It is an honest confession I offer right away: here lies my lack of enthusiasm for Agatha Christie’s plays.
Granted, no one else can craft a murder-suspense drama at an isolated manor quite like she can, so I do not challenge her right to a place at the pinnacles of crime fiction and dramatic suspense.
It’s just that the genre – in a book or on the stage – holds little appeal to me. (And if I had a dollar for every unworthy imitation I’ve sat through…)
Sometimes, therefore, a review of a play of this ilk is focused on the script’s inanity, or its total obviousness, or its status as a plotless wonder. No so for a Christie script, though, because the lady surely could write.
THE MOUSETRAP, which is playing at Playcrafters Barn Theatre, doesn’t give itself away in the script – and the performers in this ensemble piece don’t either. When attending the show, my absolute favorite part of the experience was the debates I overheard at intermission. All over the theater, patrons were trying to figure out which character was the murderer – and I heard nearly every character mentioned as a real suspect – in of the intense conversations.
The second act began with a palpable buzz, as folks in every section of the theater settled in to find out if they were right. What fun!
The cast does nice work throughout, throwing themselves into the roles with genuine relish, and the result is a show that intrigues even non-fans like me.
Denise Yoder and Adam Overberg are particularly good as the young newlyweds just getting started in the guest house business. Yoder’s Mollie Ralston (who gets the best costumes in this show – by far) is sweet and enterprising, and Oberberg’s Giles Ralston has the endearing habit of tugging on his vest when he is nervous. Their interplay with each other -- whether other characters are onstage or not -- is nicely done, and both also lend their respective characters a naturalism that is done just right.
The actors playing the motley handful of guests – Mike Kelly’s over-the-top Christopher Wren, Dee Canfield’s bitterly complaining Mrs. Boyle, Don Hazen’s quiet Major Metcalf, Alexa Florence’s fifties-butch Miss Casewell, and Spiro Bruskas’ heavily made-up Mr. Paravicini – let their characters' idiosyncrasies annoy each other to no end. Kelly, in particular, plays Wren as truly peculiar. Detective Sgt. Trotter (the raw and energetic Adam Michael Lewis) arrives on skis and begins to question everyone at the guest house, and Lewis’ slightly bumbling performance is the catalyst for the suspects to turn on each other.
Each performer does her or his part, and as an ensemble, they succeed in approaching moments of melodrama without overdoing it. Their work, combined with that of Yoder and Overnerg, leads to everyone tangling themselves in a web of suspicions that gradually has everyone wondering about everyone else.
Though several fabrics not yet created in the late 1950s do make an appearance, the look of the show is otherwise excellent. Director-set designer-set builder-director Tristan Layne Tapscott and scenic artist-set designer Kelly Lohrenze do great work here, as do lighting designer Jennifer Kingry (love the snowstorm!) and sound designer Megan Ridl, and the result is everything the actors and audience need to establish the specific location.
This version of THE MOUSETRAP has plenty to offer. Uber-fans and Anglo-philes may take issue with accents that are vague or wavering, but I suspect (sorry, had to say it) that most who enjoy Christie’s crime dramas will be pleased with this one.
