally (perhaps!), his old paramour, newly moved next door. Now a movie siren, Veronica Craye, played with curled upper lip and stiff strapless gown by Devora Millman, aims to win back Dr. John. After a night out with her, he's shot.
Which of the hosts or guests or others (including David Breitbarth's proper, snobbish valet) did it? When sensible Inspector Colquhoun arrives to investigate with his young Detective Penny (Jimmy Galaites, type cast), the only non-suspect is Krista Motley's giddy maid. Fortunately, Douglas Jones, often an Asolo detective and not long ago Christie's Poirot, differentiates Colquhoun as patient, thoughtful, unshowy. Stormy as it gets outside, inside, the process of eliminating suspects gets hotter. A gun appears in a purse, another in a basket of eggs. A drink is poisoned. Though strange sounds have filled the room from time to time, when lights will no longer flicker, the murderer is identified and brought to justice. And justice is just what director, cast, and crew have also done to Christie's entertaining mystery.
