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Agatha Christie (1890-1976) is the author not only of The Mousetrap, the longest running stage production in history but also Witness for the Prosecution and And Then There Were None to name but a few of her greatest stage successes. Her novels have sold more than 2 billion copies around the world, and she is only outsold by the Bible and Shakespeare. Born in 1890, in Torquay, Devon, England, to an American father and English mother, she wrote her first play Black Coffee (the only play in which she chose to feature Poirot) in 1930 having been disappointed by the way The Murder of Roger Ackroyd had been adapted into Alibi in 1928. She adapted her bestselling novel And Then There Were None for stage in 1943, giving it a different ending, followed by, in quick succession, Appointment with Death (1945), Murder on the Nile (1946) and The Hollow (1951). With The Mousetrap (1952), Witness for the Prosecution (1953), and Spider's Web (1954), she became the only female playwright to have three plays running in the West End at the same time. Later plays include Towards Zero (1956) co-adapted with Gerald Verner, Verdict (1958) possibly her most unusual play, Go Back for Murder (1960), and Rule of Three (1962) a series of three one act plays. After a hugely successful career and a wonderful life, Ms. Christie died peacefully on 12 January 1976. You can read Agatha Christie's own account of her life in An Autobiography which was published after her death in 1977.
Agatha Christie Limited (ACL) has been managing the literary and media rights to Agatha Christie's works around the world since 1955, when the company was set up by Christie herself. ACL works with the best talents on stage, in film, television, publishing and on digital platforms to ensure that Christie’s work continues to reach new audiences in innovative ways and to the highest standard. The company is currently managed by Christie’s great grandson James Prichard.
Recent theatre collaborations include the critically-acclaimed Witness for the Prosecution at County Hall in London, working with Eleanor Lloyd Productions and Rebecca Stafford Productions, and Murder on the Orient Express adapted by Ken Ludwig, with productions at McCarter Theatre in Princeton and Hartford, Connecticut, USA. ACL also works closely with international theatre companies developing in-territory stage productions.