Take the Bait: "The Mousetrap" at Spotlighters

SHOW INFORMATION: The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie runs through February 3 at Spotlighters Theatre on St. Paul Street.  Fri – Sat at 8PM, Sun at 2PM.  Tickets: $18 general.  BWW Readers get $5 off per ticket.  Order online at www.spotlighters.org and enter code BWW-MT or bring this review to the box office to get discount.  www.spotlighters.org or 410-752-1225.

 

◊◊◊ 1/2 out of five.  2 hours, 15 minutes, plus intermission.  Mild adult language, murder-mystery violence.

I have often written that this play or that play is full of old theatre conventions or dusty clichés – that a play might be a stereotype of a certain genre.  It is rare, indeed to write about the play that actually started those conventions, clichés and stereotypes, but I am doing just that with this review of Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap, the granddaddy of all mystery plays/movies/TV series.  The production of the play, which opened this past weekend at Spotlighters, thankfully pays homage to a genuine trend-setter and celebrates the clichés and stereotypes rather than flub it up with some ill-fitting, ego-stroking "updating" by the director.  No, directors Kathy McCrory and Bob Russell wisely left the story telling to the mistress of murder and mayhem, Dame Agatha Christie.  Instead, and again, wisely, they focused their energies on getting the tight ensemble of actors to work as one tense mass while simultaneously creating unique character pieces to this very intricate puzzle.  And for the most part, Ms. McCrory and Mr. Russell succeed.

I think it speaks very well of a production that the entire audience fell into a deep theoretical discussion of "whodunit" during intermission.  Clearly, the audience, me included, was intensely interested in what lie ahead, making our guesses and remembering details like we were playing a life and death Clue match.  As far as the plot goes, I will be brief and as detail-less as possible.  Considering that this is the single longest-running play in the history of the world (it has been running in London for over 55 years) and is a staple in community and regional theatre stateside, it is amazing how many people (me included) have never seen it.  I won't give away the ending – a total shocker – because where's the fun in that?  What I will say is that the play will feel very familiar and very unique all at once.

There is a freak snowstorm in the outer lands which surround London, and Europe is still putting itself back together after WWII.  The place is Monkswell Manor, a mansion now converted into a guest house and run by novice innkeepers.  The guests, despite the weather, all arrive safely, and each one is a distinctly shifty sort, full of secrets, anger and quirks.  Just as the snow has rendered all entrances and exits closed for the foreseeable future, news comes that a killer is on the loose, and the police believe that the killer and the next victims are in that guest house.  An odd ball police detective shows up (on skis, no less).  Accusations and suspicions fly and clues are everywhere.  Can the police find the killer before everyone is dead?  What do you think?

The setting of a good mystery is as important as the plot and characters are, and this is a great mystery, so it makes sense that a great setting was devised by Roy Hammond, with properties and set decoration by Central Avenue Props.  The Spotlighters' intimate space and the coziness of a Tudor-style manse set make you feel like you are curled up inside a blanket with a great novel in hand and a fire crackling in the fireplace.  And lo and behold, there is a crackling fire in the fire place, lots of intimate seating, and yes (!) it actually is snowing outside.  Brad J. Ranno's sound design is right on the money, too, creating images through sound that really sound like they are coming from hidden staircases behind the walls, and it is his sound, played in complete darkness that makes the opening 3 minutes of this play both thrilling and literally scary.  You could feel the tension in the room, reminiscent of the entire audience poised together at the top of the first hill of a rollercoaster as we all wait for that final "tick" that sends us plunging toward a "certain" death.  Adding an invaluable layer of detail to this finely polished gem is Carol LeVine's dialect coaching in a play that requires at least two nationalities and several levels of British society.  As if Christie's tongue-twister lines aren't complicated enough, the cast easily handles the rigors of maintaining superb accents.

The eight member cast is truly an ensemble, with no one part really being any more or less important than any other, so I shall discuss each actor in order of their appearance.  Lisa Mezrich and Todd Krickler (BWW 2007 Up and Comer) are Mollie and Giles Ralston, newlyweds of just one year, who run this new guest house.  They both play as if they are really a couple – the little details in their performances really make the relationship work, and especially pay off during a tense scene where they face-off admitting they really know little about each other.  Their banter, arguments and terror are excitingly real.

