The Mousetrap -some bits and pieces

Some interesting bits and pieces:
It is over 60 years since it opened, the first performance was  25 November 1952.
The West end production has had over 25,000 performances.
Remarkably it broke the record for the longest run of a play in the West End way back in September 1957.
The original cast included Richard Attenborough.  there have been too many famous actors to name but Kiwi Alice Fraser was Mollie in the 21st year of the play (1978).

Up until 2010 outside of the West End, only one version of the play could be performed annually.
Agatha Christie thought it might run as long as 14 months.  It was originally a short story then a radio play.
Each year the cast of the West End production has changes but by tradition at least one actor stays on each time.
Canterbury Repertory was to have produced the first NZ production in 2010- but the earthquakes mean this will be the 7th production.
Tom Stoppard's play The Real Inspector Hound parodies many elements of The Mousetrap, including the surprise ending- I've directed Hound  and the connections are interesting.

Going like clockwork

The experience directing every play is unique, and not in ways I expect. This one, the script requires strong continuity attention, more so that the Real Inspector Hound, or any of the Shakespeare's, Ayckbourn's or others I've worked on. The recent plays I have started with 'shaping' not blocking per se then into detail work. Macbeth, the neo-panto, the one act plays, and Fringe Festival plays have all lent themselves to this approach. The Mousetrap hasn't. The play is more like a clockwork device that has to be calibrated and then wound up, the complex issues around the characters and their relationships and attitudes require precision. Rehearsals seem to need a blocking and detailing approach right from the start. This week we were going to have Act 2 shaped. We still might. There are a few section that need rehearsals of 2 hours for 2-3 pages. This week rehearsals will include, the first small group discussions, a visit to the venue, the setting of the March rehearsals. Next week the characters will be invited to introduce themselves in a rehearsal designed to complement the group work. The group work is to help the actors understand each other, and build trust and teamwork. The character introductions is designed to develop this further. Today (Sunday) the rehearsal was, again, brilliant. At one point I thought again how pleased I was at one of the casting decisions. Sometime you can't but help thinking you've got it right. There's a lot to do, a lot, but the team on and off stage are really strong. Each rehearsal leaves me buzzing. Ang the Prod Man (:p) and I tend to debrief after each one. She has been working on the set issues, and I'm very happy for her to get on with it. I'm really impressed with the ASM Jess and we get the SM tomorrow. Some parts of the play are far too good with actors already flashing brilliance in moments of profound performance. The charm is wound up!

The other actor

Having done a lot of work with theatre outside traditional theatres and in non theatre spaces I've become used to the use of them. I've tried to approach these spaces as if they are actors in the play and see what they can bring to the production. Wellington Fringe festivals had me using empty offices, a tv studio, cafes, a travel agent and writing plays for an empty office, a cinema and an auction house.

 The Elmwood auditorium, a disaster of a space, I used in different ways, including having a 30m deep stage for Macbeth. St Michael and All Angels Church is another case. I know this church better than any other, having been to school there, (including school services once a fortnight when I was young and once a month for he last few years) and being in the choir on Sundays for 4 years and being an altar boy and then thirifer for 2. My father's funeral was there and I've been to other funerals and weddings. It suits The Mousetrap, set in a Monastery the wood panelling and church features add to the production. But it's a pig In terms of many features for this script. The challenge is to use the space effectively, without proper wings and issues getting from one side to the other of the stage. I want to see how we can make the silent cast member a star of the show.