Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap thrills audience at King’s Lynn’s Alive Corn Exchange

THEATRE REVIEW: The Mousetrap

at Alive Corn Exchange, Lynn

By coincidence some of the most recent live theatre I’ve seen was in Torquay, Agatha Christie’s home town, so I was delighted to attend a fine, nail- biting performance of her play, The Mousetrap, being part of a Nationwide 70th Anniversary Tour performed by a truly professional cast, including well-known actor Todd Carty, of Grange Hill, The Bill and EastEnders fame.

The play, a classic Christie ‘Whodunnit,’ was first performed in the Autumn of 1952, and was to become the longest-running West End straight play from September 1957. The performances seen in Lynn are part of a 70th Anniversary Tour, the production visiting over 70 venues in the country over several months. The play is still performed at St Martin’s Theatre in London.

The performance I attended was not without its own drama as Rachel Dawson, who played Mollie Ralston, a principal character, fell ill, but after a slight delay her understudy Perdita Ogbourne seamlessly took over and all was well.

Despite all the twists and turns in the play’s plot, the show flowed flawlessly with the varied cast of characters being portrayed convincingly.

The set and lighting were effective and the murderer loose in the great hall of Monkswell Manor, Berkshire was finally revealed at the play’s climax, but as a member of the audience I’ve promised not to say anything more about that!

Thanks to Ian Talbot and Denise Silvey (directors), and producer Adam Spiegel, cast members, understudies and all who contributed behind the scenes to make for some entertaining drama.

Andy Tyler