Secrets and lies abound in The Housetrap,but will the audience ever correctly guess whodunnit?
For the finale of their 18th birthday celebrations, Guildford Shakespeare Company (GSC) is on the road again, and instead of taking a flight of fantasy on a Boeing 747, they are instead in residence at the magnificent West Horsley Place. Star of BBC’s Ghosts and a feature in films such as Enola Holmes and Vanity Fair (to name only a few), West Horsley Place is the perfect place to stage a murder mystery with its faded grandeur creating a secondary character. If only walls could talk!
For the duration of The Housetrap,it’s the 1920s and home to the Montague family. The audience joins them for a séance following the sudden death (or murder?!) of Lady Amy Montague, wife of Sir Robert and seemingly friend to no-one. Found at the bottom of the grand staircase with a head injury, her death has cast a shadow over the estate with one arrest made but nothing proven.
And what a host of suspects we have: there’s Rosalind Blessed’s haughty Dowager Duchess, Lady Elizabeth Montague, Hayden Mampasi as her decidedly shifty son Sir Robert Montague and Daisy Tallulah Hargreaves as his excitable wards Millicent, Maria and Margot. And what did the butler see? Well having been brought up to serve the Montague family just like his father, Robert Maskell’s Fawkes has seen it all.
Through a combination of rehearsed scenes and breakout tête-à-têtes, the audience are invited to piece together the clues to crack the case and catch the killer. Through conscientious plotting, writer Eleanor Murton presents a whole host of scenarios and red herrings which are then either amplified by the cast or swooped upon by the keenest of detectives.
And this is where the immersive element comes to the fore: the audience don’t stay cosy in the ominously red-walled drawing room; they get to go into studies, libraries and bedrooms to talk to the characters and examine the evidence for themselves. The whole cast do a fine job here creating tension in the scripted segments and then gently guiding conversations, coaxing questions and dodging accusations. Although an extra special mention must go to Daisy Tallulah Hargreaves for such a convincing portrayal of the triplets, shifting between physical and vocal mannerisms at great speed and with great clarity.
The plot of course must remain a secret, but it’s not a spoiler to say that there are twists and turns, and while there’s an undercurrent of humour throughout, the deduction element is a serious game. As with all GSC shows, there’s precise attention to detail with Anett Black’s believable costuming to Matt Eaton’s soundscape including threatening thunderclaps at crucial moments.
Running at 80 minutes, the pace is brisk but not hurried, with helpful stewards (sadly not costumed) moving the audience groups through a warren of interconnecting rooms. If staging a play on plane was logistically tricky, West Horsley Place is no easier, with entrances and exits needing to be choreographed with care. Director Natasha Rickman does a great job in this respect, ensuring the layout of the house is echoed in the blocking and that a combination of the triplets can occupy the stage at any one time. Something that elicited some laughs and even a couple of gasps.
While there’s nothing inherently festive about a murder mystery, the idea of being snowed in at an English country house creates a certain frisson that GSC capitalises on beautifully. With intrigue, humour, atmosphere in spades and relaxed interaction, they create an experience as well as a show that Poirot would be proud of.
Reviewer: Amy Yorston