Review: THE MOUSETRAP at The Group Repertory Theatre

I was not going to pass up an opportunity to see Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap in October-- a time when we'd all like to be a little frightened by our entertainment-- and seeing it on the seventieth anniversary of its London premiere was a delightful bonus. In truth, even as a huge fan of the mystery genre, and admittedly a fan of Agatha Christie, I've only read and never seen The Mousetrap. I was immediately blown away by how well the play has held up in all of its 70 years. The suspense is weaponized to keep the audience engaged throughout and the dialogue, characters, and revelations of clues are (forgive the shock) actually quite good.

Having only read the play, I've loved it like I've loved so many mystery stories. They keep you invested because you want to know who the killer is. It doesn't matter if the characters are flimsy, the narrative trite, or the setting dull, by rite of genre, the author holds you captive until the final chapter. Many of Christie's own works have been adapted to the screen with lackluster success. If you, like me, have never had the pleasure of seeing The Mousetrap, head to North Hollywood before November 13. Like me, you might be surprised at how well the narrative still lands. In a way, the proprietress and protagonist, Mollie Ralston, holds a premonition of a mirror up to an audience in 2022. Her keen eye for details, ostensibly concerned only with ensuring a successful opening weekend for her boarding house, seems to reflect the ever-vigilant attitude of true crime aficionados we encounter in our daily lives. As we see hordes of people we may consider to be entirely 'normal' gush over the latest dramatization of Jeffrey Dahmer's ghastly deeds, it only makes sense that a 1950s housewife should remember key details from a crime committed in her vicinity.

The cast is uniformly energized and presents an English boarding house with all the saccharine charm of Mary Poppins. It is obvious that director Jules Aaron has a deep love and respect for the genre, but at times (especially when the pacing becomes belabored) I wish he trusted the script more. Stylistically, every moment is played up for laughs. Some gags land, but many just add to the runtime of the piece and seem like an unanimous apology for the text and attempt to keep a contemporary audience invested in a dated script. Were the script allowed to breathe and stand as intended, it would almost certainly have elicited more laughter and more excitement from the crowd. There is room for silliness in The Mousetrap, but all the silliness it needs is really already present.

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