The origins of the play have a royal and rodent beginning. A BBC official thought a  radio play by Agatha Christie would be a rather lovely gift for Queen Mary’s 80^th birthday in 1947.  The play ‘Three Blind Mice’ was duly broadcast as a half-hour play, no doubt to royal approval, and this formed the basis of the Mousetrap some five years later.

I mistakenly assumed that the Mousetrap had its world premiere in London however, the Theatre Royal Nottingham had that honour.

The story follows a group of people gathered in a country house/guest house, Monkswell Manor. They become cut-off by the snow and discover, to their horror, that there is a murderer in their midst. Who can be the culprit of a murderous mission, where potential victims are trapped in the genteel country house setting?

One by one the suspicious characters reveal their sordid pasts until at the last, the moment we all await, the identity of the killer and the motive is finally revealed.

The oak panelled room, one room with several entrances, with huge fireplace and velvet drapes sets the scene perfectly for us to meet Mollie Ralston (Harriett Hare) and Giles Ralston (Nick Biadon), married only one year and owners of Monkswell Manor. We await the first ever guests to their Country House Guest House. It’s more Mollie’s idea than Giles but since Mollie was left the property, he acquiesced to having paying guests. Mollie, at first seems to be the dutiful wife, but her character becomes more rounded in the second act as more of her story becomes clear.

Favourite for me and it seems many of the audience, is the winsome, sometimes acerbic, Christopher Wren ( Lewis Chandler)  whose timing is perfect for his nasty little quips produced with a childish mischievous smile.

Only Fools and Horses actress, Gwyneth Strong brings authenticity to Mrs Boyle.  Reminiscent of Hercule Poirot’s friend, Inspector Japp, Sergeant Trotter (Geoff Arnold) keeps the erstwhile group in check whilst Mr Paravicini (David Alcock) provides Italian charm and sometimes a little bit of menace.

The fast pace continues in the second half as we are kept guessing, due to so many twists and turns, who could be the cold-blooded murderer?

Looking around the theatre, it was heartening to see that there was a good cross section of ages, which hopefully means that The Mousetrap is here to stay for a while longer.

The Mousetrap has a brilliantly intricate plot, where murder lurks around every corner. It’s a good old-fashioned thriller, well-acted and stands the test of time. As Noel Coward said in his bristly message to Agatha Christie, in September 1957 “Much as it pains me, I really must congratulate you.”

The Mousetrap is the longest running show of any kind in the history, and as we are asked by a member of the cast in their final bow – I promise I will ‘keep the ending in my heart!’ and long may the show continue.

The Mousetrap is at The Lowry from 13-18 May 2019 and touring until February 2020. Visit website for full tour details.

Read our interview with Gwyneth Strong.

Read Mathew Prichard’s memories of his Queen of Crime grandma, Agatha Christie.

The post The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie, Theatre Review appeared first on Quays Life.

How do you feel to be performing in the new UK tour of The Mousetrap?

Very excited. Opportunities like this come out of the blue and I was really delighted to be asked to be a part of the show. At the time, I was probably one of the very few people from all of the millions to have never actually seen it, but when I settled down to read the script I was immediately hooked. Now, whenever I tell people I’m in The Mousetrap I receive such a positive response and everybody has a tale to tell about it.

What can audiences expect from The Mousetrap?

A chance to be a part of history! This is the West End’s longest running show at 67 years and a good old murder mystery from the Queen of Crime herself, Agatha Christie. If you like a good thriller, you won’t be disappointed.

Were you previously an Agatha Christie fan?

I’ve always wanted to perform an Agatha Christie and a period piece of theatre so this is the perfect fit. One of the things I really notice and admire from her body of work is that she’s very good at writing interesting women. When you consider the time in which she was writing it’s quite fascinating.

What is your favourite element of Mrs Boyle? Do you share any character traits?

I love Mrs Boyle’s anger, she’s very funny and bombastic. I wish I shared her confidence at being that angry but I’m the opposite, I bury any anger and let it out at all the wrong times. I really admire that she’s in the moment, she’s angry and she’s not afraid to let you know it.

How does it feel to become part of such an iconic play as The Mousetrap?

It feels amazing. When I was very young, I met and worked with a fantastic actress called Kathleen Byron who went into The Mousetrap and she told me then, over 40 years ago, that it was a very long running show. I can’t quite believe that now I’m in it!

Many people will remember you as Cassandra from Only Fools and Horses. What was is like being in one of the biggest British TV sitcoms of the time?

It was a hugely rewarding experience and a big part of my life. When I started I was already a fan of the show and I didn’t realise I would be in it for a length of time – I thought I was just doing two episodes. I had never done a sitcom before and I learnt on the job from two of the very best with David and Nick. I did my first episode over 30 years ago and people still approach me now saying they love it and that their kids now love it too. It’s a tribute to the writer John Sullivan that the comedy has transcended all this time.

Do you have a preference to performing on stage or screen?

I love all aspects of acting and, for me, it’s about doing something different every time. I started in the theatre when I was 10 years old and I always try to return to the stage and not let it go too long without doing a play. It’s a different sort of muscle that you need to keep exercising.

What are you most looking forward to about touring across the country?

I think there’s a bit of a joke between women of my age that we say we go on tour to get away from everything and have a break. It’s nice to completely immerse yourself in a job, to get on the road and have a break from domesticity. I always like going to new towns and cities, visiting the local beauty spots and galleries, and I often use the time to do some writing as well.

