Samuel French Adds 13 Titles to Its Agatha Christie Collection | Playbill

Industry News Samuel French Adds 13 Titles to Its Agatha Christie Collection The theatrical publishing and licensing company now offers 25 works by the late mystery writer.
Agatha Christie
Thirteen additional titles by Agatha Christie are now available for licensing from Samuel French. The Agatha Christie Collection now includes 25 works all written by or with the direct involvement of the late playwright and novelist.

Among the 13 new titles, currently available as a pre-publication manuscript, are Akhnaton, Christie’s only epic historical drama; The Secret of Chimneys, written in 1931 and adapted from her novel of the same name; A Daughter’s A Daughter, a melodrama rather than a stage mystery; Murder in the Studio, a collection of Christie’s radio plays Personal Call, Yellow Iris, and Butter in a Lordly Dish; The Wasp’s Nest, Christie’s first (and only personally) adapted teleplay script (from 1937); and Towards Zero and Towards Zero (Outdoor), both adapted from the same novel. The traditional version was produced in 1956. Ten years earlier, the outdoor version is the only play Christie ever wrote under commission (for the Shuberts in 1945).

These titles join the Christie plays that are among the most popular in the Samuel French catalog, including And Then There Were None, Witness For The Prosecution, and The Mousetrap.

Christie’s playwriting career spanned 42 years, from the premiere of her first play in 1930 (Black Coffee) to the last she was personally involved with in 1972 (Fiddlers Three).


The new and existing plays now making up the Collection were chosen after a two-year research project involving a review of all Christie plays in circulation, revisiting original manuscripts, and remastering existing plays to make them performance ready while ensuring they stay as close as possible to Christie’s original vision.

James Prichard, Chairman and CEO of Agatha Christie Ltd. (and great grandson of Agatha Christie) said in a statement, “As they have also proved in novels, television, film and radio, my great grandmother’s plays and stories continue to engage great performers and directors today.”

For more information or to request rights, contact a Samuel French Licensing Representative at (866) 598-8449 or click here.

First Look at Max Von Essen and Julie Halston in Murder on the Orient Express

 
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