Two different stage versions of TOWARDS ZERO ?

mstrsims2

I am reading Julius Green's excellent book:   Curtain Up-AC-a life in the theatre.
So the Gerald Verner version is a different play than Agatha's adaptation?    I ordered a copy from Amazon and will compare them.

GKCfan

After I read Curtain Up, I think that the version of the play Towards Zero published in the eight-play anthology The Mousetrap and Other Plays and printed individually is the predominantly Verner version, and the version (or at least, early draft) Christie wrote was never published or produced, and is only found in the Christie archives.  It's unclear how much of the Verner play was revised by Christie herself, but as you know (but other people who read this may not know), Green argues that most of the dialogue doesn't sound like Christie, at least to him.  So I think that whatever you just ordered may be exactly the same as every other published version, but please let me know if there are any differences.

mstrsims2

It is the same        Although the cover does say Gerald Verner     I wonder if they collaborated.   I always assumed that Agatha wrote it solo.      I thought that Julius Green's book said that Verner's play took place on the outside terrace, but the text is the same and it takes place inside the house.    Any clues ?

GKCfan

I'm afraid that all I know is from Green's book.  For some reason Christie's producers thought that her version was too experimental or something, so Verner was called in to write a more conventional thriller.  I vaguely remember that Green suggested that Christie made some edits, but I'm sorry I can't provide any information outside of Curtain Up.

noelrees

The outside version set on the terrace is now available from Samuel French London.w
Worth a look and to compare with the Christie vernier inside edition