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The first showing of Murder on the Orient Express was held March 6 at 7 pm in The Rylander. The performances were energetic, the set work was adequate, and the music period appropriate.

The Scotch accent was at times subtle, but then, Scotch accents can be challenging. The French and Belgium accents were delightful to a Southern ear, though perhaps not to a French or Belgian one. The Southern accent was quite convincing.

The Russian princess was hilariously well-played with sharply delivered lines by Becca Jones. Madelyn Dunston, playing Greta Ohlsson, made for a comic performance of an appropriately one-dimensional character. Jacqueline Devaney, playing the Hungarian Countess Andrenyi gave a high-energy and charming performance. The Yankee gangster, Samuel Ratchett, was appropriately vulgar (in the old-fashioned, classless sense).

Barry McConatha made an appropriately humorous performance of Hercule Poirot interspersed with moments of gravity. He interviewed after the play, describing the rehearsal process. “There were three months of practice, rehearsal, doing lines, repeating the lines, going and going and going, and it takes two months at least to find your character, when you actually start feeling like your character.” Even then, McConatha did not feel like he really embodied Poirot until getting on the stage for the first time less than a week prior.

McConatha also shared how he managed the accent. “It’s kind of funny. My brother and I used to do fake French accents. I had to be instructed on many, many words.”

Nathan Jackson has a history with the Sumter Players, though a leukemia diagnosis required him to break from acting. The part of the conductor is his first major role since. “Getting back on stage, it’s like coming back home after a long trip. I forgot how exhausted I am after a week of trying to get everything together, but at the end of the day, it’s worth it.”

The break has not left him rusty. “It’s kind of like riding a bike. It doesn’t take much to get back up and keep going.”

Jackson shared what he loved most about being back on stage. “We’re a family here, and being back with the people I love and enjoy having a lot of fun with, it’s really what makes it for me.”

Jackson found embodying the role easy. “For me, it doesn’t take long at all, but I’ve been doing this since high school, since 10th grade.” When asked if anything was challenging, he replied; “maybe these shoes, they have no arch support.”

Jones also interviewed on her performance as Dragomiroff. “It took a lot of practicing in how a Russian would talk in English. So I got to the point where I was trying to sing all the songs that came on the radio in the accent, so I could really embody it. But obviously [with] the age, the wigs and everything else really helps with the character.”

Jones shared what she found most challenging. “Remembering exactly when to come in on certain cues. . . adjusting if someone misses a cue to bring it back around.” She stated the later was something the cast excelled at.

She gave how long it took her to embody the character. “Probably a couple weeks, to be honest, because I had to become kind of stuck up and dismissive of people, and that’s not in my nature at all. So I definitely had to work on that, especially with my eye contact.”

Jones was grateful for the experience. “I want to thank everyone that’s with the Sumter Players, and it’s a great organization to get involved in.” She is glad others share the sentiment. “I love how the community rallies around us.”

Ray Smith played Hector McQueen, a role he found natural. “He’s kind of a bubbly kind of person, and me, that kind of matches my personality.” He stressed the effort the cast had put into learning their lines and the last minute efforts they had made to make sure they pulled off the performance.

Monsieur Bouc was played by Jacob Peed. He shared the work that went into learning his character. “You should have listened to me at night practicing. I’m sure, with the thin walls at my apartment, the neighbors were like, who’s this Belgian guy?”

Peed enjoyed the experience. “Late night studying, lunch breaks, things like that, just looking at the book and practicing.” In addition to hard work on individual practice, he recalls rehearsals. “We’ve already practiced about three or four times, a full run through of the play, already before tonight.” When asked how long it took him to embody the character, he replied; “probably like two nights ago.”

The part is his first major role. “I’ve done some smaller stuff, some non-speaking. I’ve died a couple times in a few plays. . . this was a really big role, and I was happy to do it.”

Peed gave the most challenging part. “At first, it was staying in accent and watching YouTube videos of how a Belgian French person accents, but remembering all the lines, very tough, and some things start to run together after a while, but. . . it turned out well in the end.”

He shared a final message about the Sumter Players. “If you want to act, it’s for anybody. Their mission is to be an inclusive environment where people . . .can come and act, and it is a lot of fun. You should at least do it once in your life.”

The play will also be performed March 8 at 7 pm and March 9 at 2:30 pm.