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The Mousetrap 2013 – 2014 SEASON THE MOUSETRAP by Agatha Christie CONTENTS Directed by Paul Mason Barnes 2 The 411 3 A/S/L & RBTL 4 FYI 6 HTH 7 B4U 8 F2F 10 IRL 12 SWDYT MAJOR SPONSOR: WELCOME! At The Rep, we know The desire to learn, insatiable when awakened, can that life moves sometimes lie dormant until touched by the right teacher or fast—okay, really the right experience. We at The Rep are grateful to have the fast. But we also opportunity to play a role supporting you as you awaken the know that some desire for learning in your students. things are worth Who doesn’t like a good puzzle with clues, oddities and slowing down for. We believe that live theatre is plenty of red herrings? Agatha Christie’s classic whodunit one of those pit stops worth making and are excited that you shows your students the danger in making judgments about are going to stop by for a show. To help you get the most bang people based on their looks and behavior as revealed secrets for your buck, we have put together WU? @ THE REP—an make everyone question their assumptions. Your students IM guide that will give you everything you need to know to will use observation and inferential reasoning while having a get at the top of your theatergoing game—fast. You’ll find good time identifying the murderer at Monkswell Manor. character descriptions (A/S/L), a plot summary (FYI), biographical information (F2F), historical context (B4U), It would be a good idea to take a minute on the bus to give and other bits and pieces (HTH). Most importantly, we’ll your students these quick theatre etiquette reminders: have some ideas about what this all means IRL, anyway. • This show has one intermission; there will be time for bathroom breaks before the show and halfway through. • The actors can hear the audience and appreciate the laughter, gasps and quiet attention to action. However, talking, moving around and eating is very distracting to others and can dampen the energy of what is happening on stage. • Pictures, phone calls and texting are not allowed at any The Teacher’s time during the performance. Lounge Live theatre won’t allow your students to take a passive In an effort to make our role—they must work with us to create the experience which educational materials accessible takes the learning deeper. Our unique ability to fuse words to students and easy for educators to and images onstage allows your students to explore new incorporate into the classroom, our study ideas as well as excites their imaginations. We will do our guide is written in a student-oriented format. We hope part so your students will be stirred to understandings and that you will circulate this guide among your students in self-awareness while delving into new and familiar worlds. the weeks preceding your visit to The Rep, encouraging You are doing your part by using The Rep to extend your them to browse it before and after class and as time intellectual and aesthetic curriculum. Thank you! allows, using it as a launch point for both pre- and post- performance discussions.You may also want to visit our website, www.repstl.org, for additional information including activity suggestions and behind-the-scenes Marsha Coplon, Director of Education information. Any materials, either from this guide or from our website may be reproduced for use in the classroom. As always, we appreciate your making live theatre REP EducatioN DepartmeNT a part of your classroom experience and welcome your feedback and Director of Education Marsha Coplon questions. Associate Director of Education Sarah Brandt Education Programs Manager April Strelinger Study Guide Writer Laura Schlereth MOLLIE RALSTON: the well-mannered MRS. BOYLE: a haughty older woman who owner of Monkswell Manor, and wife of Giles criticizes everything about the Manor GILES RALSTON: Mollie’s husband who runs MAJOR METCALF: a middle-aged Army Monkswell Manor with her retiree DETECTIVE SERGEANT TROTTER: a MISS CASEWELL: a masculine, young detective who shows up at the Manor to woman who is a bit standoffish investigate a murder suspect on the run MR. PARAVICINI: an eccentric man who CHRISTOPHER WREN: an excitable young turns up at the Manor without a reservation man who acts a bit peculiar when his car runs into a snow bank ISOLATION Agatha Christie often set her murder mysteries in a confined space. Not only does it simplify plot development by narrowing down the list of potential suspects, but it also raises the tension amongst the characters because they know the murderer is one of them. The isolation is usually a result of bad weather (as in The Mousetrap), being on a remote island