The Grand Theatre, Leeds – until Saturday 2 September 2023
Reviewed By Sal E Marino
5*****
Performing at the exquisite Grand Theatre, Leeds this week is Agatha Christie’s legendary The Mousetrap. Christie’s and history’s longest running play really is storytelling at its best as Mrs Christie somehow weaves a magic thread of intrigue right up until the very last moment before the truth is revealed. If you want to see a pacey, classic thriller with good, old-fashioned tongue-in-cheek English humour then this performance will hit all the right buttons. Right from the get-go the visuals of the set and sound draw you in as the snow effect builds heavily outside on the ledges of the stained-glass windows and a radio broadcast from 1952 is crackling out onto the stage describing a gruesome murder. I was hooked from the first few seconds! Molly (Rachel Dawson) and Giles (Michael Lyle) Ralston appear to be just as charming as their beautiful country guest house and it’s all very twee, but one knows with Christie that that won’t last for long …
Brilliantly directed and produced by Ian Talbot OBE, Denise Silvey and Adam Spiegel, The Mousetrap is highly entertaining and manages to be many things without being overdone. It’s funny without being a farce and complex without being complicated, I really couldn’t and wouldn’t want to fault it. Without giving too much away, as I’m now part of that exclusive club of knowing ‘whodunnit’ and so obviously sworn to secrecy, the plot involves a group of rather mysterious guests who are staying it the Ralston’s Monkswood Hall guest house. A terrible murder has just been committed in London and all anyone seems to know is that the culprit was wearing a soft-felt hat, overcoat, and light-coloured scarf. All the guests arrive wearing this attire and Mr Ralston was also dressed matching the description when he came on set so anyone of them is in the frame.
What was most pleasing was that the language of the play was kept in line with Christie’s original text and to the time of 1952 meaning that the directors and producer have given the audience the credit of being intelligent enough to understand this and chosen not to heavily edit or cancel it out. It worked and did the opposite of being offensive as when for instance phrases such as, ‘not in front of the ladies’, were spoken, it created many giggles from the audience and highlighted just how mis-placed that wording is today. Without these polarities, how can we see how much we’ve progressed in attitudes around issues such as those towards women? To not portray the characters using the speech Christie imagined them to have at that time is simply wrong and doesn’t give the play the correct historical context. It’s horrifying to think of a world where theatre must fit a certain narrative to suit certain sectors of society’s individual ideals to the point that history is completely rewritten. I was so glad that this production didn’t succumb to the current pressure of cancel culture that others sadly do.
The cast of The Mousetrap are absolutely on point, first-class and totally embody their roles of a quirky bunch of misfits who are all running away and hiding from something. I’d never really considered that after the war, there were many displaced people and that one could completely reinvent oneself with an elaborate or made up past and no one would really question you. Christopher Wren (Shaun McCourt), Mrs Boyle (Catherine Shipton), Major Metcalf (Todd Carty), Miss Casewell (Leigh Lothian), Mr Paravicini (Steven Elliott) and Detective Sgt Trotter (Garyn Williams) all brim with energy in this enthralling production. Every scene is slick, and every line delivered perfectly, it’s top-quality drama from start to finish. The Mousetrap is shockingly good and even through I now know the end – I still want to go back and see it all again!