BWW Reviews: THE MOUSETRAP, Lyceum, Sheffield, 6 July 2015

For someone who loves the theatre, it's somewhat embarrassing to admit that I'd never seen The Mousetrap. So, I decided to rectify that by catching the Christie classic on its current national tour.

Unusually, perhaps, for a murder mystery, the initial murder of the play takes place offstage in another location, with a character we never meet, before the action begins - we are told of it through a radio broadcast before the lights come up. After that, it is a fairly standard setup of a group of strangers - or seemingly strangers - holed up together in a country house in the middle of nowhere, with a killer among them. It was somewhat incongruous to be watching the play, set during a snowdrift, on one of the hottest evenings of the year and it does seem to me that this play might better suit an audience coming in from the cold in autumn or winter who might more easily envelop themselves in the scenario.

As mysteries go, this one has a few twists and turns - and, as you would expect, much use is made of different entrances and exits, misdirection and coincidence - all of which, no doubt have contributed to its longevity. One of the traditions of the play is that when you have seen it, you don't reveal its secrets. I will uphold that, but to me it did seem fairly obvious what the outcome would be - however, my friend didn't come to the same conclusion, so maybe this is just my overfamiliarity with murder mystery tropes, many of which have presumably been borne from this very play.

This production doesn't take any particular risks with its source material-the setting, costumes and characters are fairly traditional in nature-although the single room set is a very well realised version of a country house drawing room. Our initial introductions to the characters are not necessarily promising. Each appears to be something of a caricature with performances heightened - largely because of the dialogue, which doesn't feel particularly natural. However, once the play gets going and the characters begin to interact with one another more, the production gathers steam and begins to engage the audience much more. All of the performers bring a good energy to their roles - I particularly liked the world-weariness of Mark Homer's Giles, a man increasingly frustrated with the chaos surrounding him, as this was played in a fairly naturalistic manner, which, if anything made it funnier. Hester Arden's Miss Casewell was one of the more charismatic and interesting of the guests, possibly because her character had a little more nuance in the script than some of the others, whilst Edward Elgood never lets his energy drop in the part of Christopher.

This is a solid touring production, one designed to appeal to as many people as possible, and on that score, it didn't disappoint. However, it did feel a very safe production and it might have been nice to see some risk-taking in terms of either the performances or the design and technical setup. It's perfectly pleasing and an entertaining way to spend a couple of hours, but it does lack something in terms of sparkle and vibrancy.

Nevertheless, my hat goes off to the cast and crew who are undertaking an extensive tour with this production (the Sheffield dates come around a third of the way into the tour) in not letting it seem as though they've done this play 1000 times before. There is still an energy to their performances and they don't display any particular signs of flagging.

The Mousetrap is that the Sheffield Lyceum until 11 July and continues on tour throughout the country until 14 November. For dates, visit www.mousetrapontour.com.

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