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Towards Zero: A Stage Play
A murder mystery set in a clifftop house in three acts
When a house party gathers at Gull's Point, the seaside home of Lady Tressilian, Neville Strange finds himself caught between his old wife Audrey and his new flame Kay. A nail-biting thriller, the play probes the psychology of jealousy in the shadow of a savage and brutal murder. A carefully unpeeled investigation before our eyes brings the story to a pointed ending.
The play, by Agatha Christie and Gerald Verner, premiered in the West End at the St. James's Theatre in September, 1956 produced by Peter Saunders - producer of The Mousetrap.
When a house party gathers at Gull's Point, the seaside home of Lady Tressilian, Neville Strange finds himself caught between his old wife Audrey and his new flame Kay. A nail-biting thriller, the play probes the psychology of jealousy in the shadow of a savage and brutal murder. A carefully unpeeled investigation before our eyes brings the story to a pointed ending.
The play, by Agatha Christie and Gerald Verner, premiered in the West End at the St. James's Theatre in September, 1956 produced by Peter Saunders - producer of The Mousetrap.
100 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 1956
2 people are currently reading
56 people want to read
About the author
Agatha Christie
5,775 books75.5k followersAgatha Christie also wrote romance novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott, and was occasionally published under the name Agatha Christie Mallowan.
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (née Miller) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, the murder mystery The Mousetrap, which has been performed in the West End of London since 1952. A writer during the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction", Christie has been called the "Queen of Crime". She also wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. In 1971, she was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to literature. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.
This best-selling author of all time wrote 66 crime novels and story collections, fourteen plays, and six novels under a pseudonym in romance. Her books sold more than a billion copies in the English language and a billion in translation. According to Index Translationum, people translated her works into 103 languages at least, the most for an individual author. Of the most enduring figures in crime literature, she created Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. She atuhored The Mousetrap, the longest-running play in the history of modern theater.
Associated Names:
Agata Christie
Agata Kristi
Агата Кристи (Russian)
Агата Крісті (Ukrainian)
Αγκάθα Κρίστι (Greek)
アガサ クリスティ (Japanese)
阿嘉莎·克莉絲蒂 (Chinese)
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (née Miller) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, the murder mystery The Mousetrap, which has been performed in the West End of London since 1952. A writer during the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction", Christie has been called the "Queen of Crime". She also wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. In 1971, she was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to literature. Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies.
This best-selling author of all time wrote 66 crime novels and story collections, fourteen plays, and six novels under a pseudonym in romance. Her books sold more than a billion copies in the English language and a billion in translation. According to Index Translationum, people translated her works into 103 languages at least, the most for an individual author. Of the most enduring figures in crime literature, she created Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple. She atuhored The Mousetrap, the longest-running play in the history of modern theater.
Associated Names:
Agata Christie
Agata Kristi
Агата Кристи (Russian)
Агата Крісті (Ukrainian)
Αγκάθα Κρίστι (Greek)
アガサ クリスティ (Japanese)
阿嘉莎·克莉絲蒂 (Chinese)
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
November 30, 2021
A very enjoyable read as a short story in effect.
September 3, 2018
I had no idea whodunnit but was still enthralled up until the end.
March 11, 2025
"I've met people like you before--people with a mental kink."Good grief, this is just awful!
In the mid-1950s, Christie had a number of plays running in London in fair succession, including 'The Mousetrap' and 'Witness for the Prosecution'. And 'Towards Zero' was among them. Strangely, it managed to run a respectable 5 months - but apparently it was not among her standout achievements.
Based on one of her novels I've not yet read, Christie adapted it for the stage in collaboration with fellow mystery writer Gerald Verner. What's particularly odd in that regard is that, to the 'visual ear', precious little of the dialogue seems Christie-esque. Much of it, in fact, leaves one thinking, 'You can't be serious - really?!' ~ which is to say... it's bad.
Saddled with a tiresome jealousy theme, what follows from there is an absurd premise... replete with a fairly colorless cast of characters.
I almost gave up the read by the end of Act One. But I suddenly became curious: how wrongheaded could it be?
Turns out: rather. I started thinking that maybe the most effective production might result if the whole thing were done as parody, complete with exaggeration. I did get a number of laughs out of the script that way. Who knows?; maybe as a comedy it could really fly. It could maybe be wildly entertaining with merriment galore - though that would, of course, be a far cry from the authors' intent.
October 21, 2016
Awesome! Really hope this is one of the Agatha Christie's being adapted into a miniseries!
November 17, 2020
If you ever see a parody of an English drawing-room murder mystery, this is what's being parodied. It's nonsense, full of cliche and cardboard cut-out upper-middle-class characters speaking in melodramatic and unrealistic dialogue. And it's long. Being a "well-made play", it has two long acts followed by a shorter third act. Who knows why anyone ever thought such an unbalanced structure should be called "well-made", but that's mid-20th century theatre for you.
