Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap, a legendary murder mystery whodunit, returns to the Wyvern Theatre from Monday 10th to Saturday 15th of February as part of the 2019 tour which will see the show visit more than 40 towns and cities throughout the UK.
Susan Penhaligon (Bouquet of Barbed Wire, A Fine Romance, Emmerdale, Tales of the Unexpected) who is playing Mrs Boyle, took time out of rehearsals with Kate Hester to share with us what we can expect from this world renowned play.
What can audiences expect from The Mousetrap?
It’s actually a family show, I’ve often looked out at the audience at curtain call and seen 10 year olds in the front row. You can bring your granny, you can bring your grandchild … it’s Agatha Christie! Also because of Agatha Christie on TV most audiences actually know the world they are going into, so when the curtain goes up in 1952 they think “oh yes we know this, we know where we are” because they are actually more educated about Agatha Christie these days.
It’s a phenomenon (The Mousetrap), it’s been on for 68 years in the West End, and so it’s a bit like I’m doing my National Service! It’s so loved this play, you come to London you see the Tower of London and you see and The Mousetrap.
It’s taken on an iconic atmosphere about it. There was a period of time in the 70’s when they updated it and took out all the period words (wireless to radio etc) but it didn’t work and they went back to the original script and now of course it’s a period piece.
As an actor I thought “oh the Mousetrap, I don’t think I’ll ever do that” and here I am doing it and loving it!
Your character Mrs Boyle is known to be an opinionated and critical woman, what is she like to play?
She’s a pain in the … she is actually every hotelier’s nightmare! She is the person that walks in the hotel door and starts complaining. She complains and moans about everything.
Is that quite a cathartic part to play?
It’s great to play. If I’ve had a bad day or feeling grumpy I can put it all into the part, it is cathartic. I really enjoy playing her (Mrs Boyle).
You can’t give too much away on a whodunit, but what is your favourite element of the play?
I think my favourite element of the play is the emotional truth in it. The audience following the plot as a whodunit but it’s also sort of a revenge play. It’s based on a true incident that not many people realise. A very famous case just after the Second World War, where two children were sent to live with a farmer and they were both so badly abused that one of the boys died. Agatha Christie must have read about this and it inspired her to write The Mousetrap. I actually believe it’s one of the reasons why the play has lasted this long, as it’s based on a real event and it’s got a real emotional truth to it.
In true Agatha Christie style she has created a classic whodunit with all these different, eccentric British characters and European characters and puts them all in this house cut off from the outside world and a murder occurs. There’s a reason for the murder and it’s all based on this real case that happened.
Have I just given something away? No that’s alright! I’m fine!
You’ve played in Christie plays before do you find she has more depth to the female characters?
I did “And then there were none”, which is another Agatha Christie classic and that’s about all these people on an island and they all get bumped off! I’ve read her biography and she’s a fascinating woman and just brilliant at plot. She comes out with these contemporary lines, I have a line in The Mousetrap that my character says to another character, “I gather you are a socialist”, really putting this other character down, so she’s quite political and she has opinions that she weaves into her characters.
Most of the audience buys into the whodunit, which makes it so successful. She writes brilliant, very interesting parts for women, way ahead of her time really, which is why they are so fantastic to play. I mean Mrs Marple is fantastic isn’t she?
Would you like to be a Mrs Marple in the future?
Of course! I would not turn it down, no way!
Discover why Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap has kept people guessing for so long, becoming the longest running show of any kind in the history of theatre at the Wyvern Theatre from Monday 10th February – Saturday 15th February 2020
Tickets are available online or by calling the ticket office 01793 524 481
