The setting for the latest Penn’s Village Players’ production was a whimsical day by the sea in a British resort. An emerald necklace has been stolen and Inspector Foley has to investigate among an extraordinary mix of characters. Afternoon at the Seaside deployed the same device as Christie used in her short story The Rajah's Emerald, where a stolen item is uncovered by someone with no idea where it came from. It was first presented as part of Rule of Three, three of Christie’s one-act plays which toured the United Kingdom in 1961 and subsequently opened at the Duchess Theatre in the West End in 1962.
Agatha Christie is the best-selling novelist of all time. She is best known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, as well as the world’s longest-running play – The Mousetrap. Her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language and a billion in translation.