The Mousetrap at The Comedy Theatre

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Fri 17 Feb 2023 - Sun 05 Mar 2023

Set in an English country manor, Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap is a part murder mystery, part comedy of manners and pure post-war nostalgia. If Dame Agatha were to drop down from the heavenly rafters to check on her murderous masterpiece, the 70th-anniversary incarnation at the Comedy Theatre would hold no surprises for her.



The set, wardrobe and accents are impeccably 1950s posh England country house. A spell is cast over the audience as we enter a snow-covered English landscape where all seems proper until you dig under the surface.

Robyn Nevin's production captures the spirit of the original while injecting a subtle irreverence in the form of a couple of running gags related to overcoats and bad hair. The stellar Australian cast includes the luminous Anna O'Byrne and the ever-reliable Alex Rathgeber as the proprietors of Monkswell Manor.



They are joined by old stagers Geraldine Turner as the irascible Mrs Boyle and Gerry Connelly as Mr Paravicini, almost unrecognisable beneath the suspiciously jet black hair, magnificent moustache and thick Poirot-esque accent.


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The Mousetrap%% theme is laid on with a trowel: a murderer is playing cat-and-mouse with the guests while 'Three Blind Mice' is used to sinister effect as a musical motif running throughout the onstage action.

There is no lack of cheese in The Mousetrap, particularly towards the end. But it's served with unabashed enthusiasm by a cracker cast to a highly appreciative audience.

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!date 17/02/2023 -- 05/03/2023
%wnmelbourne