Sunset Playhouse opens its season with Agatha Christie’s enduring classic, The Mousetrap. Running continuously since its 1952 debut, this grandmother of all modern murder mysteries delivers surprisingly complex characters; the origins of many now-familiar tropes; and a fast-paced, well-executed plot that, instead of losing its edge with age, has become even more chilling for the reminder it offers of an age when technology was not always there to save us. The setting: an English manor repurposed as a rooming house and now snowed in with telephone lines down. The murderer is in the room, and so is the next victim.
Sunset delights with soaring production values and a fantastic cast. The action takes place in an ornate, realistic box set by Rebecca Beaudoin with an effectively unnerving lighting plot by Colleen Geddes. Joanne Cunningham’s costumes aptly suggest wartime England and realize the comedy of every single character fitting the murderer’s police description: “dark overcoat, light-colored scarf and soft felt hat.”
Of particular note among the performers are Jim Donaldson as Christopher Wren, Bethany Lutes as Molly Ralston and Bryan Madson as Detective Sergeant Trotter. Donaldson’s portrayal of a mad, globetrotting young man is well realized, and the hint that he may be gay—in a time when even a hint was taboo—is sensitively treated. Lutes’ Molly is similarly poignant. The actress renders her as both ingénue and matron, and hers are the intuitions that cut the deepest. As Trotter, Madson delivers an understated and highly likeable detective. His command of dialect is impeccable and his physical characterizations well chosen.
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The true genius of this script is its many red herrings and juicy bits of information left unresolved. While twists and cliffhangers have become commonplace in the genre since The Mousetrap’s debut, this script simply does them better than most. The point is driven home: What most unsettles the human mind is not the knowledge of impending danger, but rather the unresolved chord that lingers in the air when the threat seems passed.
The Mousetrap runs through Sept. 28 at 800 Elm Grove Road. For tickets, call 262-782-4430 or visit sunsetplayhouse.com.
