A train departs from Istanbul in the winter of 1934. It should be a routine ride to Western Europe, but something isn’t right. Not long after the journey begins, a murder occurs, and the train becomes stuck in a snowdrift! Fortunately, the famous detective Hercule Poirot is aboard the train and gets to work solving the mystery.
But there’s something confusing about the clues. Why doesn’t everything add up? Who committed the murder? Why?
Come watch Oakwood School’s production of “Murder on the Orient Express” to find out!
Oakwood’s High School Fall Play is produced by the Advanced Theatrical Production class and focuses heavily on student involvement. It’s an excellent chance for students to get hands-on experience in all production roles, including costumes, tech, set-building and directing.
While the play is run mainly by students, Oakwood’s Upper School Drama Teacher and Performing Arts Department Chair, Colleen Blanchard, makes the whole production possible. She oversees the process and ensures that everyone is able to be involved in their desired production roles and has the necessary tools for success.
Calla Cavanagh is the senior student director, and Brennan Klotzbach is the debuting student director. They put countless hours into blocking scenes, helping with characterization and ensuring everything runs smoothly.
The set is also designed and constructed mainly by students. Featuring a large rotating train with eight cars, the set for “Murder on the Orient Express” is fairly complex.
However, through hours of hard work and research, the set designers have managed to successfully pull it off.
Klotzbach expressed her appreciation of the techs and set designers and the importance of collaboration, stating, “I have worked with students on lighting and sound cues, as well as with our two student Set Designers, Luke Titi and Brendan Lyle, and am truly in awe of everything our techs can do.”
An exciting challenge for the actors has been learning the many accents in the show. Almost every character has a different one. There’s French, Belgian, Hungarian, Scottish, Russian, Swedish and more.
Actors have invested an immense amount of time and effort into perfecting these accents by watching videos, studying languages and getting feedback from people with these accents. For example, one student playing a British character consulted her British parents about how to improve her accent.
Another student focused on learning her accent over the summer by watching videos and watching both of the film versions of “Murder on the Orient Express.” Some students have even remarked that they have incorporated aspects of their character’s accents or vocabulary into their daily lives.
Another challenging aspect of the show is that, once the train ride starts, the actors never go offstage. Each actor must carry out their character’s routines and hobbies in the background. This offers a great chance to focus on characterization, deciding what each character should be doing beyond what the script says.
To help with this, the student directors gave the actors an assignment that involved answering specific questions about characterization. How would your character react in a certain situation? What does your character enjoy doing during their free time? This assignment was really helpful in encouraging in-depth thought about each character.
While being constantly on stage is great for character development, it is also quite difficult because it prevents actors from taking a break until intermission. There is no time to sneak a look at your script backstage, grab a sip of water or quickly touch up makeup.
Fortunately, these difficulties have been taken into consideration, and solutions have been constructed accordingly. For example, some of the background blocking includes doing makeup, and there is a bar on the train where water is accessible to the actors.
Oakwood theater is permeated by a sense of community. Someone is always there and willing to help. Whether you need a partner to run lines, you have a question about blocking or you just need someone to talk to, someone is always eager to step in and support you.
It’s incredible to be in such a welcoming environment where you can be yourself and experiment with your acting, knowing that you have the support of the people around you.
Senior Student Director Cavanagh shared her favorite part about directing: “To see a piece of your vision come to life so complete is like no other experience, and it always warms my heart to see everyone’s hard work become something so beautiful.”
This is a testament to how clearly everyone’s collaboration, dedication and passion shine through in each Oakwood production—something that is evident in “Murder on the Orient Express.”
The show is double cast to give more students the opportunity for large roles. The Secret Cast will be performing on Nov. 6 and 7, and the Truth Cast will be performing on Nov. 13 and 14.
Claudia Read is a senior and a drama student at Oakwood School.
