So as a pre birthday treat we went for this play titled “ The
Mousetrap” by Agatha Christie, premiered in Chennai for the first time, by the
Madras Players and The Crea-Shakthi group.
I got to know about this play from my good friend and a famous multi
talented and a well known public figure Karthik TM, TMK as he is known from the
EVAM theatre group.
I had the good
fortune of working with this versatile personality in two of my earlier
organisations, first while I was with DSRC and then while I was with Satyam
Computers. While at Satyam I have
worked very closely with TMK in Organisational Development activities through
the training team that I was part of, then.
I have earlier taken Joe and Dennu, while I was at Satyam,
for a play titled HAMLET ( which is a hilarious take on Shakespeare’s Hamlet)
by the EVAM Entertainment group. TMK was the heroine
of the play and he was just fabulous.
That was a first real life play for all three of us and initially Joe and Dennu weren’t
very convinced about an evening of theatre, then. But I remember the play was a laughing riot
and Dennu and J enjoyed it so much more than me, literally Rolling on the floor
with laughter.
That was the day, when I also saw TMK transform into
an ethereal artist on stage, and from then on, I have been his big fan. I have always wondered how
poorly he is utilised in Tinsel town, for the measly roles he gets in
movies. He has acted in the tamil
version of 3 Idiots, Nanban, as the prospective groom of the heroine.
So when I told Dennu about this play, Dennu was willing to
make time for the play ( amidst his busy fourth year engineering schedule, that
is). The paly was staged at the Music
Academy on a Friday and the 1400 seater hall was full to the brim. The crowd
was elite, classy and very much the kind who would watch theatre.
The stage was set well, keeping up the vintage English charm
of those days when Agatha Christie wrote the play, the costumes and accessories,
the acoustics doing justice to the entire cast and crew. I loved the way the
storm was blowing and the snow blizzard is depicted on stage. 90 minutes of
pure theatrical bliss. Theatre bigwigs like
P C Ramakrishna who has been in the field for the last 40 plus years had a meaty role in the play. It was amazing to watch him as Mr Paravicini, who acts with an Italian accent. He enthralled
the audience with his expertise in theatre.
That role just fitted him so well.
My friend TMK, was the villain cum hero of the play and presented to Chennai, the role of Detective
Sergeant Trotter, which he did so perfectly. Didn’t expect anything lesser from him. The players who portrayed Mrs Boyle and Major Metcalf did their parts so
impeccably that when the director introduced them and said this was their
maiden stage, it was unbelievable. In
fact, every one in the crew did justice to their role, leaving the artists with an astounding
applause during their introductions towards the end .
That was the shortest 90 mintues in a long time and an evening
well spent. ( Momma – Sonny bonding)
For those who are not familiar with the Mouse Trap, a murder
mystery from Agatha Christie here is a little sneak peak.
The Mouse trap is world's
longest running plays and is now celebrating its Diamond Anniversary in its
60th year!
Story goes like this.. A group of strangers is
stranded in a boarding house during a snow storm, one of whom is a murderer.
The suspects include the newly married couple who run the house, and the
suspicions in their minds nearly wreck their perfect marriage. Others are a
spinster with a curious background, an architect who seems better equipped to
be a chef, a retired Army major, a strange little man who claims his car has
overturned in a drift, and a jurist who makes life miserable for everyone. Into
their midst comes a policeman, travelling on skis. He no sooner arrives, when
the jurist is killed. Two down, and one to go. To get to the rationale of the
murderer's pattern, the policeman probes the background of everyone present,
and rattles a lot of skeletons. This
story has another famous Agatha Christie switch finish!
