THE MOUSETRAP by AGATHA CHRISTIE. Read me in, YES this unique drama with some comedy elements, and is a quite [- unsolvable murder whodunit -] – and is set in England in a winter month of 1952. Performed alive on the stage in the West End London from 25th November 1952, and then continuously in its “initial run” status for more than seventy years. Currently touring Australia, and for a limited time THE MOUSETRAP is at Riverside Theatres Parramatta.
Maureen Lyon is the woman murdered in Paddington W2, London on the 15th. THE RALSTONS, operate Monkswell Manor located in Berkshire, South East England, about thirty miles from London. On the same day as the London murder, the staff and guests are all stranded because of a huge winter snowstorm. Arriving on skis, Police Detective Sergeant Trotter, interrogates all seven suspects. All seven strangers now grow increasingly suspicious of one another.
Running the Monkswell Manor guest house, is the recent newlyweds MR and MRS Ralston [- during the play, their last name is often pronounced as R-OWL-STON and sometimes R-ALL-STON -] The first guest to arrive is the ADHD architect Christopher Wren who offers to be the chef; the retired wealthy elderly spinster Mrs Boyle with a unknown background; the retired British Army, Major Metcalf; and freshly arrived the aloof young masculine-woman Miss Leslie Margaret Katherine Casewell from Majorca, Spain is a twenty-four year old, legal-academic who makes life miserable for everyone; and the Italian man Mr Paravicini is seen wearing makeup, and claims that his Rolls Royce vehicle has overturned in a snow-drift.
The second murder is investigated after the interval, with fears/tensions escalating. Expect the Agatha Christie, surprise twist ending. Always fresh and always THE murder whodunit, that you must experience, with this superb cast of eight wonderful actors, directed with panache by Robyn Nevin. All actors deliver playful and polished performances, that exactly match the back stories for the eight very distinct character types, as created by Agatha Christie. To achieve a territorial victory, one guest invidiously turns up the radio volume. Later the pair of skis insidiously disappear, and can not be found.
The director Robyn Nevin, has chosen this superb cast, and they provide a unique version, so you will get so much more, from the tiny admission price. THE MOUSETRAP that you will see, alive on stage, has a brand new and unexpected musical ending, that is definitely NOT in the currently published script. All smoking of tobacco has been redacted from the play.
I bought a copy of the silver 1954 production script, after first watching in 1972, THE MOUSETRAP at St. Martins Theatre, West Street, London WC2H 9NZ, LONDON. Huge fan of Agatha Christie, and have thoroughly enjoyed the theatrical experience of watching THE MOUSETRAP thirty plus times in London, and ten times in Sydney Australia. Very Highly Recommended.
No it is not what you say; yes it is how you say it. Unexpectedly there may be some mis-pronounced English during THE MOUSETRAP, since mis-communication and dis-communication are included, as deliberate non-features of speaking, by using the English Language. Perhaps some actor(s) will find yet another way to say the last name RALSTON, as during another THE MOUSETRAP production seen twelve years ago, heard three different actors each said RALSTON differently. So for this touring production, will both Mr and Mrs RALSTON have their last names correctly pronounced by everyone in this cast of eight actors? Reliably informed that R-OWL-STON is correct [- think GROWL-STON but without the letter G -]; rather than the quite incorrect R-AWL-STON and/or R-ALL-STON and/or R-ARL-STON and/or ROS-STON and/or ROY-STON.
I do not live under the misconception that anybody other than Agatha Christie knows the entire whole story – she can leave stuff out, everybody does it. [- unsolvable murder whodunit -] – appreciate the unvarnished plus with red-herrings galore, and when not supplied with all the facts, very hard to try to prove the unknown, and solve the crime. With the crime mystery story paradigm used by AGATHA CHRISTIE, the format requires that only possible solution is explained in the last pages of the story/script.
At the end of each and every performance of THE MOUSETRAP, the person revealed to be the murderer steps forward and tells the audience to ” . . . keep the secret of whodunit locked in your heart.”
THE MOUSETRAP by AGATHA CHRISTIE
STARRING –
Mollie Ralston – Anna O’Byrne
Giles Ralston – Alex Rathgeber
Detective Sergeant Trotter – Tom Conroy
Mrs Boyle – Geraldine Turner
Mr Paravicini – Gerry Connolly
Miss Casewell – Katherine Pearson –
Major Metcalf – Adam Murphy
Christopher Wren – Laurence Boxhall
Standby – Elisa Colla
Standby – Jack Bannister
DIRECTED BY Robyn Nevin
Associate Director – Chris Parker
Production photography by Brian Geach
SHOW-TIMES – 15th until 25th June 2023.
DURATION – 140 minutes, including 20 minute interval.
EXPECT – Adult themes, and there will be murders. Ages 7+
RIVERSIDE THEATRES WEBSITE – https://riversideparramatta.com.au/whats-on/the-mousetrap/
TOUR-WEBSITE – https://themousetrap.com.au/tickets/parramatta/
TICKETS – https://boxoffice.riversideparramatta.com.au/WEBPAGES/EntaWebShow/ShowCalendar.aspx
VIDEO – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADUjvqm_T94&
RIVERSIDE THEATRES is located at the corner of 353 Church Street and Market Street, Parramatta, NSW. Nearby is the LIGHT RAIL tram stop called PRINCE ALFRED SQUARE (and those light rail trams might be operating from late 2023).
MAP – https://www.google.com/maps/?q=-33.810166,151.004299
(1) The story narrative of THE MOUSETRAP drew from the real-life police case of the young child, Dennis O’Neill, who died after he and his brother Terence O’Neill, both suffered extreme abuse and neglect, whilst in the foster care of a Shropshire farmer and his wife in 1945. Originally BBC broadcast on 30th May 1947, without purple prose, under the name Three Blind Mice. This short radio play was written with orange prose by Agatha Christie, as a birthday present for Queen Mary, the consort of King George V.
(2) THE MOUSETRAP play is based on a short story that was based on the radio play, but Agatha Christie asked that the short story not be published as long as it ran as a play in the West End of London. The short story has still not been published within the UK, but it has appeared in the USA in the 1950 collection Three Blind Mice and Other Stories.
(3) When she wrote THE MOUSETRAP play, Agatha Christie gave all the copyright to her nine-year-old grandson Mathew Prichard as a birthday present. In the United Kingdom, only one production of the play in addition to the West End production can be performed annually, and under the contract terms of the play, no film adaptation can be produced until the West End production has been closed for at least six months.
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