Next Act Theatre takes a by-the-book approach to Agatha Christie's mystery 'The Mousetrap'
Director Mary MacDonald Kerr and her Next Act Theatre cast have created a new production of "The Mousetrap" that fans of Agatha Christie's mystery fiction will recognize and enjoy.
It respects the time and place of Christie's story — England in winter 1952, still emerging from the damage and deprivation of World War II (for example, ration coupons are still in effect). The Next Act staging doesn't update, modernize or retcon anything, even Christie's period-bound types (the shifty foreigner, the mannish woman).
Kerr and her eight actors make every moment and speech as clear as possible, so the audience can puzzle out a murderous mystery.
Mollie (Lillian Brown) and Giles (Josh Krause), married only a year, have opened Monkswell Manor, a country hotel in rural England. A blizzard strikes on the day their first guests arrive: a young architect improbably named Christopher Wren (Rudy Galvan); Mrs. Boyle (Margaret Casey), an imperious complainer later revealed to be a former magistrate; retired Army officer Major Metcalf (Doug Jarecki); and the aloof Miss Casewell (Libby Amato). Later, the odd foreigner Mr. Paravicini (Jonathan Gillard Daly) turns up, claiming his car overturned in the snow.
Despite impassable conditions outside, Detective Sgt. Trotter (Casey Hoesktra) arrives on skis with a warning: A killer may be after one of them. Sure enough, someone is dead at the end of Act One. Suspicion ramps up as Trotter grills the survivors. Everyone, of course, is hiding a secret, though some are more benign than others. Even the newlyweds begin to suspect each other.
The crime is rooted in a past evil; the ending may surprise people new to this popular drama, which has run in a London theater since 1952.
With its focus on plot, "The Mousetrap" is not a vehicle for deep character exploration. But I appreciated Brown's convincing, down-to-earth everywoman who is kind to Galvan's jittery Wren, clearly a gay man at a time when that was both illegal and possibly fatal. Hoekstra is a force as the goad who makes everyone uncomfortable.
Both "The Mousetrap" and its stylish cousin a mile away at Milwaukee Repertory Theater, "Dial M for Murder," have a supporting actor whose old-fashioned charm and talent must be saluted: the radio, that perfect vehicle for exposition and instilling a mood.
'The Mousetrap' schedule, tickets at Next Act Theatre
Next Act Theatre performs "The Mousetrap" through Dec. 17 at 255 S. Water St. For tickets, visit nextact.org or call (414) 278-0765.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Next Act Theatre plays Agatha Christie's 'The Mousetrap' by the book
