W o r d C o u n t 1 8 7 8

The Mousetrap- Theatre review

Harry Mills

October
16
08
Fall
Harry Mills Unit 2 Candidate
2
Drama Controlled Assessment

Mollie Ralston Proprietor of Monkswell Manor, and wife of Giles.
Giles Ralston Husband of Mollie who runs Monkswell Manor with his wife.
Christopher Wren The first guest to arrive at the hotel, Wren is a hyperactive
young man who acts in a very peculiar manner. He admits he is running away from
something, but refuses to say what. Wren claims to have been named after the
architect of the same name by his parents.
Mrs Boyle A critical older woman who is pleased by nothing she observes.
Major Metcalf Retired from the army, little is known about Major Metcalf.
Miss Casewell A strange, aloof, masculine woman who speaks offhandedly about
the horrific experiences of her childhood.
Mr Paravicini a man of unknown provenance, who turns up claiming his car, has
overturned in a snowdrift. He appears to be affecting a foreign accent and artificially
aged with make-up.
Detective Sergeant Trotter The detective role during the play. He arrives in
a snowstorm and questions the proprietors and guests.

On the 27
th
of September 2013 I observed the 60
th
anniversary tour of The Mousetrap
written by Agatha Christie performed by the West End cast, directed by Denise Silvey. The
play was performed at the Aksra Theatre, a very grand theatre with a proscenium arch. This
arch was very representational and
developed my first impressions as
it alludes to a fourth wall. This
murder mystery opened in 1952 at
St. Martins theatre and has been
running ever since showing a
record breaking 25,000
performances. The play has a
reputation of the twist ending
leaving the audience on the edge of
their seat. The play was originally
a short radio play in 1947 called
The Three Blind Mice written in
honour of Queen Marys 80
th
Birthday. Act I opens with the murder of a woman in London,
played out in sound only on a dark stage. The action then moves to Monkswell Manor,
recently converted to guesthouse run by a young couple, Mollie and Giles Ralston. Their first
four guests arrive: Christopher Wren, Mrs. Boyle, Major Metcalf and Miss Casewell. Mrs.
Boyle complains about everything, and Giles offers to cancel her stay, but she refuses the
offer. They become snowed in together and read in the newspaper of the murder. An
additional traveller, Mr. Paravicini, arrives stranded after he ran his car into a snowdrift, but
he makes his hosts uneasy.
Act II, where the investigation is ongoing. Each character is scrutinized and suspected. Mollie
and Giles get into a fight, and Chris Wren and Giles argue over who should protect Mollie.
Suspicion falls first on Christopher Wren, an erratic young man who fits the description of the
supposed murderer. However, it quickly transpires that the killer could be any one of the
guests, or even the hosts themselves. The characters re-enact the second murder, trying to
prevent a third. The devious plan of getting everyone to re-enact the murder by Trotter was
just to get Mollie alone.

The roots of the play coming from the radio production The Three Blind Mice shone
through, as this was the main concept of the play. This concept created an elaborate set to
help ornate the themes of the play. The set was naturalistic but metaphorical at the same time.
The metaphorical purpose of the set was to create the illusion of a maze, with secret passages
throughout the manor house. The constant movement of the characters represented insecurity
Harry Mills Unit 2 Candidate
3
and anxiety that juxtaposed their outer emotions, this inner conflict, which differentiates to
the outer behaviour, gave the audience a clear metaphor of confusion, which led to further
perplexity with the murder. Another repeated action was the continuous closing of the
curtains by all characters that again signified anxiety and unsettlement. When Mrs Boyle was
murdered she had just shut curtain, creating a feeling of safety when in reality shutting the
curtains twisted the security and safety in a trap as an illusion to create comfort. There were
two main doors on stage, one was downstage left which opened out towards the audience
blocking the character that walked out of it which was a significant piece of set to the story
line, as this was the door that the murderer walks out from. There is then a black out after the
suspicious line from Mrs Boyle oh, its you again
Which adds to the suspense of the whodunnit style. The second door was the main door to
enter the house, which was upstage left. The door was not visible to the audience only the
hallway with a mouse head archway, this signified the characters entering the mousetrap and
being disorientated.

The fact that the cabinet wasnt real mahogany portrayed the false sense of reality, safety and
comfort as the only character to point this out was Mrs Boyle, the victim. The actors use of
marking the moment also expressed the false sense of reality to the audience. This was used
by dynamic stillness to make the audience be aware of what the character was saying. An
example of this would be the after math of Mrs Boyle murder when the other characters were
being accused; there was a lot of dynamic stillness to represent the anxious characters
awaiting their confrontation from Detective Sergeant Trotter who ironically was the murderer
himself. The overall design of the set echoed the era correctly and accentuated the
relationship with the characters by the positioning of the sofas.

