“There’s this transition, which is quite magical really, where I’m in full costume and look at myself in the dressing-room mirror. That’s the moment I feel like I’ve become a different person.”
Last year, US playwright Ken Ludwig’s stage adaptation of the famous Agatha Christie whodunit became the fastest-selling Auckland Theatre Company production on record.
There are a few changes to the wider ensemble cast for next month’s limited two-week run, but Rhodes – a popular recurring character in The Brokenwood Mysteries – is back on board as Poirot.
It’s a role the experienced theatre actor has truly made his own, following in the footsteps of luminaries who’ve portrayed the inscrutable Poirot on screen, including Albert Finney and Peter Ustinov. In the 2017 film version of Murder on the Orient Express, Kenneth Branagh’s enormous handlebar moustache was made partially from yak hair.
David Suchet, who starred in the seminal British TV series Agatha Christie’s Poirot, famously compiled a list of 93 character traits of this “egg-shaped man”, from his eccentric European mannerisms to machine-gun style of speech.
Rhodes used Suchet’s research, drawn from Christie’s novels, as part of his own prep for the role. He’s also worked with an accent coach to land on a kind of “Hollywood French”, which avoids being so unintelligible that no one can understand a word of what he’s saying.
“Poirot is very fastidious,” he says. “A little bit OCD. He finds it personally offensive if things are out of place.
“He’s also described [in the books] as having a rapid mincing gait, a very tight way of walking, as if he’s got 10 cents between his butt. I incorporate a little bit of that into the character, too.”
Rhodes usually arrives at the theatre three hours before curtain call to warm up with the rest of the cast before disappearing into his dressing room to begin the process of transformation.
A tight budget for local productions means actors typically don’t have “dressers” and are expected to do their own hair and makeup – although when Rhodes is blackening his hair, he needs someone to do the back of his head.
It’s a stark contrast to his recent experience being fussed over on the US drama series Spartacus: House of Ashur, a racy historical drama set in ancient Rome (screening on Three and ThreeNow).
The crew for the first season of the show, which was shot in Auckland last year, numbered in the hundreds and included more than 25 makeup artists.
Rhodes plays Uvidus, the Roman mayor of the town – “so I’m a bit like Wayne Brown”. During filming, he spent 20 minutes each day having his hair curled into a bob, and then needed two people to help him into his boots and toga.
Compared to that, Murder on the Orient Express is a real DIY gig. A former redhead who’s now snow-white, Rhodes coats his slick-backed hair with dye before every performance, blackening his eyebrows and moustache with a mascara brush. (In one of her books, Christie describes Poirot’s moustache as “suspiciously black” because it’s been coloured to hide the grey.)
The rest of Rhodes’ makeup is as minimal as his costume is complex. The cast’s extravagant period dress was designed by the legendary Elizabeth Whiting, who pored over old photographs of the Orient Express and its passengers for inspiration.
Poirot’s three-piece suit was custom-made for Rhodes and has a pocket watch tucked into the waistcoat, its chain looped through the buttons. Spats are fitted over his black patent-leather shoes, and the head of the cane he carries has been painted gold.
“It’s amazing how the costume changes everything,” says Rhodes, adjusting his cuffs. “I feel different. More formal and upright. In these clothes, you can’t slouch. Poirot has probably never worn shorts or jandals in his life.”
Whiting’s attention to detail is extraordinary. A lapel pin she sourced for the suit jacket (similar to the one worn by Suchet in the TV series) references a treasured gift to Poirot from Virginie Mesnard, the woman he falls in love with in Christie’s short story The Chocolate Box.
When Poirot makes his first appearance on stage, he’s dressed in a heavy overcoat, gloves and a hat. In the world of the play, it’s winter. When the train is stranded mid-journey after a severe snowstorm blocks the tracks, everyone – including the murderer – is trapped on board.
It’s so hot under the stage lights, wearing all those layers, that Rhodes goes through five bottles of water a night. The production, which moves at a breakneck pace, is also physically demanding, requiring the cast to heft around pieces of the set at each scene change.
Whenever he takes on a new role, Rhodes uses the Laban technique (a framework that considers body, effort, shape and space) to explore the character’s physicality. He describes Poirot, who has come to London as a war refugee, as a kind but reserved man who holds his emotions in check.
“His energy is very light and direct and changeable,” he says. “He has sort of a dabbing quality, but also a strong thruster energy. So he’s got two things going on.
“There’s something uneasy about him, too. I don’t think he’s a settled person. His essence is that he’s very complex, actually, which is a great gift for an actor to play.”
Death on the Nile, another Agatha Christie stage adaptation by Ken Ludwig, is currently touring the UK. That murder-mystery (filmed by Kenneth Branagh in 2022) is set on a boat, instead of a train, and Rhodes thinks it would be a big hit here.
Last year’s season of Murder on the Orient Express was so popular he couldn’t even get tickets for some of the Spartacus producers who wanted to see the show.
After the final curtain call, it takes three washes to strip the black dye out of his hair each night, and it’s well after midnight before Rhodes winds down enough to sleep.
Live theatre is a thrilling, all-encompassing experience, he says, and the process of transforming into character is something he feels on an almost metabolic level.
“It’s like going through an airlock,” he says. “I walk through the theatre door and I’m into the world of Poirot.”
Joanna Wane is an award-winning senior lifestyle writer with a special interest in social issues and the arts.
