Even if you’re really good at guessing the ending of mysteries, we’re guessing the body count will be high before you suss out the “who” in this whodunit “And Then There Were None.” As the title says, just about everyone bites the bullet, kicks the bucket — insert your favorite euphemism for death here — in this quick-paced Agatha Christie mystery-thriller opening Friday at Cascades Theatre in Bend.

Brian Johnson directs the Cascades Theatrical Company production of the play that mystery writer Christie adapted from her earlier novel.

When the lights come up, we see Fred Naracott, played by Mike Ficher, who delivers passengers, milk and food from the mainland, talking with the butler, Mr. Rogers (played by Tom Thurman) and his wife, Mrs. Rogers (Damova LeSage), ostensibly the cook, but forced to pull double duties until the maids arrive the next day.

Soon the rest of the group slowly assembles at the home on an island off the coast of England.

They’ve been summoned to the party by mysterious hosts, a Mr. and Mrs. Owen, whom even the help has never met in person.

The almost random seeming people gathering at the home includes Ms. Brent (Wilma Keller), pious Christian woman; an adventurer named Lombard (Thomas Avery); Miss Claythorne (Mary Hildebrandt), there to serve as Mrs. Owen’s secretary; the retired General MacKenzie (Roy Major); Mr. Marston (Mike Goswick), an obnoxious playboy prone to driving fast.

As with any group of strangers forced into proximity, tensions arise among certain parties. That only increases after a mysterious voiceover comes on alerting the guests of their commonality: Each was responsible, accidentally or not, for someone else’s death. As they realize just how isolated they are, prospects do not appear to be sunny for any of them in this pre-cell phone setting.

On the mantle are 10 little Indian figurines, a la the poem “Ten Little Indians.” As members of the party begin to be killed, each death is in the fashion of the poem’s wording. And each time that happens, one of the surviving partygoers notices the dwindling number of Indian figurines.

The production marks Johnson’s first time directing a mystery-thriller. He prefers classic British comedy to be his forte.

“This is classic and British,” he said. “It’s two out of three.”

To be sure, there are moments of levity amid all the death. As Johnson told GO! “And Then There Were None” is no ordinary mystery.

“It’s a murder mystery, but it’s not a traditional one,” he said, noting that in many of Christie’s books, as well as Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes series, “There was a death, and then this central detective would start investigating. … You have a central figure who’s doing all the sleuthing,” Johnson said. “In this one, you have 10 people on an island, and they start dying — plural. But none of them is a proper literary detective.”

Rather, these are 10 ordinary folks — although there is a policeman, a doctor and a judge among their ranks.

“We have, technically, a police officer, an ex-police officer, but he’s not a very good detective,” Johnson said of Mr. Blore, played by Ryan Klontz. Bill Alsdurf plays Dr. Armstrong, and Tom Kelley is Judge Wargrave.

“That’s something I’ve always been interested in,” the director said. “I go to movies where you have this hero who just seems so qualified to do what needs to be done to solve the murder. What would happen if ordinary people were faced with a serial killer? And in this play, you have that answer.”