1952. Elizabeth II has ascended the throne, thick smog envelops London and the UK tests its first atomic weapon. And, of course, amidst all of this… Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap first takes to the stage. Beginning its life as a radio play it was then adapted for the stage for a short tour of the country before taking up residence in the West End. There it has remained ever since (only ever halted by Covid). Now, to mark its seventieth year, the show once again hits the road, with a tour visiting venues up and down the country including Brighton, where we were fortunate enough to catch it at the Theatre Royal.
When the play first premiered food was scarce, fuel crises threatened and the threat of nuclear war hung in the air. Now, seventy years on, it’s a marvel to see how much things have changed… Oh. But let’s not focus on that, there’s a murderer on the loose!
Mollie and Giles Ralston are about to open their recently converted guesthouse. As the guests arrive one-by-one, each with their own eccentricities and secretive pasts, the news of a recent murder in London slowly seeps into the building via the wireless. But it is only on the arrival of Detective Sergeant Trotter, gallantly fighting his way through a snowstorm to get there, that things take a real turn. If his suspicions are correct, the recent murder in the capital is linked to the newly arrived inhabitants of the manor of which, one is the murderer and another… the next victim.
Christie’s plots are so cleverly interwoven that they could be considered immersive no matter the medium and The Mousetrap is no exception. Motives, suspicions and accusations spill out into the auditorium with every scrap of dialogue eagerly seized by audience members in order to formulate their debates and predictions over interval drinks. Lines are drawn, sides are taken, hands are shown and blood is spilled all across a set so heavily parodied it is a nice opportunity to see the “original”. Which is something this production has to grapple with. A seventy-year legacy can be stifling if you let it. But the show adeptly acknowledges both its legacy and its age, adapting to survive and very much thrive. It carries Christie’s humour into the claustrophobic confines of the manor and doesn’t shy away from elements we have seen in various guises time and time again since, from modern crime dramas to Cluedo.
With an audience of would-be sleuths eager to be involved in the solving of the case it is vital that the characters are nuanced and memorable without ever verging towards the caricaturesque. This cast, under Ian Talbot’s excellent direction, delivers on this premise utterly with every sidewards glance and guilty mannerism misdirecting blame and culpability and keeping the audience guessing until the big reveal. Particular mentions have to be made for Elliot Clay’s Christopher Wren, injecting light and humour throughout and allowing some of the tension to necessarily dissipate in the process, as well as Joelle Dyson’s Mollie Ralston who expertly directs proceedings as the play’s fulcrum of innocence.
Christie asked that the story never be published in novel-form while the play was running. With the show now seventy years young and in rude health, it looks like would-be readers will still be waiting some time yet. “The killer’s enjoying this!” bellows Sergeant Trotter at the uncooperative inhabitants of Monkswell Manor. And so are we, sergeant, so are we.
Theatre Royal Brighton, Monday 24th October 2022
For tickets and further information click here
Photos by Matt Crockett
