It’s the years following World War 2 in the English countryside. Guests are checking into a manor when news of nearby murder captures their attention. A blizzard traps the group of seven strangers, and fingers are being pointed.
“It's just really about human nature and how we deal with those kinds of crises when they come our way,” said Amy Burton, director of the Kenai Performers’ version of “The Mousetrap.” The play has run in London’s West End since the 1950s, and hit its 30,000 performance last month.
Burton saw the show in London when she was a teenager, and says its plot has stuck out to her ever since.
“There's a lot of uncertainty and there is a lot of conflict, and how we respond in crisis is something that we actually will see play out on the set here," Burton said. "There will be a lot of moments in this that you'll get to kind of relate to each of the characters.”
One of the play’s characters is Mr. Paravicini, played by Todd Sherwood. He says the character flaws demonstrated in the play, like assumptions and generalizations, are nothing new.
“It does deal with some heavy topics, but also it's entertaining, and you learn just what can happen when people get suspicious, when they don't have all the information,” Sherwood said.
Jamie Nelson plays Giles Ralston. Nelson says roles in this show require meticulous attention to detail because they’re over the top. He says the show’s director even gave him homework to learn his character’s backstory.
But, Nelson says his own personality comes across in the play. And he says this is important, because it spotlights how different personalities can work together, a theme in the show he says holds up decades later.
“It's amazing to think about a lot of things that people are stressed by today aren't necessarily new, and to think of a play that opened in 1952 and to still be running in London continuously, and to still have relevance in local community theaters like ours," Nelson said. "It’s nice to know that universality holds up.”
The group in Soldotna began rehearsals in January, but the show’s gothic-looking set was built within the last few weeks. Director Burton says it's the largest set they’ve had in the theater space to date. She says the community, from retirees paid in cookies to high school students on their spring break, came together to build it.
The Kenai Performers will stage the second week of “The Mousetrap” this Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. Sunday’s performance will be at 2 p.m. You can purchase tickets on the Kenai Performers website.
