The Hollow: A Play

by Agatha Christie

Hopes of a quiet uneventful weekend at The Hollow, an English manor, enjoying the company of guests including an artist, a film star, and a noted physician are destroyed for detective Hercule Poirot after he discovers a dead body near the swimming pool

Genres: Plays, Agatha Christie, Mystery, Crime, Drama, Theatre, Novella

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1951

About the author

Agatha 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)

Reviews

[Alan (The Lone Librarian) Teder]

Poirot Hollowed Out
A review of the Concord Theatricals / Samuel French paperback (January 28, 2014) of the Samuel French playscript (June 7, 1951) adapted from the original novel The Hollow (Hercule Poirot #25 - 1946).

INSPECTOR. There’s an atmosphere of family solidarity in this house. They’re all blood relations. Mrs. Cristow’s the only outsider. Yes, I think they’d be glad to be sure she did it.
SERGEANT. But you’re not so sure?
INSPECTOR. Actually anyone could have shot him. There are no alibis in this case.

As with the stage play Appointment with Death, The Hollow is yet another adaptation of a Hercule Poirot novel in which Poirot no longer appears. I reviewed the original novel as Houseguest at the Hollow.

Scotland Yard CID Inspector Colquhoun and Sergeant Penny are left as the police authorities investigating the murder of Dr. John Cristow with most of the other characters remaining in place (the subplot of the medical treatment of Mrs. Crabtree is dropped). Adjustments had to be made in the stage version. In the novel the gun is thrown into a swimming pool, in the theatrical play it is simply thrown onto the stage by an unseen hand. Much of the rest is similar but the ending is still somewhat different.

This was again an enjoyable adaptation in which Christie was able to upend the expectations of people who thought the play would be the same as the novel. As rumour had it, Christie grew tired of constantly having to write Poirot novels and took the opportunity in theatrical versions to drop the character entirely.

This play counts against my Complete Agatha Christie binge goal, so I have 19 novels (including the 5 remaining Westmacotts), 5 short story collections, 10.5* theatrical plays (+ several harder to find 1-act radio plays) and 1 autobiography left to go. If my count is wrong I'll adjust it as I get nearer to the end of my target.

Footnote
* I am counting Towards Zero stage play version #1 (1945) and Towards Zero stage play version #2 (1956) each as 1/2 of a play.
As best as I know, the 10 and 1/2 remaining full length plays on my list are:
Black Coffee (1930).
The Secret of Chimneys (1931) [was a lost play not on my original list, it was rediscovered and finally performed in 2003].
The Stranger (1932).
Akhnaton (1937).
And Then There Were None (1939).
Murder on the Nile (1944).
Towards Zero (Version #1) (1945).
Spider's Web (1954).
A Daughter's A Daughter (1956).
The Unexpected Guest (1958).
Fiddlers Three (1972).
In addition there are several full length plays that have been posthumously adapted from Agatha Christie novels by other people, but I am not counting them as part of the canon. For a complete listing see the works at Concord Theatricals listed under Agatha Christie.
The above list does not include the shorter one-act plays and/or radio plays which I still have to investigate.

Trivia and Links
The Poirot novel The Hollow was adapted as a feature length episode for the TV series Agatha Christie's Poirot (1989-2013). It was Season 9's Episode 4 in 2004. There is no screen adaptation of the non-Poirot stage play version.

[Cooper]

3.5 ⭐️
pretty good, i wish the beginning was faster and the ending was long (i would say this applies to all agatha christie plays) but overall really good juicy drama-filled mystery!

[Kailey (Luminous Libro)]

A group of people get together for a weekend in the country, and one of them is murdered. Everyone is a suspect, and they all are hiding something from the police. One man is known for having various affairs, while his poor wife is clueless that his mistress is in the same house. Edward worries that his relatives resent him for inheriting the estate where they all grew up. Midge is tired of being seen a child, and tries to attract Edward's attention. Lady Angkatell is so scatter-brained that no one can follow her silly conversations. They all have a motive for murder, but which one of them actually did it?

I loved this amazing mystery! I was surprised at every plot twist, and I had no idea who the murderer really was until the very end. It was wonderful to see how every clue was laid out, bringing speculation and suspicion on each character in turn.

The characters are all so different and dramatic. Their personalities are vivid and sharp, and I just loved the clever dialogue between them. It was a complete delight to see how they changed and confessed their little secrets. Each person has some complex relationship with the others, and the family dynamics between all the cousins was full of history.

Such a fantastic play! I would love to see it performed on stage someday.

[Amarante]

As soon as all the characters were introduced, I remembered I had already read this story beforehand sadly enough -henceforth no surprise factor this time at the very end- but I am still glad I reread the Poirot novel in this scripted version.
I couldn't agree more with Agatha Christie when she decided to rewrite the novel in this fashion, leaving the Belgian detective with his infamous grey cells out of it. Not because of his cockiness but because by leaving him out, there are only family members involved in the murder case and the suspense increases immensely!
And although there are less clues in this story to enable the reader to find the real culprit, which I find to be somewhat of a shame but others might like the extra challenge, it is a good novel made better in this theatre play format.
Another mystery I'd like to witness on stage one day although maybe not as badly as some other plays written by Christie.

