The Mousetrap - Justin Blum PDF

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Justin Blum...

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Sean Mari Christian S. Sagun Dr. Justin A. Blum DRAMA 1000 February 26, 2018 Word Count: 730

The clanging sound of a fire iron echoed in the whole theatre as Mr. Paravicini dropped it in surprise upon hearing that a sergeant will be sent up to Monkswell Manor. Along with him onstage are Mr. Ralston who delivered the news of an upcoming officer to the Manor, Major Metcalf who is standing beside Mr. Ralston, Mrs. Boyle who is seating in an armchair near Major Metcalf and Mr. Ralston and Mrs. Ralston who is standing far away from the other characters. As Mr. Ralston delivered the news to the four characters, it is noticeable that all of them suddenly became uneasy and fidgety which made the audience at the University Theatre of University of Lethbridge last February 17 suspect that one of the four characters are somewhat involved in the murder case mentioned earlier in the play. In Mr. Ralston’s line “That’s alright, no one will get through…” we see Mollie (Mrs. Ralston), Mrs. Boyle and Mr. Paravicini all looking down as if they are hiding something. And at the end of Mr. Ralston’s line, Mr. Paravicini let out a huge sigh of relief – noticeable enough to make the audience think and speculate about his motives. This is one of the major plot devices that Agatha Christie uses in her plays, the usage of “Red Herring” – in which she will present certain connections that the audience will assume as clues but are actually meant to distract them away from the real clues. We are made to think or to believe that one of the four abovementioned characters is the killer by the stage directions that we see onstage – looking down while hearing the news of the arrival of an officer, loud gasps,

2 Sagun shocked faces, dropping of a prop – all of these directions were made in order to set us up for the next series of actions. In this particular scene, it is also evident that all of the characters but Mollie are on the Actor’s Stage Left part of the stage. From the audience’s perspective, we are more drawn to the part of the stage that has more characters in which some of us might think that Mollie’s presence on the stage is not that apparent. However, people usually look from left to right when looking at the stage, the same way we read a book or write down notes – from left to right, which gives Mollie’s positioning onstage almost the same “weight” as how we see the Actor’s Stage Left part of the stage. Another thing worth mentioning about this scene is how Mollie is standing far away from the rest of the characters onstage. We can analyze this as her character’s motivation to run away from her past and to leave the past behind her. She is present in this scene but her distance signifies her desire to stay away and hide her dark past that is revealed at the latter part of the play. The lighting on all the actors onstage are also equally distributed. No spotlights were used on any of them but just the “house lights”, the only two lights on the wall of the manor which is turned on to signify that it is already evening is turned off because this current scene is set in the late afternoon. The similar lighting that all the actors onstage receives makes the audience think that all of them are either equally suspicious or innocent (at least for this scene). No shadows or spotlights were used to draw or withdraw focus from any of the characters which keeps them on the same standing as to who is guilty or who has something to do with the murder case mentioned at the beginning of the play. The stage directions and the lighting are just few of the elements that made this play remarkable. The audience focused on what the actors are actually doing onstage because the

3 Sagun lighting effects, the costumes and the overall appearance of the stage is quite “simple” and “equal”. In this way, the audience will observe the slightest action that an actor will make onstage in order to know the character’s motives and true nature. I can say that this is one effective way of capturing the attention of the audience and holding it until the revelation happens at the end of the play because we cannot see or predict the finale without paying close attention and watching the production until the end....