Darlington Hippodrome is a lovely theatre with many original features, modern upgrades and a friendly, helpful front-of-house team who played host in July to Agatha Christie’s iconic play. The Mousetrap, the longest running show in London’s West End, took its 70th Anniversary Tour on the road in September 2022 and has played to theatres listed on its original tour, to conclude in Windsor this August.
Friends advised against going, warning the play would be boring. You know what you are getting with an Agatha Christie though; a spurious situation, a death, a cast of characters with layers and motivations, a demystifying and long denouement.
The set was cleverly designed and dressed. Multiple entrances led to rooms unseen above and below. With snow falling behind the heavily curtained sash windows, we were right there, in this partially warmed Great Hall in Monkswell Manor, now a guest house in remote countryside on the outskirts of London.
And lo, we were snowed in. In the genial company of our hosts, the Ralstons, we awaited the arrival of paying guests and the inevitable scream.
The play
The first half and scene-setting were rather enjoyable if a bit long. Giles Ralston (Barnaby Jago), with a bit more relaxed confidence, could be reminiscent of a younger Nigel Havers although I confess to cringing every time Mrs Boyle (Judith Rae) delivered what could have been some of the best lines, had they been delivered cold.
The second half was slow and dragged. Much of the action was led by Detective Sergeant Trotter (Michael Ayiotis) who lacked both conviction and annunciation. A whole scene between the Ralstons exchanging gifts could have been cut. Thank goodness for interval wine.
“Am Dram … Amateur,” said my companion. A generous observation for the acting was ham. Her experience too, of being coughed over, repeatedly kicked and the continuous conversation from the foursome in the row behind was not a positive one. There was much talking right across the theatre and at one point the sound desk audibly ramped up the mics for the cast to be heard above the packed stalls.
Todd Carty
Todd Carty playing Major Metcalf, is the minor celebrity incentivising ticket sales. “But who is he?” re-asked the garrulous audience member behind us, so everyone could hear. I wanted to scream “That’s Tucker Jenkins, don’t you know!” I loved him in children’s television classics Grange Hill and Tucker’s Luck, several lifetimes ago, before he set off on a long run on Eastenders.
The cultural references and hyperbolic caricaturing are outdated and somewhat unsettling. It is a long time since the idea that only women wearing britches could or would travel abroad unaccompanied by a man. Is it enough to assume a contemporary audience will recognise campness and closeted homosexuality as indicative of insanity and enough to necessitate murderous suspicion or the surety of a prison term?
Outdated?
Shakespeare is outdated. Austen is outdated. But modern audiences recognise both as of different times and values. Society and the courts have moved on from outmoded views on same sex relationships, but not far enough that everyone accepts difference and not far enough that everyone is safe. Christie’s And Then There Were None was updated in the 1980s for its racially charged language. Why do we tolerate unhelpful sexuality stereotyping? Updating the script would justify this play’s future relevance and ongoing existence.
The Mousetrap is iconic for its longevity. You too could tick this one off your bucket list. Or take some advice from Tucker Jenkins and his classmates and ‘’Just say no’’.
The Mousetrap Official Tour Site – The world’s longest running play (mousetrapontour.co.uk)
CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO OUR CROWDFUNDER
HELP US BECOME STRONGER SO THAT WE CAN CONTINUE TO DELIVER POWERFUL CITIZEN JOURNALISM!
