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Review: The Mousetrap at Wolves Grand

Posted on Wed 26 Jun 2024

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Review: The Mousetrap at Wolves Grand

Is there anybody who doesn’t know that Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap is the world’s longest-running play? This fact, the source of many a quiz question, begs another question; does the play stand the test of time?

The answer, based on the warm reception of the audience last night, is a definite yes.

First performed in 1952, The Mousetrap is back in the Midlands this week, showing at the Wolverhampton Grand until Saturday.

The plot is pure Christie; seven people isolated by a snow storm in a remote country house discover that there is a murderer in their midst when Detective Sergeant Trotter (Michael Ayiotis) arrives to solve the crime. Shock, fear and confusion follow as he attempts to uncover the truth - and as we learn more about the characters’ past lives, the mystery deepens...

So much about this production is classic (the snowy scene, the roaring fire, the chintz sofa and the panelled drawing room) and yet new life is breathed into the story by the accomplished and lively cast.

Hollie Sullivan and Barnaby Jago as Mollie and Giles Ralston, a young couple who have just opened Monkswell Manor as a boarding house, are at first a picture of recently married bliss. As their first guests arrive, tension rises, and subsequent revelations about secret trips to London reveal clear cracks in their relationship.

An unlikely mixture of random characters, gathered together by fate, is of course essential to the plot. Judith Rae is a beautifully acerbic Mrs Boyle, finding fault with absolutely everything and everyone. Todd Carty plays Major Metcalf as the quintessentially English gent, a pillar of society. Christopher Wren (Shaun McCourt) is an annoyingly chirpy man-child, incapable of walking anywhere, preferring instead to travel round the stage at a half-run as he sings nursery rhymes and infuriates the more strait-laced members of the group. Miss Casewell (Amy Spinks) brings more mystery; the reasons for her visit are vague and she refuses to say exactly where she lives “abroad”. The equally enigmatic Mr Paravicini, played by Steven Elliot as a most charming ladies’ man who arrives, unannounced, to find shelter from the snow, completes the group and the scene is set. As details of the past lives of this disparate band of boarding house guests are unveiled, the plot thickens...

Michael Ayiotis gives the stand-out performance as the dogged detective sergeant. He will, it seems, stop at nothing to get to the truth, and he commands both the stage and the other characters in his mission to do so.

The play ends with an unexpected plot-twist, of course...

Though more than 70 years old, The Mousetrap remains fresh and relevant. Why this play is still loved by audiences after all these years is surely no mystery.

Five stars

Reviewed by Rachel Smith on Tuesday 25 June at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre, where it runs until this Saturday 29 June.  

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