The Mousetrap and Other Plays by Agatha Christie

The Mousetrap and Other Plays
by Agatha Christie [822.9 Chr]

For the past two+ months (September to early November), I’ve been rehearsing and then performing as Hercule Poirot in Agatha Christie’s play “Black Coffee” (finishing its run November 2-4) at the Lincoln Community Playhouse. “Black Coffee” was produced there in conjunction with a production of the Miss Marple play “A Murder is Announced” at the Community Theatre in Beatrice, NE. I was part of the play-reading team that selected both of these plays — in preparation for that, I had to read almost all 16 of the stage plays that Agatha Christie wrote, in order to find which plays could share similar, unchanging sets. I grew to have a very strong appreciation for Christie’s play writing capabilities — over the course of her career, she felt her mystery-writing became very formulaic, and in fact described herself as “a sausage factory” in the way in which she cranked out stories and novels with such regularity. But, she was truly passionate about the writing of her plays, and found them to be a far more creative process that fiction-writing was.

This marvelous collection brings together 8 of her 16 plays — Not “Black Coffee”, I’m afraid — including the three she is perhaps best known for in the theatrical world — “And Then There Were None”, “Witness for the Prosecution” and the record-setting “The Mousetrap” (which has played continuously in London’s West End theatrical district for 66 straight years, since its 1952 premiere). None of these eight plays feature any of Christie’s recurring characters — they’re all stand-alones. And, sadly, the collection doesn’t include another of my personal favorites, “Spider’s Web”. But the eight plays that ARE in this collection are all very entertaining and give you a pretty good “snapshot” of Christie’s play writing skills. Even if you weren’t able to view “Black Coffee” and “A Murder is Announced” in our local theatrical experiment, I encourage you to grab TITLE and dive into some classic mystery and thriller stagecraft. Perhaps a production of one of these will also show up in an area theatre in the future!

[ Wikipedia page for The Mousetrap and Other Plays (including sub-pages for each individual play) ] | [ official Agatha Christie web site ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

Special Event: Don’t miss “The Mystery of Agatha Christie”, a special 75-minute presentation at the Bennett Martin Public Library on the evening of, November 7th, 2018, 6:30-7:45 p.m. — a celebration of all things “Christie”, covering the author and her life (including her mysterious 11-day disappearance), her entire body of written work, and the stage, screen and television adaptations of her stories. But first, join fellow theater-goers in attending the play Black Coffee, not-so-coincidentally starring this very reviewer as Hercule Poirot, at the Lincoln Community Playhouse on October 19-21 and November 2-4 2018.

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