Why should people come and see The Mousetrap?

Just ask anybody and they’ll say you have to see it. Everybody who has seen it seems to absolutely love it and to really take to it. I think it also gets reinvented with every cast so there’s always something new to take away from it too.

The Mousetrap is at The Lowry from 13-18 May 2019 and touring until February 2020. Visit website for full tour details.

Mathew Prichard remembers his Queen of Crime grandma, Agatha Christie.

The post Gwyneth Strong keeps the secret in The Mousetrap appeared first on Quays Life.

I suppose it took some time for it to sink in that I had a famous grandmother known to the world as Agatha Christie. I first remember her during the years when I was at preparatory school and her house at Wallingford was nearby. We used to have enjoyable ‘exeats’ on Sundays and it was, I think, then that the first glimmers of truth came through. Very sensibly, the headmaster of my school insisted on initialling all books that came into the school. I came back from Wallingford clutching the latest Agatha Christie and wondering, quite genuinely, whether the Head could possibly find any reason for withholding the coveted signature. He never did! There was, however, one occasion when my book took a terribly long time to re-appear. Later I realised that the headmaster’s wife had taken the opportunity to read it!

In such small ways, therefore, did I become aware that I had a talented grandmother. Not that it made a great deal of difference to me. She was just a marvellous grandmother and someone nice to have around. I think perhaps there were four things which, more than anything else endeared her to me. The first was her modesty. To the outside world I suppose this appeared as shyness, but to us she was always infinitely more interested in what we were thinking and doing than in herself.

She could manage to write a book almost without one noticing and sometimes she used to read the new one to us in the summer down in Devonshire. She did so partly, I suspect, to test audience reaction, but partly to entertain us on the inevitable wet afternoons when, no doubt, I was rather difficult to amuse! We all tried to guess, and my mother was the only one who was ever right. I think most of my friends who met her during those years were quite astonished that such a mild, gentle grandmother could really be the authoress of all those stories of intrigue, murder and jealousy.

Her next great characteristic was her generosity. It is by now well-known that she gave me The Mousetrap for my ninth birthday. I do not, I’m afraid, remember much about the actual presentation (if there was one) and probably nobody realised until much later what a marvellous present it was, but it is perhaps worth remembering that my grandmother had been through many times in her life when money was not plentiful. It was therefore incredibly generous of her to give away such a play to her grandson, as in 1952 her books were only approaching the enormous success they have now become. It is also a mistake to think of her generosity only in terms of money. She loved giving pleasure to others – good food, a holiday, a present, or a birthday ode. She loved enjoying herself, and also to see others around her enjoying themselves.

The third thing I always enjoyed was her enthusiasm. Despite her modesty or shyness, it was never far below the surface. I think she always had a love/fright relationship with the theatre. Although I am sure she found experience very wearing, she always enjoyed other people’s enthusiasm for her plays and found it infectious. I went to The Mousetrap several times with her in varying company – family parties, girlfriends, and the Eton cricket team when I was captain in 1962. I would say we all enjoyed the play and my grandmother’s company in equal measure. But she was enthusiastic about other people’s plays as well, about archaeology, opera and perhaps above all about food! In short, she was an exciting person to be with because she always tried to look on the good side of things and people; she always found something to enthuse about.

When I had the pleasure of taking my own children, aged twelve and eleven, to The Mousetrap for the first time they enjoyed it tremendously, and crossed off assiduously in their programmes those whom they thought couldn’t have done it (the real culprit was excluded at an early stage!). It was great evening for me, and would have been, I am sure, for my grandmother had she been there. I think it tells us something about the success of the play, too: it contains so much for everybody – humour, drama, suspense and a jigsaw puzzle – suitable for all ages and taste; regrettably not too many plays on the London scene can say the same, and I sometimes feel that actors and actresses, anxious like everybody else for employment, must wish that there were more plays with universal appeal like this.

My grandmother died in January 1976. My family received hundreds of letters from all different walks of life and every part of the world, and I have never seen such a uniform expression of devotion and admiration. No doubt that was because she was a kind, generous and devout person, and preferred always to believe the best of people. She never had an unkind word to say about anybody. We were all left with many happy memories and, of course, all her books and plays, which I am sure will be enjoyed for many generations to come.

It would be remiss of me not to say, on this occasion, something about my grandmother and Peter Saunders. I myself remember Peter as a persistent producer of medium-pace off-cutters in my boyhood cricket days at Greenway in Devon. I am sure it is no exaggeration to say that many Agatha Christie plays would never have been written at all but for his judicious mixture of persuasion, encouragement, confidence and pleading. She adored it all, and certainly, we all recognise what The Mousetrap owed Peter in its earlier days. His confidence in it never wavered and its longevity is as much a tribute to his great partnership with my grandmother as to anything else.

It is inevitable perhaps that my own impressions of my grandmother are rather personal ones. She was, above all, a family person and through everybody, from the literary world, from the world of archaeology and from the stage has good reason to be grateful to her it is her family who have the most to be grateful for – her kindness, her charity, and for just being herself.

The new UK tour of The Mousetrap is calling at The Lowry, Salford Quays from 13-18 May 2019. The West End run continues at St Martin’s Theatre.

Read our interview with Gwyneth Strong who plays Mrs Boyle in the 2019 UK Tour of The Mousetrap.

The post Mathew Prichard remembers his Queen of Crime grandma, Agatha Christie appeared first on Quays Life.