Black Coffee, Billingham Forum

BY the time Agatha Christie died the world-wide sale of her books was only exceeded by the Bible and Shakespeare and Hercule Poirot, the famously neat Belgian detective, is as familiar to a British audience as Sherlock Holmes or the characters on Coronation Street.

So a big name was needed to play the small detective loved by readers but described by Christie herself as "a bombastic, tiresome, ego-centric little creep," and it was hard to tell if the excited murmur in the nearly full audience was for film star Robert Powell or the detective himself.

Powell's Poirot, while certainly egotistical, was much more likeable than Christie's description, and the play benefited from a few gentle jokes in poking fun at the average Briton's suspicion of foreigners; "he is a doctor - but only an Italian one".

In truth some of the humour fell a little flat on this Monday night crowd. Instead the impression was of an audience concentrating on this classic, drawing room, detective story. Needless to say your author, in keeping with tradition, failed to guess whodunit, but wasn't the only one who had fun trying to work it out, judging by the break time chatter.

The slightly dated feel of this 1920s story, the only Poirot written as a play by Christie and the only Poirot tale not performed by David Suchet in the long-running TV series, actually added to fun and sense of escapism. It felt like watching a good, British black and white afternoon movie or PG Woodhouse story with tea and biscuits. I don't know if this world of posh houses where strangers with full dinner jackets could pop by for tea ever really existed, but it feels so familiar that it doesn't really matter.

Mention should be made of the set, a beautiful Art Deco drawing room, that added so much atmosphere at the Forum, a 1960s venue that somehow also has bags of ambience. It was also easy to see how Liza Goddard, playing aged aunt Liza Goddard, is such a star name.

This was fun night out at the theatre, 1920s-style.

Runs until Saturday. forumtheatrebillingham.co.uk or 01642-552663

Chris Webber