Don’t miss your chance to see the classic crime caper that cemented Agatha Christie as the queen of her genre. Photo: Joel Devereux.
Miranda Daughtry is having a grand old time depicting “Miss Casewell” in Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap, showing at Illawarra Performing Arts Centre (IPAC).
“She’s a rather extraordinary character, especially for the moment in time she was written. I am sure she can be interpreted in different ways by different actors but to me, she’s rather masculine,” she says.
“I’ve had a lot of fun with her physicality. It’s not explicit, but she hints at not following a conventional life. We’ve had responses from audiences who either identify with her or are intrigued by her. Plus, she gets some lovely comic moments as characters in Agatha Christie shows tend to do.
“It’s such a joy to be doing such an interesting, juicy role with a cast of such extraordinary actors, and in a show that has so much history.”
Having kept millions of people from every corner of the globe on the edge of their seats for more than 70 years, The Mousetrap is the longest running show of any kind in the world. It has been called the classic crime caper that cemented Agatha Christie as the queen of her genre.
It follows the sometimes dark, sometimes funny, always captivating tale of seven strangers who find themselves snowed in at a remote countryside guesthouse, as news spreads of a murder in London.
When a police sergeant arrives, the guests discover – to their horror – that a killer is in their midst! One by one, the suspicious characters reveal their sordid pasts …
The production has stopped at Wollongong on a regional tour, much to the cast and crew’s delight.
“It’s been beautiful. On a personal and maybe selfish level, it’s been so nice to explore areas we might not normally have the chance to visit. We have one cast member – Alexander Wolfe – from the UK and he has had this incidental tour of the country seeing amazing places like Wollongong. It’s been something else to see the natural beauty of these spots through his eyes. We’re hardly able to drag him away from the beach!” she laughs.
“We’ve had such a beautiful welcome from Merrigong Theatre Company and we love the theatre itself. It’s an intimate space with the audience close, and it’s so satisfying to perform on that stage because you can feel every reaction. The whole theatre feels alive.
“I think when you bring a show that’s high production value into places that perhaps don’t get them as frequently as the big cities, you feel so held by those places. The response we’ve had so far in Wollongong has been warm and generous and it makes it all the more joyful to perform to audiences who value it in that way. I hope Wollongong is getting as much out of it as we are.”
Alongside Miranda, a collection of some of Australia’s finest stage talent includes Alex Rathgeber, Hannah Fredericksen, Gerry Connolly, Geraldine Turner, Chris Parker, Alexander Wolfe, Tim Walker, Anna Burgess and Jack Bannister, all under the direction of theatre royalty Robyn Nevin.
Merrigong Theatre Company’s Artistic Director and CEO Simon Hinton says it’s fantastic to have the longest running play in West End history coming to Wollongong in “such a terrific Australian production”.
“I think audiences will be excited to see, and solve, the mystery of The Mousetrap,” he says.
Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap will show at Illawarra Performing Arts Centre’s IMB Theatre until Sunday 15 September – book here.
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