Review: Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap at The Regent Theatre*

In the tradition of The Mousetrap I can not reveal ‘whodunnit’ in our review of this unbelievable performance which we watched recently at The Regent Theatre in Stoke-on-Trent. This is the announcement that was made at the end of the play and an honour I will keep whilst I tell you more in the review that follows…

The Mousetrap was written as you may have guessed by the fantastic Agatha Christie. She wrote the playback in 1947 originally as a short radio play and it was called Three Blind Mice, however, it was then adapted into a stage play and first appeared 1952. It is now allowed to be adapted into a film until the play is no longer on the stage! And the crazy thing about this is that 68 years on it is still on the stage, and doesn’t seem likely that it will be stopping any time soon.

What we thought of the show

As I can’t really disclose too much about the plot, I will be letting you in on how well the play was produced and performed at The Regent Theatre where I had the privilege to see it last thursday. However, prior to that, I can also briefly tell you about how well the play was acted out by some known and not so familiar actors. The roles written by Christie are always so well executed that you really do get an insight into each of the characters and really get to know them, or at least you think you get to know them! The anchor of the evening I felt was, Harriet Hare, who played Mrs Ralston. She held the stage throughout most of the night. Each of the actors though really had time to shine as this play is really all about the ensemble cast.  The cast spend most of their time on stage together. (See below for roles and cast). The person I knew as being (for me) the most recognisable actor was that of Gwyneth Strong who played Mrs Boyle and is most famous for playing Cassandra (Rodney’s wife) in Only Fools and Horses. I felt that the fact you knew this actor didn’t detract from her playing the part of Mrs Boyle.  As with each of the actors you were totally convinced of the characters showing the quality of the acting that we witnessed, was second to none.

As well as it was well performed, the set was incredibly detailed. It was hard to believe it was just a set on a stage, you really believed you were seeing inside the guest house where the whole play was staged. And at first, I thought, how can there just be one set! But it works perfectly with the play, as the characters move in and out of the room to guide us through this fascinating murder mystery story. The attention to detail was great, such as the view from the window in the room, where you could see snow falling outside, and how when it moved from day to night it gradually became dark outside, which meant lights needed to be turned on within the set/main room of the guest house. These may seem unimportant but they were integral in setting the scene throughout the performance. Another effect I particularly enjoyed was how when the characters went into the next room but were still speaking to each other, their voices were made to be more distant, this again allowed you to imagine the size of the guest house, adding a layer of depth.

If you want to go and feel as though you are part of history, I would definitely recommend going to see The Mousetrap, this epitomises Agatha Christie’s classic genre of Murder Mystery and does not disappoint in its ability to entertain the audience. The story is so well written that there is no doubt as to why it is still being performed after such a long period of time. Agatha Christie says that she wrote to entertain us and she really does. Going to see this is an absolute must!