TENERIFE NEWS: A very special guest of honour will be Matthew Pritchard, Agatha Christie’s grandson, who will present ‘lost tapes’ for the first time in Spain making this event an important historial milestone, along with John Curran, the number one expert on the life and works of Agatha Christie, who will present her notebooks.

Agatha Christie stayed in Puerto de la Cruz in 1927 at the hotel Taoro while writing her novel “The Man from the Sea” whose plot takes place in the area of La Paz, near the Cologan family mansion and the cypress tree walk. During the week the festival will pay homage to this great writer who, like many well known personalities of her time, chose Puerto de la Cruz for its wonderful climate and peaceful, relaxing atmosphere.

Some of her films in their original English will be shown. Plays in Spanish, English and German will be performed by two different theatre companies. The ‘Panadilla Theatre Company’ will perform ‘The Man from the Sea’ in the Ventoso mansion house and ‘The International Thespians’ will produce ‘The Tea Dance’ – a great story in which Agatha Christie herself is one of the characters in the plot. This play will be produced at the Hotel Tigaiga, after which the audience can enjoy an authentic ‘Tea Dance’ in traditional English style. (see Video)

Apart from cinema and theatre there will be an extremely interesting exhibition of Agatha Christie memorabilia at the old Santo Domingo convent. To augment the exhibition, old historical photographs of Puerto de la Cruz have been kindly lent by the Hispanic Studies Institute and the Canary Film Centre, and award winning Spanish writer and poet Angela Vallvey will present her new novel “Death Amongst Poets”, a story that salutes the original Agatha Christie novels. Attractions like the “Agatha Christie walk” vintage car exhibition and special childrens’ activities will end the festival week. For Agatha Christie fans, this will be a week to remember. The Orchid Gardens at Sitio Litre in Puerto devote a special area to Agatha Christie where you can ‘meet’ the mysterious Mr. Quinn, and is well worth a visit if only to see the magnificent gardens and orchids in full bloom.

Subtropical Tigaiga gardens

By our loyal guest Sr. Senn