The murder plot is ridiculously convoluted and the solution requires leaps of conjecture to which, without a confession, any defence lawyer could easily counter with the simple words: "Bollocks. Prove it."
I can't imagine anyone performing this play at all seriously. It might raise a few laughs, but not in the way the author intended.
The murder plot is ridiculously convoluted and the solution requires leaps of conjecture to which, without a confession, any defence lawyer could easily counter with the simple words: "Bollocks. Prove it."
I can't imagine anyone performing this play at all seriously. It might raise a few laughs, but not in the way the author intended.
August 24, 2019
Look, maybe I just don't have the stamina for the homestretch of Agatha Christie books, but this play version of Towards Zero seems to be full of two-dimensional characters, any one of whom can be the murderer because any information we're presented is guaranteed to be a red herring until the end of the third act ...
While I'm sure an amateur theatre company would have fun with a play like this, which reduces a whole book's action to something that gets played out in a single room, it's a little bit underwhelming.
While I'm sure an amateur theatre company would have fun with a play like this, which reduces a whole book's action to something that gets played out in a single room, it's a little bit underwhelming.
September 11, 2021
Another Christie book adapted as a play &, as in previous plays, the original detective (in this case, Superintendent Battle) has been removed from the cast as well as various other extra characters who, in the book, provide clues, but aren't needed in the play. The murderer, the murder, & the reason remain the same; the difference is that the character of the man who tried to commit suicide has an expanded role &, more or less, takes the place of Battle & solves the crime rather than just provides the needed clue. This play was quite enjoyable.
February 23, 2020
A pleasant refresher of the events of the novel. Always fab to read a theatre script from Dame Agatha!
December 27, 2021
"It would seem like the course of true love has not run smoothly."
You don't say.
Before reading this adaptation, I had only read one or two novels featuring Superintendent Battle, the novel Towards Zero not being one of them. Although he may not have as much of a presence or personality as his flamboyant Belgian counterpart, I think this may actually be a point in his favour. Sometimes I feel the actual plot of a Poirot novel takes second stage to the puffed-up, colourful presence of the detective himself. I like secondary characters that speak for themselves - and in this story, they really do (I have a bit of a literary fetish for the lovelorn bystander from childhood trope. This story would have had to be really bad to lose my attention.) For this reason, I'll definitely continue to read the Battle series no matter the medium.
That being said, I can't comment on the actual adaptation of the secondary work. All I can say is that I'll certainly be adding the novel to my list of upcoming reads. And if an adaptation can convince you to read the primary work, then I think it's done its job.
BONUS:
Leach: Look at these stains. That's blood, or I'm Marilyn Monroe.
Battle: ...You're certainly not Marilyn Monroe, Jim.
Just how I like my comedy. Dry as sand.
You don't say.
Before reading this adaptation, I had only read one or two novels featuring Superintendent Battle, the novel Towards Zero not being one of them. Although he may not have as much of a presence or personality as his flamboyant Belgian counterpart, I think this may actually be a point in his favour. Sometimes I feel the actual plot of a Poirot novel takes second stage to the puffed-up, colourful presence of the detective himself. I like secondary characters that speak for themselves - and in this story, they really do (I have a bit of a literary fetish for the lovelorn bystander from childhood trope. This story would have had to be really bad to lose my attention.) For this reason, I'll definitely continue to read the Battle series no matter the medium.
That being said, I can't comment on the actual adaptation of the secondary work. All I can say is that I'll certainly be adding the novel to my list of upcoming reads. And if an adaptation can convince you to read the primary work, then I think it's done its job.
BONUS:
Leach: Look at these stains. That's blood, or I'm Marilyn Monroe.
Battle: ...You're certainly not Marilyn Monroe, Jim.
Just how I like my comedy. Dry as sand.
March 26, 2023
Why is everyone writing reviews on this ISBN number about the book when this is the play!
This is the version staged outdoors not indoors and actually fully written by Agatha Christie.
It's very wordy and quite hard to stage realistically and quite hard to act to show the underlying but hidden emotional content. I think the problem is we don't want the murderer to be quite a lot of the characters and so many of them seem just too old to be bothered to kill. I've read better.
This is the version staged outdoors not indoors and actually fully written by Agatha Christie.
It's very wordy and quite hard to stage realistically and quite hard to act to show the underlying but hidden emotional content. I think the problem is we don't want the murderer to be quite a lot of the characters and so many of them seem just too old to be bothered to kill. I've read better.
April 19, 2017
Actually did a pretty good job keeping me guessing, and not overly contrived. Plenty of the usual Agatha Christie tropes, but they work reasonably well.
September 6, 2018
Good book when it gets going.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews