Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap comes alive on Indian stage

Theatre veteran Aamir Raza Husain talks to author about reviving the magic of The Mousetrap for a new production premiering this weekend in New Delhi

“The sets were beautiful, pity the actors came in the way.” Aamir Raza Husain recalls a theatre critic’s witticisms while extolling the need for a good script in his productions. The Mousetrap, Agatha Christie’s most enduring play, is still going strong after 63 years and over 26,000 shows. Like Cats or Phantom of the Opera, it has an assured cult status as part of the London tourist experience. In India, the play and the maverick director of theatrical experiences such as The Legend of Ram and The Fifty Day War came together almost 25 years ago with a well-received local production of The Mousetrap that ran for 15 shows.

The murder mystery is classic Christie, set in an English country house in 1952, with an intricate plot replete with red herrings, suspicious characters and a shocking climax, with just a dash of humour for good measure. Murder lurks at every corner for the cast of seven people, which includes Virat Husain, Husain’s wife and co-director, as Mollie Ralstom, Husain himself playing the character of Mr. Paravacini, and Deepak Mukjerjee playing the beloved role of Detective Trotter, immortalised by the brilliant Richard Attenborough.

Husain talks animatedly about its new stage revival. “Witness for the Prosecution, And Then There Were None are superb plays by Christie. But there’s something special about The Mousetrap that I only realised with time. The characters, like all of Christie’s, are a little tweaked, a little exaggerated, very clearly defined.  It’s the coming together of these characters that creates the magic.” Calling the play a masterpiece, Husain considers it an insult to the author to tinker with the original script. But he concedes he has edited it for brevity’s sake. “It’s a long period play. The editing has not taken away anything, just made it crisper. Times have changed — we live in what I call the capsule age now and as performers, we need to change accordingly.”

The play may not change, the characters may not change, even the cast may not change. (Interestingly, more than half the original cast has reunited with him for this production.) But the essential difference between his two productions is of the technology used. Husain’s plays have always been marked by stellar production values and this one is no different. “For example, at one point in the play everybody says it’s snowing outside. When we first did it, we would have two guys up on the catwalk, throwing these tiny thermocol balls on to the stage. Now you have snow machines. The realism we can bring today is something we couldn’t 25 years ago,” he says.

Other things — like the sound, lighting, costumes, props — all change with the advancements in technology too. “Anything I do has to be visually exciting — it needs to look good, sound good, and there will be a time when it will need to smell good!” announces Husain with a conspiratorial smile. He goes on to explain that he is planning to bring another dimension to the theatre experience — by using the air-conditioning of an auditorium to emit smells connecting the audience to what they are watching on stage.

However, one need not hold one’s breath, as Husain’s plays, for many years now, have only catered to a very select audience. He justifies it on the grounds of the escalating costs of advertising and production, and claims that it is a huge problem that he is trying to resolve. “We have not sold tickets to the public for the last few years, so a lot of people have complained to me. I am trying to figure it out with my sponsors (Aircel) how to reach an agreement where when we do shows, we can take at least one or two shows into the public space — hopefully in another six months we’ll be able to do something.”

The Mousetrap will be performed at ITC Maurya, New Delhi, on March 28 at 8 pm and on March 29 at 4 and 8 pm. Entry strictly by invitation