"Murder isn't all fun and games – or is it?" says a character in Agatha Christie's play The Mousetrap, currently receiving a sprightly, elegant production by Spencer Theatre Company at the Hoogland Center for the Arts in downtown Springfield.
The fact that this 70-year-old play is being performed here isn't out of the ordinary, but The Mousetrap is a 70-year-old play that is still running in London after its premiere in 1952. It holds the Guiness Book of Records for the world's longest-running play, and Queen Elizabeth II saw the 50th anniversary performance in 2002. The London production was forced to stop performing in March 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it reopened in May of 2021 and is still going strong with bigger box office numbers than before. And a Broadway production has been announced for this year.
When the play opened in London in 1952, Agatha Christie predicted it might run for eight months.
Joe-Michael Jackson and Ginny Racette directed this production – considered the granddaddy of "whodunnits" – and if you've never seen The Mousetrap, you've certainly seen many plays and movies that were inspired by Christie's twists-and-turns plot contrivances, from Peter Falk's Columbo to Angela Lansbury in Murder She Wrote. Jackson and Racette lavish style in their productions and they work well with their actors, guiding and letting them play, finding all the hijinks throughout.
The Mousetrap may be the world's longest-running play, but after talking to several audience members last weekend, it became apparent that many were seeing it for the first time. The reaction to the final twist at the end was a surprise the audience responded to just as the author hoped. One audience-member said to me "I had no idea what was going to happen, until about two-thirds of the play and I started to wonder if . . ."
By today's standards, the plot might seem creaky, but the audience ate it up.
Put a group of strangers together in an old English manor house during a blizzard with the questions of "Is there a murderer in the house?" and "Will one of the guests be the next victim?" offers a tried-and-true plot filled with possibilities. It is also very funny.
The actors are obviously having a heck of a good time playing these roles:
Alyssa Shultz and Michael S. Krcil as the young couple who have just opened the house for guests are perfect as they handle the demands of the guests who've appeared on their doorstep at the same time as a murder has occurred nearby. Ginny Racette mines each line of her dialogue to great hilarity; Luke Peterson chews up the scenery with glee as an eccentric character; Mark Anderson is perfectly gruff as a Major from the military; Keith Wilson has fun as a mysterious guest from another country; Samantha Fletcher – born to be on stage – has a glorious time as Miss Casewell; and Thomas Finney has the audience in the palm of his hand from the moment he appears at the manor house in the blizzard on skis.
They all maneuver around David Parker's set, which encompasses not only the stage, but also the floor space out in the audience in the Peggy Ryder Theatre, creating a great sense of the immense house, and also helping the audience make themselves at home. Rene Blank costumes each character in great period style; fine lighting by Gene Hinckley, sound by Aaron Duncan, makeup by Judy McEvoy and props by Melody Sheehan. Stage manager Bridget Ratz obviously keeps all the pieces moving backstage for an enjoyable night out at the theater in this beautiful production.
Side note: you can currently see on Netflix the backstage mystery See How They Run, set at the London theater and environs of The Mousetrap in 1953, starring Adrian Brody, Sam Rockwell and Saoirce Ronin.
Spencer Theatre Company will produce Nightfall With Edgar Allan Poe here in the fall, playing Oct. 12-15.
The Mousetrap finishes its run this weekend, Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 4 p.m. Tickets can be obtained online at www.hcfta.org.
I also witnessed a stunning production last week of James Still's drama And Then They Came For Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank in the Studio Theatre at UIS Performing Arts Center. Carly Shank directed an ensemble that could not have been better. The play gave public performances last weekend, and this week has given school performances. How fortunate that area students were given this opportunity to learn about history.
Phil Funkenbusch loves the theater and its inhabitants. He is directing The Christians by Lucas Hnath for Springfield Theatre Centre at the Hoogland, March 24-26 and 31-April 2. He can be reached at [email protected].
