University of Virginia Library

STAGE

Interest Trapped In English Manor Home

By STEVE WELLS

It is one of the paradoxes of
the entertainment world that a
writer's most successful work is
not always his best. Such is the
case with Agatha Christie's
"The Mousetrap," which has
been running in London's West
End since 1950 and which is
currently the attraction at the
Albemarle Playhouse here in
Charlottesville.

It is indicative of Miss
Christie's flair for the genre
that even though "The
Mousetrap" is often
dramatically weak and flimsy,
it still manages to hold one's
interest amazingly well. The
construction of the mystery is
fairly solid, if sometimes
predictable, and the characters
are distinct, if sometimes too
diversely peculiar to be entirely
believable. In brief, it's
competent without being in
any way ingenious.

The play takes place in an
English manor home which has
been converted into a country
inn by newlyweds Giles and
Mollie Ralston. It's opening
weekend, the guests are
coming, and so is the snow.
News of a murder in London
comes over the radio, a
sergeant arrives on skis, and
everyone is snowbound, with
one of them of course being a
murderer.

One of the main difficulties
with the play is that Miss
Christie from the outset
eliminates all but two of the
characters from reasonable
suspicion on the audience's
part, thus deleting the strength
of the ending considerably,
because the audience won't be
surprised if they have figured it
out and will be disappointed if
the murderer turns out to be
one of the obvious suspects.
For once, Miss Christie has no
cards up her sleeve to startle
the hell out of everybody.

There are other areas to
criticize, such as the several
contrivances which crop up
near the end, but very few
mysteries have entirely
satisfactory conclusions. The
fun is in getting there, trying to
figure out all the angles and
motives. And in this respect
"The Mousetrap" is a good
evening's entertainment.

In staging the play, George
Miller has succeeded in creating
a claustrophobic atmosphere,
establishing the warmth of the
inn as an imposed alternative
to the driving snow outside,
then contrasting its coziness
with the potential violence that
could take place there. He
develops the tension adroitly
and makes some of Miss
Christie's hackneyed scenes
play better than they deserve.

Patrick Stoner and Leslie
Greathead portray the
Ralstons, he with sufficient
poise, she with more than
sufficient charm. Lawrence
Raiken does a fine job with the
sergeant, doggedly trying to
get information out of some
uncooperative guests. Joyce
Stoner gives surprising
conviction to a cantankerous
old dowager, Russell Gustafson
is his usual commendable self
as a crafty major, and Jane Van
Boskirk has some good
moments as a rather masculine
female guest.

The evening's finest
performance belongs, oddly
enough, to Ed Godshall, who
makes a young man with both
childish and homosexual
leanings a truly sympathetic
character, pouting along and
looking incredibly like Jody on
television's "Family Affair."
Only Wes Simpers, overdoing
his role of a shady fellow who
is forced to abandon his car,
fails to come across favorably.

It's a satisfying evening for
those who like murder
mysteries — conventional,
archetypal murder mysteries.
But enjoyable though "The
Mousetrap" may be on its own
terms, Albemarle has not given
us the solution to the mystery
of the play's magnetic
popularity — only enhanced
the legend.

Stoner, Greathead: Enhancing A Legend