Marking the moment was a big part of this production creating a comical tone but also built
suspense. In the first act when the radio explains the killer the murderer wears a felt hat,
light scarf, dark overcoat whilst the radio is stating this, Mollie Ralston synchronizes her
movement with this news, wearing what the radio states. This marks the moment of what the
killer wears which makes the audience more aware of the items of clothing the characters
wear when entering the guesthouse. The sound at the start of the production was very
powerful as it set the tone of the play with the curtains shut and the sounds of a woman being
killed set the tension very high at the start, therefore starting at high energy rather than
building up to the peak. The sound also linked the actors action with their costume to the
plot, which echoed the era as well. The radio was a clever device as it expressed the era but
also was a critical role throughout the play. It acted as a narrator when there was a blackout
during the murder to add suspense of what was physically happening, as it was only auditory.
The sound is a big part of a murder mystery but it could have been emphasized more in this
production, with more dramatic sounds and the more frequently reoccurred theme tune of
three blind mice.

All costumes were naturalistic in the style of Stanislavski; his method acting was also used
which stressed the realism of the era. Detective Sergeant Trotters costume was the most
symbolic; he wore a red cotton tank top which represented the dark murderous side to his
character, but in contrast he was wearing a grey bleak jacket, concealing his hidden
personality and identity, this then echoed again the false sense of security. The rhythm and
tempo of speech was moderate in the first act until the murder, it then augmented in act 2 to
the suspicion of whodunnit but then was boosted even further when Detective Sergeant
Trotter confessed he was the murderer. At this high point of climax we witnessed a very
physical change in acting from Trotter as he represented his body as a sigh of relief as he
could stop pretending to be someone he wasnt. This use of gesture was very powerful and
also marked the moment as he took his time and we observed the different stages of his
emotional breakdown.


Harry Mills Unit 2 Candidate
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The first character that entered the guesthouse was Christopher Wren, a very lively character
with a bubbly personality portrayed by Richard Keightley whose experience consists of
Hamlet. He was a lively character that was mysteriously positive about everything; this was a
ploy as he was different to the other, older characters. Keightleys high energy on stage
always was bought to attention, as it was in contrast to the static dialogue that happened in
many scenes. This added to the tension, as the contrast on stage was vast; this led to many red
herrings. The language used, written by Agatha Christie, was suited to the time era, very posh
English accents with no modern slang on twists. The acting reflected the tension very well
with the use of constant movement showing diffidence, and the use of gesture by constantly
repeating the same action such as closing the curtains, displaying vulnerability. The tension
graph below shows the alterations in tension throughout the play:













Act 1 Act 2


As you can see above, the graph shows tension is already high as it starts with the murder
therefore opening with action that worked well to gain the audiences attention straight away
with just the sound effects of a woman in distress. It then gained throughout the rest of the
Act slowly whilst the characters were building up the anxiety, knowing there is a murderer on
the loose. It then escalated dramatically at Mrs. Boyles death as it was unexpected who was
going to die. We were then left with the suspense of the thought of whodunnit at the
interval. After sitting down for Act 2, the tension started back to where it started in Act 1
unfortunately, as the scenes were dialogue based discussing their thoughts on who did the
crime. But the tension did fluctuate in Act 2 because the audience were expecting another
murder to peak the tension again, as the same door the murderer came through was opened
there was an audible gasp from the audience as we thought it was another murder
approaching, therefore the door was a very symbolic gesture of suspense and tension. After
the false assumption of another murder the line then drastically increased at the end exactly
like in Act 1 as the murderer is revealed. After the audiences realization of whodunnit,
there is a huge decent in tension as the most important section of the play was rushed, which
was the unfolding of the story and why it all happened.

In conclusion, I believe this 60 year old play is still worthy of being on the main stages
around the world, but should be adapted to resonate to a more modern audience. This play
taught me that the suffering of the past could have repercussions to the future as the play
explored the idea of reoccurring emotions and physical movements. There was an overuse in
dialogue that made the audience disconnect, therefore they could balance the action in the
play with the dialogue to increase the tension and suspense. The use of the sound could of
been used more to convey the meaning of insecurity along with marking the moment which
the director used well. This ex radio play has come along way in 60 years and still has
somewhere to go if the suspense stays alive and the word doesnt get out about whodunnit.