[Gail Sacharski]

This play is adapted from the book of the same name (aka: Murder After Hours) & follows it pretty closely. There were changes made to accommodate it's taking place on a stage where, naturally, there cannot be several different sets & also, there was no Poirot, only an Inspector & Sergeant investigating. But it followed the book with the same outcome slightly altered. I enjoyed it.

[Victoria]

Appearing in an am-dram production of this play in Bournemouth, UK in April 2023 as Lady Angkatell. I particularly like how my character is written but it’s difficult to learn! Good plot, nice twist at the end, a bit long.

[Nori Fitchett]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Incredible characters, fun twists and just fun!

[Leslie]

Read as part of The Mousetrap and Other Plays.

Christie adapted her Poirot novel "The Hollow" for the stage & in the process removed Poirot from the story. The plot flows more smoothly without his presence (even though Poirot is one of my favorite consulting detectives). A quick fun read and a play I would like to see performed.

[John Geddie]

Philandering husband shot while weekending in an English Country home.

Good read. I feel like the twist wasn't big enough or that surprising, but the dialogue and characterization make The Hollow a fun one anyway. It's a good mystery choice for women. There's the long-suffering wife, the liberated mistress, the starlet ex-fiancee plus a lovelorn ingenue, an eccentric hostess and an observant maid. All of them seem like they'd be fun to perform.

6 men/6 women (can be reduced to 5/5)
Single set, interior.

[Matthew Hodge]

I can't remember the plot of the original novel of The Hollow but this play adaptation was a suitably convoluted affair.

[Brady Carnahan]

You cannot go wrong with this classic! The twists and turns are phenomenal!

[Barbara]

I enjoyed this classic murder mystery I read as a buddy read with my friend in NY. I find Agatha Christie reads to be very easy, enjoyable, cozy mysteries that never disappoint.

[Penelope Hill]

A good classic whodunnit With a great Christie twist

[Kačaba]

Poslouchala jsem v české audio dramatizaci. A jak mi to zpracování samotné včetně hereckých výkonů přišlo fajn, tak zápletka jako taková mě zase tolik neoslovila.

[Emily]

An interesting and well-written play, with more complex themes than I expected. I enjoyed the feminist themes and the critical portrayal of 20th-century class divides.

[Uri Cohen]

Christie's stage version is a faithful adaptation of her novel The Hollow.

[Claudia Staude]

What a classic Christie mystery! One interior set, 12 interconnected characters and a murder to solve. Kept me guessing whodunit right to the end.
Hope to see this performed one day.

[Taylor's♡Shelf]

"The past is sometimes a very good place to live."

The Hollow is an interesting gem. It's one of those rare Christie scenarios in which all motives stem from passion, and really the detecting boils down to who had the thinnest of hair-trigger tempers. This play had a great cast of characters (again, somehow highlighted by the absence of the well-barbered Belgian). I was all for Midge in this one so I'm pretty content with how things turned out.

And it's a Christie play, so we get a traditionally happy ending for at least a couple of the characters. I'm starting to think the 'first comes murder, then comes marriage' playwright Christie is a completely different person from the 'pain encircles all' novelist Christie.

I'd shutter, but I'm sure she's still laughing at us.

Reread 2021: I'm sorry, can I just mention how beautiful the marriage is between Henry and Lucy? This woman is off her rocker, leaving raw eggs on the couch and trying to have a conversation with someone while inexplicably carrying a lobster around her living room and Henry's still so smitten with her. These two are everything.

[kryppticbooks]

The story is a simple and classic Agatha Christie murder mystery. I took a lot of time just getting through the introduction part of the play. But after John is shot, it was smooth sailing. Read more at kryppticbooks.wordpress.com.

[Patrick Neylan]

A decent whodunnit, but as with many plays of that era it takes ages to get going, while the revelation is kept to the very last minute, making it seem rushed and sudden, lacking a build-up of tension. The lady of the house is also implausibly bonkers on the page, but very funny on the stage if acted well.

[Jilles]

Very interesting how Christie adapted her book into a play and made some radical changes which suit the stage much better. Never knew she was also the most successful female playwright of all time, with at one time three plays on West End, and having written the longest running play ever.

[Glenn Griffin]

An interesting mystery play but not as good as Christie’s classics And Then There Were None and The Mousetrap. Unfortunately most of the clues for the audience to discover who is the murderer are off stage and only discussed.

[Laura Anne]

3.5 stars I like this better than the novel. It works better without Poirot and the overwrought inner monologues.

[Lindsay]

Surprisingly funny for an Agatha Christie play, a lot more fun than many of her others. Very refreshing.

[Alex]

Really good adaptation of the novel to a play !

[Fred]

Just as good as Agatha Christie’s novel and a much more complex play than the previous two of hers that I have read. Absolutely brilliant!

[C. Muller]

4.8/5