Zak Zeeks ( BWW - 2007 Best Supporting Actor in a Play - The Foreigner, Laurel Mill Playhouse) proves he was no fluke last year by now giving another riveting performance of remarkable specificity and creepiness as Christopher Wren, a bizarre young man with obvious secrets and even more obvious character flaws.  To maintain that level of intensity and intentional awkwardness for the audience must be utterly exhausting.  Similarly, Lucie Poirier, as the stiff matron Mrs. Boyle, works her infuriating charms on the cast and spectators alike.  To say she is bitchy is to make a gross understatement, and her character is as unlikeable as the actress's portrayal is spot on and intriguing.  Her timing, too, is impeccable.

Spotlighters regular Denis Latkowski does fine with the blustery "old chap" character of Major Metcalf.  He plays the whole show with an unnerving gleam in his eyes, virtually daring you to suspect him, all while making everything he does suspicious.   Nancy Flores (BWW 2007 Up and Comer) shows again that her range as an actress is limitless, as Miss Casewell, a mysterious and dangerously androgynous woman who slinks around the Manor like a nervous cat.  Her measured speech and deep, troubled eyes make her performance enthralling.  The same could be said for Frank Vince's hyped up portrayal of surprise guest Mr. Paravacini, who seems to live in his own melodramatic world.  Mr. Vince's comic twist and quirky mannerisms make the character a welcome break in the tension – he provides many laughs – which makes his turn toward the sinister later in the play thrilling.

Finally, R. Brett Rohrer, another of Baltimore's most versatile actors, plays the detective role of Sergeant Trotter with just enough of his own peculiarities to make him interesting.  Often times it is difficult to play this type of role – verbally connecting the dots for the audience and asking questions interrogation style.  Ask Angela Lansbury how she did it through over a decade of Murder, She Wrote episodes and more than one go-round as Dame Christie's Miss Marple!  It is to Mr. Rohrer's credit that he plays the role so well, often as the only calm in a vast sea of upset and drama.

All of that intensity and eccentric characterization and full-throttle speed makes act one fly by; it is almost a shock that it ends so quickly.  Unfortunately, act two falls apart a bit in comparison.  In fact, it almost grinds to a halt on more than one occasion.  And I think the blame lies with the writing, the acting and, ultimately the directing.  Who am I to quibble with the greatest mystery writer of the ages, but really, Agatha, does act two really have to be such a lengthy series of interrogations and "where I was when the murder happened" speeches?  I'd venture that nearly 2/3 of act two is just that, and of course every suspect says basically the same thing – "it couldn't be me!"  And there is virtually no action in act two, odd, given that aspects of the crime are "reenacted" more than once.  This I blame on both the actors and the direction.  The actors because, for all of their superb characterization and commitment to their roles, by about mid-act two, you begin to realize that there will be no variations on any of their themes, rendering most performances compelling but also very one-note, which is, well, dull.  Of course, not hashing out nuances and shadings is also the fault of the direction, as is the inappropriately static staging of the second act.  In act one, much effort and dialogue is successfully handled to give us a very clear idea that, even though we can't see it, the house is full of staircases, hidden doors and other creepy mystery house trappings.  We understand that we, too, are mice trapped in a labyrinth with all halls leading to certain death – the play is The Mousetrap, after all.  And yet, almost all of that sense of unseen goings-on goes unused, even after several times we are set up previously with actors exiting one door to appear quickly in another.  It seems that with act two, the directors lost their momentum and forgot the chief circumstance: at a mystery especially, the audience is hyper-aware of everything, search for clues and identities right along with the cast.

All of those quibbles aside, act one and the final exciting moments of act two make this maze one you'll definitely want to jump into.  The pleased "ahs" of an audience upon figuring out "whodunit" make this Mousetrap a success.

PHOTOS: Photography by Amy Jones.  TOP to BOTTOM: Zak Zeeks, Denis Latkowski, Lisa Mezrich and Todd Krickler; Lucie Poirier and Nancy Flores; R. Brett Rohrer and Frank Vince.