At last, after all of these years visiting, and latterly writing about, the theatre, I get to see the longest running production in history. The play opened in the West End of London on 25th November, 1952 at the Ambassadors Theatre, where it stayed until 1974 when it moved next door to the St Martin’s without missing a beat. Before its phenomenal run in The Smoke, it did a preview tour during which it visited the Grand Theatre, Leeds. I wasn’t there on that evening as they didn’t admit unaccompanied three-year-olds.

During the curtain call at the end of last night’s performance, we were asked not to reveal the identity of the culprit so as not to spoil the play for anyone thinking of coming to see it. Try as I might, I simply cannot work out how to write a decent review without spilling the beans so I suggest that when you get to the end bit where I post the link to the Grand’s website and credit the photographer, you read no further.

Left to right. Todd Carty as Major Metcalf, Leigh Lothian as Miss Casewell, Rachel Dawson as Mollie Ralston, Garyn Williams as DS Trotter, Michael Lyle as Giles Ralston, Steven Elliott as Mr Paravicini & Resident Director, Shaun McCourt as Christopher Wren and Catherine Shipton as Mrs Boyle.

The story begins in a large house in the middle of nowhere, surprise, surprise, which has been inherited by Giles and Mollie Robson who have been married for a year and decide to set it up as a hotel. On the opening night the four paying guests with reservations arrive, as well as Mr Paravicini, played by Steven Elliott, a walk-in, whose Rolls Royce has skidded and overturned in the raging blizzard which has cut the area off from civilisation. Another shock. The radio and a newspaper brought by one of the guests, Miss Casewell, are full of the news of a murder in London the day before.

As the guests settle in, they are joined by Detective Sgt Trotter, who has been dispatched by his superior officer to interview those present as some of them have a link to the murdered woman. He has been chosen because of his ability to ski, which is his method of transport to the house. Sadly this is in the days when police vehicles had bells as I would have loved to have seen him make his entrance with blue lights flashing on his ski poles, something which is not as daft as it sounds as the first half of the play is bordering on the bonkers. The cast of characters are stereotypes of their various stations in life; Christopher Wren, the architect – honest – is a little eccentric to say the least, Major Metcalf, played by Todd Carty, struts around as though he is on parade, lacking only his swagger stick, Mrs Boyle epitomises the straight-laced, tweed-wearing country type, with Miss Casewell, in a particularly masculine outfit for the time, is withdrawn but has an air of mystery about her. The interloper with the Roller is a cartoon Italian who seems to enjoy stirring people up. Mollie and Giles seem to be the only two people who could pass for normal. Even the policeman is melodramatic in his attempts to both find the murderer, whom he is convinced is one of the guests and to prevent a repeat offence. The latter ambition is thwarted when, after the lights return following a power cut, Mrs Boyle, played by Catherine Shipton, is found dead on the sofa.

Catherine Shipton as the soon to be deceased Mrs Boyle

The second half gets a bit more businesslike with DS Trotter, Garyn Williams, interviewing all those present, both as a group and individually. Their stories change as the plot unfolds and slowly all is revealed. As you would expect, the spotlight keeps shifting from one suspect to another until the denouement. The claustrophobic atmosphere heightened by that other whodunnit standby, the phones being cut off.

There was only one glaring fault which annoyed me throughout and that was to do with the period in which the play was set. The piece was contemporary of the time in which it was written as indicated by excerpts from comedian Max Miller and Valentine Dyall aka The Man in Black, who narrated the BBC Radio horror series Appointment With Fear, on the wireless set. That was great, but the early 50s vibe was sadly lacking in the costume department. The women’s outfits were fine, but the men’s were miles out. Their trousers were far too narrow and none of them had turn-ups, a feature compulsory in those days. This also applied to those of Miss Casewell, played by Leigh Lothian, although at least hers had pleated waist. The lapels were also nowhere near wide enough.

I am sure the play has undergone some changes over the years but I found a couple of the expressions used quite amusing. My favourite was near the beginning when Giles , Michael Lyle, who was worrying about arrangements for the comfort of their first guests, says to Mollie, Rachel Dawson, that he hopes they have got enough coke to last them over the weekend. This is now open to interpretation other than concern about the stock of central heating fuel.

The acting was bang on, keeping just the right side of farce before morphing into something more serious and building up the tension. Even Shaun McCourt as Christopher Wren, who was the most flamboyant character at the start, calmed down a bit.

The Directors were Ian Talbot and Denise Silvey and the Producer, Adam Spiegel.

The Mousetrap runs at Leeds Grand Theatre until Saturday, 2nd September, 2023. For more details and to book your tickets go to https://leedsheritagetheatres.com/whats-on/mousetrap-2023/ I really would recommend that you go see it, you might not get another chance until 2093!

Images provided by Leeds Heritage Theatres with photographs by Matt Crockett.

OK, time to grass up the villain, it was…………. hang on, that’s the doorbell, must be my Amazon parcel. Bye!

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