Michal Nowicki speaks Polish, French and German — so when a production needs an actor who can speak English with any of those three accents, he is the man to call.

This time around, however, when Diamond Head Theatre’s “Murder on the Orient Express” opens on Friday, Nowicki will be speaking with a Scottish accent. That came as a bit of a surprise, even to Nowicki.

“There are a number of Francophone characters in the play, from Belgium, from Paris, and I was sure I could conjure up a French accent and sound authentic,” Nowicki said. “French was my major in college and I lived in Paris for a year, so that was my comfort zone. … But little do you know, they cast me as Colonel Arbuthnot. I’ve never before done a Scots accent, so its been an interesting process for me.”

The role is a welcome return to the stage for Nowicki, who was last seen at Diamond Head Theatre in its 2017 production of “Ragtime” — playing Harry Houdini.

Nowicki took time off after “Ragtime” to pursue a business venture with his brother in California. It didn’t work out, and after the brothers returned to Hawaii, a career change kept Nowicki off stage a while longer.

“It took a while,” he said. “I was missing theater for a little bit. I was passing the theater almost every day, and I was looking for a show to do.”

DHT’s “Orient Express” is Nowicki’s first non-musical, “straight play,” and he appreciates the opportunity to use his natural talent for accents.

“Characters with accents strike a note in me and embolden me a little bit,” he said. “I do have an accent, when I speak English.”

Nowicki has been developing his new Scottish- English accent with coaching from the show’s assistant director and members of the cast, along with his friend and stage veteran Dan Kunkel, who “came of the woodwork,” Nowicki said, to share his linguistic expertise.

Nowicki said he and his girlfriend have been watching YouTube videos of people speaking with Scottish accents; a video of a native speaker critiquing the performances of non-Scots actors who were attempting Scots accents was particularly useful.

“Fingers crossed, on opening night I’m going to sound more Scottish than Polish,” Nowicki says.

THE SHOW is American playwright Ken Ludwig’s stage adaption of Agatha Christie’s classic 1934 detective novel, in which Christie’s fictional Belgian detective Hercule Poirot is called upon to solve a murder aboard the Orient Express, a long-distance luxury passenger train running between Istanbul and Paris.

When the train is forced to stop by extremely heavy snow, one of the passengers, a wealthy American named Ratchett, is found dead in his first class passenger compartment.

Ratchett was stabbed 12 times, but when the murder is discovered the compartment has been locked from inside. The window is open, but there are no footprints in the snow outside.

While searching the compartment for clues Poirot finds a pipe cleaner, a handkerchief with the letter “H” on it, a match that is different from the matches Ratchett used, and a charred piece of paper with the word “Armstrong” on it.

So, who killed Ratchett, and how did they get out of the compartment without opening the door or dropping into the snow beneath the open window?

The list of people who were on the train at the time of the murder includes Poirot’s friend, Monsieur Bouc, a fellow Belgian who is also a director of the railway, the conductor and head waiter, and the wealthy — and not-so-wealthy — passengers who were travelling on the sold-out train to Paris.

Theo Coumbis stars as Poirot, with Honolulu stage veteran LeGrand Tolo Lawrence as Monsieur Bouc. (Lawrence starred in the title role of DHT’s 2015 production of “Shrek The Musical.”)

Bryce Chaddick, who directed DHT’s winning production of “Ronald Dahl’s ‘Matilda the Musical’” last summer, is back to direct.

Also returning to the Diamond Head Theatre stage are Fabienne Flandre-Herold as Russian princess Dragomiroff and Lisa Konove as the mysterious Helen Hubbard.

Heather Taylor, whom Nowicki credits for convincing him to audition, plays Greta Ohlsson, yet another character with a past.

Nowicki’s character, Colonel Arbuthnot, plays an important part in Poirot’s investigation. He said he has been having a great time.

“I am liking my character more and more because he seems to be barging in to every scene and interrupts whatever is going on,” he explained.

“There’s a lot of wonderful moments, and without giving any thing away, it’s an incredibly dynamic play.”

“MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS”

>> Where: Diamond Head Theatre, 520 Makapuu Ave.

>> When: 7:30 p.m. Jan 24; continues 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday through Feb. 16. Also at 3 p.m. Feb. 1 and Feb. 8

>> Cost: $15-$50

>> Info: 733-0274, diamondheadtheatre.com