The Mousetrap
St
Martin's Theatre, West
Street, Cambridge
Circus, London
The world’s longest-running stage production, now
in its 52nd year but freshened-up with an annual change of cast, owes its
provenance to the late Queen Mary who demanded ‘an Agatha Christie
play’ to celebrate her 80th birthday.
BBC radio obliged with a 30-minute thriller entitled Three
Blind Mice, which eventually became The Mousetrap, stretched to fill two
hours on the stage and attracting hundreds of tourists and out-of-towners
every week as part of the London experience.
The setting is the Great Hall of Monkswell Manor in deepest
Berkshire, owing its Jacobethan decor to the Inigo Jones revival, soon to
be cut off from the world by fast falling snow. The time is ‘Agatha
Christie time’ as
the programme puts it, corned beef is on the menu and there are no mobile
phones or television.
Before the curtain rises a shot, a scream and a radio announcer
reveal that a murder has been committed in Paddington. Clues carelessly discarded
now point to the Manor as the killer’s next stopping place in pursuit
of two more victims of vengeance. But who are they?
"The play creaks comfortably along. Lines are bellowed.
Clues are given with emphasis. Poses are struck and held for whole minutes.
A revolver is produced at the climax, and then, once all has been resolved,
there is a reconciliation scene involving a hat box from Harrods. The oohs
from the stalls are the loudest of the evening" Andy Beckett, The
Guardian
"The present cast signed on at the November anniversary,
including Diana Van Proosdy, a Mousetrap veteran who has twice played the
younger Miss Casewell and now reappears as the disapproving Mrs Boyle. Andrew
Swift lollops about in a ghastly jumper as the camp Christopher Wren (if
that really is his name), an architect (if that really is his profession).
Philip Lowrie keeps a low profile as the gallant Major Metcalf but what has
he been doing in the cellar?
In the two more striking performances Kenneth Gilbert plays the highly suspicious
Mr Paravicini, a chuckling continental who admits he has things that need
to be done, while Clarissa Young’s Casewell is a good deal less mannish
than others before her, in fact chic and beautiful in her fashionable black
fedora.
Completing the cast is Ward Parry’s Sergeant Trotter, a resourceful
young Berkshire bobby, a muscular example of the strong arm of the law, light
on his feet and determined to get his man" John Thaxter, The
Stage
Audience's reviews: No audience reviews
