Insights: Agatha Christie's play 'Café Noir'

Agatha Christie finished writing her first original play – Black Coffee – in mid-1929. By the end of the following year, it appeared on stage in London. It transferred  between various theatres before closing after approximately six months. In addition to being the first play Christie wrote, Black Coffee is unique because it was the only play she penned that featured her Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. Thus, it was appropriate that this play should find its way onto the Belgian stage and that Poirot should finally be portrayed by a Belgian.

The play premiered on March 5, 1937, when it was performed at the Théâtre Molière in Brussels under its translated title Café Noir. The play’s Belgian connections were enhanced by the fact that it was translated by Paul Blanchart, Michel Duchatto and Raoul Renaux. Blanchart was a French journalist for the Belgian newspaper Le Journal de Liege, while Duchatto and Renaux were both Belgian. Now that Christie’s Belgian detective was finally walking the boards in Brussels, and with a Belgian cast, a deep sense of local pride materialised as evidenced by the numerous newspaper stories discussing it. Not only was the Belgian press thrilled with this milestone, but they also wrote rave reviews about the play and commented favourably on the actors, several of whom were clearly well-known in the day.

Marcel Roels played the role of Hercule Poirot. Monsieur Roels was a well-known Belgian film actor who had already featured in nine films prior to the play’s first performance, including Prince d'une Nuit.  My research has led me to believe he was the first Belgian to portray the character of Hercule Poirot on stage or screen. This significance of this does not appear to have previously been recognised in the anglophone world.

Shortly after the play ended, he starred in the comedy film Bossemans and Coppenolle, playing one of the leads, Auguste Coppenolle. It appears that it is this role for which he is remembered in Belgium, not Poirot.

The role of Lucia Amory was played by Mademoiselle Duclos. She was born in 1909 and was a highly respected stage actress in Belgium. Her initial success came with her engagement at the Théâtre Molière, under the frequent direction of Charles Schauten, who would also direct Café Noir. Very quickly, her renown spread beyond France. She performed notably alongside well-known actors of the day, including André Brulé, Harry Baur, and Jean Weber. With her youthful looks, Germaine Duclos excelled in coquettish roles.

She played the roles of Roxane, the love interest in Cyrano de Bergerac, the young flirtatious Célimène in The Misanthrope, and the Parisian courtesan Marguerite Gautier in The Lady of the Camellias. One critic in the 1940s called her 'the most coquettish of our coquettes.' She rose to significant fame after the Second World War and her image appeared frequently in magazines and newspapers.

The Belgium Publication of Café Noir.

In January 1938, the play became available for amateur production in Belgium and a playscript was published by Editions Quand Meme, a publisher of play scripts located at Rue Scailquin, 22, Bruxelles. The playscript also includes a black and white reproduction of the original theatrical poster. While the artist is unknown, the poster was printed by J. Fuytynck, a lithographic printer based in Brussels, Belgium, who is well-known for producing posters in the early to mid-20th century, many of which are sought by collectors today.  

While this first Belgian edition of Café Noir is exceptionally scarce, it is an important artifact for the contextual insights it provides. For example, the frontispiece of the playscript reproduces an excerpt from an article that was written in in the theatre’s playbill, Molière Magazine (Issue No. 35), when it was first staged.

That article was written by critic Max Hérer and the excerpt cited was as follows:

It is a particularly fortunate initiative on the part of Mr. Charles Schauten to offer this play to the Brussels public. The original version (Black Coffee) enjoyed considerable success in London (during 1930 and 1931) and is still frequently performed in both England and America. An Italian version received special acclaim, and it would therefore have been truly regrettable if Black Coffee had not been adapted into French... and by Belgians, since the play's protagonist, Hercule Poirot, is also Belgian!

Agatha Christie is one of the very best authors of detective novels in the United Kingdom. Her style, of impeccable literary quality, is enlivened by that delightful British humor and showcases an astonishingly fertile imagination in works as numerous as they are renowned: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (often cited as a model of the genre), The Seven Dials, The Blue Train, Murder on the Orient Express, Knife on the Neck, [Ed: Lord Edgware Dies] etc.

