Alibi (play)

Alibi
Front cover of the 1929 Samuel French Ltd. Acting Edition
Written by	Michael Morton, from a novel by Agatha Christie
Date premiered	15 May 1928
Original language	English

Alibi is a 1928 play by Michael Morton based on The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, a novel by British crime writer Agatha Christie.

It opened at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London's West End on 15 May 1928, starring Charles Laughton as Hercule Poirot. It was deemed a success and ran for 250 performances closing on 7 December 1928. It was the first work of Agatha Christie's to be presented on stage and the first ever adaptation of one of her works for any medium outside of her books. Retitled The Fatal Alibi, the play was first presented on Broadway in February 1932; the production was directed by Laughton, who reprised the role of Poirot.

Christie disagreed with the change of her favourite character Caroline Sheppard, the inspiration for Miss Marple, into a beautiful girl called Caryl Sheppard. She only permitted this change because the alternative was turning Poirot into a young man called Beau Poirot and having "lots of girls in love with him". The other major changes from the book were:

The play takes place in two sets – the hall at Fernley Park and in Poirot's study in his house in the village. Sir Roger's study is situated at the back of the centre stage of the hall set with two doors which are opened at various parts in the play to reveal the corpse at his desk and are closed at other times when events in the play dictate they should be.

(The hall at Sir Roger Ackroyd's, Fernley Park. Afternoon)
Sir Roger’s sister-in-law, Mrs. Ackroyd, her daughter, Flora, his secretary, Geoffrey Raymond and Major Blunt, a guest, are relaxing in the hall. Mrs. Ackroyd and Flora live there due to their financial circumstances. They are utterly reliant on Sir Roger who tightly controls their money and consequently they are in some debt. They discuss a report in the newspaper of the suicide of a local woman, Mrs. Ashley Ferrars, during the previous night. She had a close relationship with Sir Roger and her death has greatly affected him. They further discuss the impending announcement of the engagement between Flora and Sir Roger’s stepson, Ralph Paton and the difference that this marriage will make. A young woman who is a neighbour, Caryl Sheppard, arrives to play bridge and Flora teases her over her fascination for a recent arrival in the village – a foreigner who Caryl thinks is called M. Porrott, but Flora reveals that her uncle has told her that he in fact is M. Hercule Poirot, the famous French detective. Poirot arrives and meets everyone. He is especially taken with Caryl. During the conversation, Caryl tells Flora that she thought she saw Ralph Paton in the village that morning but Flora is surprised – as far as she knew Ralph has been in London for the previous six months ever since he had an argument with his uncle. As Caryl's brother, Dr. James Sheppard, is dining at Fernley that evening, she will be alone and she invites Poirot to dine with her. They leave together. As the others go off to change for dinner, a maid, Ursula Bourne, tidies the room and meets Ralph when he comes in from the terrace. It is obvious that the two have a secret relationship but their conversation is interrupted as Bourne sees Dr. Sheppard approaching the house. Ralph quickly hides in the adjoining library and Dr. Sheppard enters to be greeted by Parker, the butler. Dr. Sheppard may have to rush out to a confinement case later and consequently he has his doctor's bag with him which Parker looks after. Sheppard is left to his own devices for a moment and Ralph comes out of hiding and tells the doctor, an old friend, that he is in a mess with his stepfather and that he is staying at a local inn, the White Horse. Ralph leaves the house and soon Sir Roger himself comes down into the hall. He too unburdens himself on Sheppard: Mrs. Ferrars was going to be his fiancée after the year’s mourning for the late Mr. Ferrars came to an end but, when the requisite time was up, she hesitated for three more months and then confessed that she poisoned her brutal husband. She was driven to suicide by an unknown blackmailer who knew of her actions and has been draining her of funds all this time. Sir Roger is certain that she would have left him a letter detailing who her persecutor was. At that moment, Parker comes in with a letter for Sir Roger – it is from the late Mrs. Ferrars but he has no time to open it as the others come down for dinner.