Agatha Christie’s classic play The Mousetrap arrived at the New Theatre in Oxford last week on its 70th anniversary tour. The world’s longest running play at St Martin’s Theatre, London, The Mousetrap has attracted audiences from around the world as an example of Christie’s compelling murder mystery plots. Set in a 1950s guest house which is snowed in with a murderer potentially in their midst, the characters all have suspicious pasts which are gradually revealed in connection to a tragic death many moons ago.
From the outset, Christie deftly plays with her audience: the use of the wireless radio first introduces us to the murder of Mrs Maureen Lyon on Culver Street in London, and also gives a description of what a person of interest spotted close to the scene of the crime was wearing. Sure enough, as this description plays out, Molly Ralston, owner of the guest house, returns home matching this exact description, as executed brilliantly by actor Joelle Dyson. The flurry of characters that then arrive at Monkswell Manor also sport ‘a dark overcoat, light scarf, and a soft felt hat’, and the audience soon gets the idea that Christie is assembling her story.
Music and sound riff throughout The Mousetrap, with piano, rhyme, and the radio all used at crucial points to introduce ideas, which accords with the fact that Christie originally wrote the play for radio before it transferred to the stage in 1952. The tune of ‘Three Blind Mice’ expertly haunts the piece, becoming particularly threatening and macabre as the lights go down and the performance begins; these sounds all interact closely with the setting and staging of the play, as the snow provides the perfect opportunity to isolate the house, placing everything in danger. The off-stage is just as important as what’s actually going on in front of the audience’s eyes in The Mousetrap, as we only ever see the cosy sitting room of Monkswell Manor, while the rest of the sprawling property is evoked simply through dialogue. The different entry and exit points were adeptly used in this production, with dramatic irony often played on as characters sit in the shadows and overhear information.
In terms of individual performances, Essie Barrow as Miss Casewell was particularly impressive, balancing emotion and tension in equal measure. Todd Carty – perhaps most famous for his roles in Grange Hill and EastEnders and his stint on Dancing on Ice – was a solid Major Metcalf. John Altman, also of EastEnders fame, indeed brought the humour to the role of Mr Paravicini, although his Italian accent was slightly dubious at times. Gwyneth Strong played the fussy Mrs Boyle very well, with the irritation of her fellow characters about her behaviour often effectively spilling over into the audience. The many set pieces Christie creates (notably the interviews between Sergeant Trotter and the other characters) were all expertly handled, subtly drip-feeding clues, alibis, and evidence. Above all, though, I think there was clearly an appreciation on behalf of all of the actors of what they were acting in. As Stephen Moss notes of The Mousetrap, ‘the play and its author are the stars’, not, as he was citing, the actors. It is the plot of the play, purely, that makes it such a stunning piece of theatrical entertainment, and the ensemble all seemed appreciative of this fact.
At the end of every performance of the play, the murderer steps forward and asks the audience to ‘become our partners in crime, and keep the secret of The Mousetrap locked in your heart’. The knowing glance is sent to Christie fans in the audience at the phrase ‘partners in crime’, which of course refers to Christie’s book of the same name, adapted as part of her Tommy and Tuppence series for the BBC in 2015. As this touring production shows—and the immense recent success of another of Christie’s plays, this time Witness for the Prosecution at the spectacular County Hall in London—the attraction of Christie as the Queen of Crime is still just as strong as ever today; her genius and wit continue to keep audiences and readers guessing over 70 years after The Mousetrap premiered.