or on a train. Knowing that a murderer is lurking among them with a fake identity, characters in The Mousetrap begin to wonder whom they can trust. INTRIGUE It seems Christie deliberately put explicit references to the appeal of a thriller within The Mousetrap. Examples include the radio voice talking about the mechanics of fear; Mr. Paravicini stating how it’s important to know about the people sleeping under one’s roof because someone could be a madman or even a murderer; and Wren commenting on the events: “Quite a thrill, this whole business.” It appears some of these lines act together as an omniscient (a.k.a. all- knowing) narrator. Why do you think Christie chose to include these references? RETRIBUTION The past comes back to haunt multiple characters in The Mousetrap, all reflecting the murder’s main motive of revenge on a past crime. Think of all the characters who have lied about their pasts; what happens to each of them? Defined as a person’s actions bringing upon inevitable results to their future selves, good or bad, “karma” plays a strong role in this play. PARANOIA AND DOUBT When it becomes obvious that the murderer is one of them, the people at Monkswell Manor begin to suspect one another. This is to be expected among the guests who are strangers, but even Giles and Mollie, who are married, begin to doubt each other’s innocence. They each find out they’ve deceived the other about something small, which leads them to eventually believe their spouse is capable of murder. What specific events lead them each to be so paranoid? 3 SPOILER ALERT! IT’S LATE AFTERNOON at Monkswell THE NEXT AFTERNOON, Mrs. Boyle and Manor and a strong snowstorm is in full Miss Casewell are in the sitting room, and swing. A voice on the radio is heard Mrs. Boyle inquires about Miss Casewell’s describing the recent murder of a background. However, Miss Casewell is Mrs. Maureen Lyon, and the police are reserved, only revealing that she “lives looking to interview a man seen near the abroad.” Later, Mollie picks up a phone call crime scene. Mollie and Giles Ralston, the where she is told by a police officer that a owners of the Manor, each enter from a day sergeant is being sent up to the Manor. She of separate errands in preparation for their and Giles are worried and can’t imagine what soon-to-be arriving guests, who will be it would be about. the first to stay at the recently converted EVENTUALLY DETECTIVE Sergeant Trotter guesthouse. Mollie and Giles discuss their arrives on snow skis, and says he’s there nerves about their new business venture. regarding the murder of Maureen Lyon the Giles worries about the fact they’re allowing day before. He tells them the woman used strangers to stay at their home, but Mollie to go by the name Maureen Stanning and assures him that they all wrote “from very was involved in the Longridge Farm case good addresses.” years ago, in which three Corrigan children, ONE BY ONE, the guests arrive. There’s a girl and two boys, were placed under the Christopher Wren, an architect who is a foster care of Maureen and her husband. bit neurotic and childlike in nature, but The younger boy died as a result of neglect friendly; Mrs. Boyle, an older snobbish and ill treatment, and the Stannings were woman who is very disappointed in the sent to prison where the husband eventually Manor’s amenities and the Ralstons’ amateur died; Maureen was released after serving hosting skills; Major Metcalf, a middle-aged her sentence. Trotter tells them that the former military man whose demeanor is police found a notebook at Maureen’s murder still very much that of a soldier; and Miss scene, which contained two addresses: that Casewell, a sharp-witted young woman who of Maureen Stanning and Monkswell Manor. is rather masculine in nature. They all get Below the addresses was the nursery rhyme to know each other in individual exchanges. "Three Blind Mice" and on the dead woman’s Major Metcalf seems likeable enough, while body was a piece of paper with the written Miss Casewell appears a bit peculiar. No one words “This is the first.” Trotter came to the likes Mrs. Boyle’s imposing nature, and the Manor to discover any connections between reviews on Wren are mixed; Mollie thinks the Longridge Farm case and the Ralstons or he’s sweet, but Giles find him a bit odd their guests, and to ensure the safety of the and unsettling. Soon after, Mollie and Giles household. Trotter informs them that the receive an unexpected guest in the older Corrigan girl was adopted by a family and Mr. Paravicini who says his car ran into her whereabouts are unknown; the older boy a snow bank.
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