Masterclass by David Suchet (Rose Theatre, Kingston upon Thames, 26.02.2024)

Sir David Suchet came to the Rose theatre to talk, primordially,  about his lifechanging role of Hercule Poirot, the "funny" little Belgium, invented by Agatha Christie that changed the expectations of the crime writing and the role of detectives forever. Who doesn't know the "Murder on the Orient Express" or "Death of the Nile ", the most famous Agatha Christie's detective novels, featuring the very special, peculiar foreign detective Hercule Poirot. They are the pinnacle of the crime-writing genre and have been interpreted on TV screen many times over.

David Suchet (interviewed by Geoffrey Wansell) talked, indeed, about Poirot, about how it all began - how he was proposed to do this role after playing another role (Blott in TV serie Blott on the Landscape) by A. Christie's daughter Rosalind and Christie's trust and was particularly asked by Rosalind to portray a character that would not become a caricature to make people laugh at but to amuse people and make them laugh with. David Suchet also explained, quite amusingly, how he worked on Poirot's funny, mincing walk, which he reached literally by squeezing his rear side to control the pace and posture, how he moved his voice from the bottom of the chest up to his head and how he figured out the right accent to be mistakenly identified as French but not impossible to be Belgium. He also brough his walking stick with him (that was given to him as a souvenir when he finished the whole Poirot series) and his favourite moustache (framed) to complete the picture of this unique, unforgettable and so-loved detective.

However, this evening was much more than just the "Poirot" talk. In fact, every time Mr. Suchet talked about some important moment in his career (which were really very funny and full of embarrassment, too) the atmosphere changed and the story turned into a little performance. The light spot was directed on Mr. Suchet, his speech became more focused and theatrical and we were treated to a little special moment. This culminated with the "Salieri" speech from the play Amadeus, for which Davis Suchet gained Variety Club Award, as well as a 2000 Tony nomination for best performance by a leading actor. And the evening continued with something more interesting still: David Suchet offered a sneaky peak into his approach of becoming a character that the writer wrote. He talked about his classical actor's training, his admiration and dedication to the writer and particularly about his "take" on the William Shakespeare: how to get the right rhythm, how to understand the poetic embellishments Shakespeare used in his writing to express a particular feeling or state of mind and how to incorporate it in the actor's speech in a way that it would sound natural.

Many great actors praise William Shakespeare for his writing (for the colourful, witty and amusing characters he invents and the great writing skill he applied when dealing with language). Dame Judi Dench talked about her admiration for Shakespeare when she had her soirée at the Rose theatre and Sir Ian Mckellen dedicated the whole half of his evening at the Rose Theatre, too. There is no going away from Shakespeare (at least not here, in the Great Britain) and Sir David Suchet, who used to be a member of the RSC for thirteen years, has proved that once more.