Classic whodunnit never been better

IT would be difficult to imagine a more perfect stage production of Agatha Christie’s thriller, The Mousetrap.

Director, Robyn Nevin, has assembled a talented cast and created a mesmeric production, the like of which is too rarely seen in Australian drama theatres.

Nevin has given us a staging which is precisely and truthfully executed. She has honoured the text. Never for a moment does the talented Nevin permit her cast to slip into melodrama, or farce.

Her faultless direction and artistic skill defies the audience not to believe in the plot of Christie’s superbly crafted whodunnit.

The cast of Anna O’Byrne, Alex Rathgeber, Laurence Boxhall, Adam Murphy, Charlotte Friels, Gerry Connolly as Mr Paravicini, Tom Conroy, and Geraldine Turner as Mrs Boyle is without a weak link – which serves to maintain the tautness of the situation, and allows the genius of Agatha Christie to take the audience on the journey of murder!

The delicate balance of performance between juvenile leads, Charlotte Friels and Tom Conroy, is electric.

Both Gerry Connolly and Laurence Boxhall are pitch perfect. They have found every possible laugh contained in the script and both play it with effortless aplomb, and admirable restraint.

Connolly is a master class in performance control and Boxhall is a comedic actor of considerable expertise, and talent.

Murphy as Major Metcalfe is a treat. What could be a caricature in less capable hands, is perfectly measured with an applause-worthy denouement!

As the husband and wife team, O’Byrne and Rathgeber are a joy to watch. Together, they are superbly, idiosyncratically English in that unmistakeable manner, and together they drive the narrative with a skilled deftness, and a perfect lightness of touch.

Turner has, since the early 1970s, charmed Australian audiences with a string of brilliant and sparkling performances.

However, it is her nuanced portrayal of Mrs Boyle, the English battle-axe in the tradition of Peggy Mount and Hattie Jacques, which almost steals the show.

It might be said Turner has, with this memorable performance, come-of-age as an actress. She does not miss a moment in what is a notoriously difficult role. She has created a character of such clarity, and believability, it might easily add another award to her considerable collection.

Designed by Isabel Hudson, and lit by Trudy Dalgleish, this sparkling production of The Mousetrap, which is a visual feast, is touring Australia.

The magnificent country house set sits perfectly on Melbourne’s Comedy Theatre stage.

It is a shining exemplar, a manifestation of what is artistically possible, with a producer and director determined to honour a genre of theatre which has, sadly, all but disappeared from our lives.

Whatever else you see, don’t miss this production!

The Mousetrap is currently running at the Comedy Theatre in Melbourne until 26 March.