Peril in the Alps at Vertigo Theatre
There’s a particular pleasure in watching a mystery that understands exactly what it wants to be: clever, theatrical, fleet-footed, and unabashedly in love with its own devices. Vertigo Theatre’s Peril in the Alps offers precisely that—a brisk, good-natured romp through kidnappings, disappearances, and blackmail, delivered with enough good humour to warm even an Alpine winter. The play is based in part on Agatha Christie’s “Poirot Investigates.”
Directed with playful precision by Clare Preuss, the production leans fully into its conceit: six actors performing 28 characters, transforming themselves through accents, silhouettes, lightning-fast entrances, and—most memorably—a parade of hat changes that becomes both a running gag and a visual shorthand for identity-swapping. This is the same theatrical approach playwright Steven Dietz used to great effect in Murder on the Links, and it proves just as delightful here.
A mystery of many threads
The plot—true to Christie’s spirit—is a tangle of parallel disappearances, resurrected past cases, and overlapping motives. Bella Duveen has vanished, and Hastings, earnest as ever, turns to Hercule Poirot for help. Coincidentally, Poirot has just taken on another missing-persons case that feels eerily familiar.
It’s a busy story, sometimes too busy: clever, yes, but packed with enough twists, red herrings, and circular revelations that some audience members may still be arranging the clues on their mental corkboard on the way home. But Dietz isn’t striving for crystalline narrative economy; he’s orchestrating a theatrical event, and density becomes part of the fun.
Design that earns its laughs
Hanne Loosen’s set and costume design is both practical and evocative. Suspended wooden chairs hang above the stage like chairlifts over a ski hill, creating an instant Alpine atmosphere with a single, memorable gesture. The funicular—a miniature cable car that shuttles up and down its track—elicits laughter every time it appears, as does the procession of steaming cups of cocoa that punctuate the play’s cosier scenes. And a standout moment: Hastings changing into his skiing outfit, a transformation that delighted the audience with its gentle absurdity.
Props become collaborators in storytelling, and the design’s charm reinforces the production’s commitment to visual play.
Anchors at the centre of the storm
At the core of this whirlwind is Graham Percy’s Poirot, a performance that balances fussiness, sharp wit, and unexpected sentiment. Poirot remains the calm centre even as the stage whirls with transformations. When he confesses, “There are more feelings in my heart than I have words for,” the line—tender, almost vulnerable—lands with surprising weight.
Alongside him, Austin Halarewich brings warmth and comedic instinct to Hastings, grounding the partnership in camaraderie.
The remaining four actors—Tyrell Crews, Linda Kee, Heidi Damayo, and Aidan Laudersmith—perform a feat of theatrical athleticism. Between them, they embody dozens of characters, slipping between roles with such speed and precision that the transitions themselves become part of the entertainment. It’s a showcase of skill, stamina, and comic timing, and the joy is in watching the machinery of theatre laid bare.
Tone on the move
The production moves nimbly between suspense, comedy, and farce, sometimes within a single scene. One moment hints at sinister intrigue; the next bursts into costume-driven hilarity. For viewers expecting a straight thriller, the tonal zigzags may feel surprising, but Vertigo Theatre embraces this fluidity as part of the show’s seasonal charm.
As Artistic Director Jack Grinhaus notes, “I love a good comedy that is also smart. Agatha Christie’s brilliance, paired with Dietz’s wit and sense of pacing and rhythm, makes for an enthralling evening of mystery theatre. As we are coming into the holiday season, Peril in the Alps is the perfect chestnut. Romance, wit, nostalgia, and a puzzle to be solved that comes out right in the end. Exactly what we all want this time of year.”
It is, in many ways, the production’s mission statement.
Final verdict
Peril in the Alps is not a purist’s Christie adaptation. It’s a lively, inventive, and affectionately theatrical homage—a puzzle infused with warmth, wit, and obvious delight in performance.
If you go in expecting tight realism, the sheer volume of characters and the zigzag of tones may feel overwhelming. But if you surrender to the spirit of the piece—to its ingenuity, its cocoa steam, its chairlift whimsy, and its parade of hats—there is great pleasure to be found.
It’s exactly the kind of clever, comforting entertainment that feels right for this time of year.
SIDEBAR
Heidi Damayo and the pleasure of watching a Filipino actor shine
I first encountered Heidi Damayo in The Brothers Paranormal, where she delivered a performance so haunting it stayed with me for weeks. Seeing her again in Peril in the Alps—this time in full chameleon mode—felt like witnessing a completely different artistic muscle flex.
Damayo is one of those rare performers who can both disappear into a role and draw your eye whenever she’s onstage. Here, she shifts between characters with astonishing clarity: a tilt of the head, a changed stance, a precise vocal shift, and suddenly she’s someone new. In a production that demands stamina, technical control, and comic nimbleness, Damayo meets the challenge with exuberance.
As a Filipino-Canadian audience member, there was something quietly joyful about seeing her work shine in a show that celebrates theatricality and presence. Her versatility is a reminder of how thrilling it is to watch actors of colour not only inhabit roles but transform them—again and again—right in front of us.
Renato Gandia 