Fulton Audiences To Solve Mystery Of The Mousetrap

Say the word "mystery" and more often than not, the first name that comes to mind is that of Agatha Christie. This season, Fulton Theatre is thrilled to present Dame Agatha's crowning masterpiece, The Mousetrap, from January 25th through February 11th.

Once upon a time, a reporter for the BBC asked Queen Mary what she was hoping to receive for her birthday. "An Agatha Christie mystery," she replied. And thus began a series of events that resulted in the most successful play in the history of theatre.

Agatha Christie wrote a new radio mystery called Three Blind Mice that was broadcast by the BBC as part of the Queen's 80th birthday celebration. Soon after, Christie began adapting the work, now called The Mousetrap, as both a book and a stage play. When a producer agreed to stage the play on London's West End, Christie asked her publisher to withhold the book until after the play closed, fearing that theatergoers might learn the surprise ending from the book before attending the play. To date, The Mousetrap has still never been published as a book in the United Kingdom, as the play has been running continuously for over 54 years.

"There's not a helicopter landing on stage or a falling chandelier in sight," says the Fulton's Artistic Director, Michael D. Mitchell," yet The Mousetrap has been keeping audiences on the edges of their seats for more than a half century with no special effects more complicated than a light switch."

The Mousetrap is set in the newly opened Monkswell Manor Guest House, where young proprietors, Mollie and Giles Ralston, are busy welcoming their very first guests amidst a terrible blizzard. Between reports of the snow, the radio alerts listeners to the fact that a mysterious murderer is on the loose in the vicinity of Monkswell Manor. Before long, the audience learns secrets about all of the guests that could indicate that each could be the murderer. The only thing that clears some of their names is when their bodies turn up dead.

As readers and audiences have come to expect from a work by Dame Agatha, red herrings and false clues abound as the tension builds to a fevered pitch. Rare is the audience member who can spot the real culprit before he or she is revealed on stage. And to keep it that way, it is tradition to ask audiences not to share the ending with anyone after leaving the theatre.

The eight suspects who make up the acting ensemble in The Mousetrap are Prentiss Benjamin (The Importance of Being Earnest) as Miss Casewell, Simon Kendall as Giles Ralston, Brian Martin (Dracula: Lord of the Undead, Into the Woods) as Mr. Paravicini, Keith Merrill as Detective Sergeant Trotter, Jerry Richardson (Dracula: Lord of the Undead, Lightning Rod) as Christopher Wren, Tonya Beckman Ross as Mollie Ralston, Donna M. Ryan (The Irish...And How They Got That Way, The Music Man, Enchanted April) as Mrs. Boyle and John Weigand as Major Metcalf.

The design and artistic team for The Mousetrap is Scenic Designer Robert Klingelhoefer, Costume Designer Beth Dunkelberger, Lighting Designer Bill Simmons, Sound Designer Ron Barnett, Wig and Makeup Designer Anthony Lascoskie, Jr. The Stage Manager for the play is Djuana M. Strauch.

Performance times are: 7:30 PM Wednesday and Thursday evenings, 8 PM Friday and Saturday evenings, 2 PM on Sundays and select Wednesdays and Saturdays. The 2 PM performance on Saturday, January 27th is a Pay-What-You-Want performance and will be ASL interpreted for deaf and hard of hearing patrons as well as audio described for blind audience members. Tickets range in price from $17 to $42, with discounts for children, full-time students, seniors, and groups of 15 or more. -- www.atthefulton.org