What should particularly capture our attention is that Agatha Christie created a completely new type of detective who, in our opinion, can take his place immediately after Sherlock Holmes in English detective literature. The Hercule Poirot type is all the more appealing to us because the hero is Belgian. Absolutely. And what should flatter our self-esteem is that, although the character sometimes comes across as a tad ridiculous, he appears obsessive and often singularly conceited; he is, moreover, gifted with qualities that compel our sympathy and admiration. Hercule Poirot is the epitome of the intelligent detective, whose investigative methods resolutely depart from the well-trodden paths of routine and are essentially inspired by psychology and intuition. When Poirot "puts his little grey cells to work", he immerses himself in the atmosphere of the drama, being in this the opposite of the principles accepted once and for all by Inspector Japp (another classic type in Agatha Christie's novels and plays) of Scotland Yard—the latter working only on material clues without concerning himself with the soul of people and things... Poirot has genius; Japp has talent.

This is the first time, to our knowledge, that these characters will be brought to the Belgian stage in their original forms and under their original names. From The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, which we mentioned above, Jacques Deval, ... the adapter, felt compelled to transform the character of Poirot [into an] Italian. Perhaps this was to cater to the tastes of French audiences. The adaptors of Café Noir did not fall into this trap: they faithfully respected the character types as imagined by the author. They even preserved the play's essentially English atmosphere and, with great skill—an extremely delicate feat—adapted the British humor to retain all its particular flavor in our language.

In addition to this restatement of part of Max Hérer’s critique, the playscript also provides some quotes from the press in March 1937 when the play was first staged in Brussels. They were as follows:

La Nation Belge, Brussels: A certain drollery and a very agreeable humor are woven into the subtle threads of the plot, giving the action a real originality. Furthermore, the characters, however conventional they may be, have verve and are portrayed with enough life for the stage adaptation to have been successfully executed. It should be noted in this regard that Messrs. Blanchart, Renaux, and Duchatto, the adaptors of Black Coffee, succeeded perfectly. The dialogue is lively, the scenes are well-paced and edited, and the interest never wanes.

Le Soir, Brussels: Three writers, two of them Belgians, Messrs. Paul Blanchart, Raoul Renaux, and Michel Duchatto, have adapted the English play [into] French with great ingenuity, emotion, and passionate vividness, without neglecting what psychology and humor must add to any good comedy.

La Critique, Liège: Messrs. Paul Blanchart, Michel Duchatto, and Raoul Renaux collaborated on the French adaptation of a work by Mrs. Agatha Christie, the English specialist in detective dramas. From this three-way collaboration emerged a coherent, interesting, and even captivating play, right up to the final curtain.

My own research into the reaction of the Belgian press found numerous other positive reviews, especially with regard to the quality of the performances. Several papers even included photographs, though only of the lead actors – Roels and Duclos. Two examples from different publications are shown below.

Values.

In general, I believe first edition playscripts are undervalued as Christie collectibles, especially those that are either originally penned or adapted by Agatha Christie herself (versus adapted by others). Foreign language first editions generally have a smaller collector base than English-language printings. Thus, should a Belgian first edition of this playscript surface for sale, I expect it may sell for somewhere in the range of £300 - £500 depending on condition despite. Given its importance in documenting Christie’s legacy, I believe it would be an excellent item to seek. However, finding one may prove nearly impossible.

Original ephemera related to the theatrical production at Théâtre Molière would also be exceptional difficult to find, but important to preserve should any surface. One example did appear for sale in 2021 when an original full colour Café Noir poster measuring 85cm x 61cm sold for $2,750 (apprx. £2,000) at Swann Galleries Auction House in New York.

The British playscript was first published in 1934 by Alfred Ashley  & Son. The same printing was sold in America where it was distributed by Baker Plays. While earlier typescripts exist, the Ashley printing is the first edition of the play for collectors to seek. For more details on collecting this version, its value and later English-language printings of this play, please see an earlier article I wrote (link).

To Restore or Not.

My copy of this Belgian playscript has a detached front and rear cover, with meaningful chipping on those pages. The rest of the playscript is in very good condition. For some people, this may raise the question as to whether a restoration is appropriate. My general bias is against restoration unless it’s needed to prevent further damage. Items cannot be unrestored, so if I don’t anticipate handling the item often and can store it securely, I do not restore it. However, if it is an item I may want to handle or read often, then restoration would be considered. I welcome other collectors’ thoughts.

Input.

Comments and corrections are always most welcome - either by adding them at the foot of this article or by email at: collectchristie@gmail.com .

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