Review: Hiirenloukku
Mousetrap now in Helsinki – the Finnish version of Agatha Christie’s play is a hit in London
Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap runs in London for enthusiastic audiences decade after decade, and now the successful play will also be seen at the Helsinki City Theatre in a Finnish-language version.
The crime play The Mouse Trap , written by Agatha Christie, has gained an almost mythical reputation, as it is the world’s longest-running play, and its streak in London, which began in 1952, was only interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. Since then, the play has returned to the stage in London, and now it will also be seen in Helsinki in Finnish, directed by Miika Muranen. The aim is to maintain a long lifespan by making the public swear to remain silent about the murderer.
Having seen both versions, I would say that Mousetrap on the Arena stage of the Helsinki City Theatre does well in comparison to its London cousin.
Set in 1950s Britain, the play is a classic whodunnit, in which the search for a murderer is carried out in a confined space. Young couple Mollie and Giles Ralston (Elina Keinonen and Severi Saarinen) have opened a boarding house at Monkswell Manor, and the first guests arrive during a heavy snowstorm. The opening rush is accompanied by radio news about a murder in London.
Soon the house will be full of people and they will stay there, because as the snow situation worsens, it will no longer be possible to enter or exit the salon. Mollie and Giles have time to receive a worrying phone call from the police, but soon the phone line is also down and there is no longer any contact with the outside world. However, Sergeant Trotter (Joel Hirvonen) arrives on skis and tells him that the perpetrator of the London murder is believed to strike Monkswell next.
The hotel guests bickering with each other are more suspicious than each other, and the viewer’s suspicions are directed in many different directions. Everyone present seems to have something to hide. Will they still be able to pull together and solve the case? You can’t get to the scene anymore, but what if the murderer is already in the mansion – how many times will he finally be able to strike before the auxiliary troops arrive?
The Finnish translation of the story (by Aino Piirola) brings the language into modern times, which I don’t think fully fits the play. There is also room for condensation in the play, but this problem is related to the original text. The Mousetrap is based on Christie’s radio play Three Blind Mice, and certain structural peculiarities, such as the introduction of loose clues at the end of the play, are probably due to this.
However, Christie’s stories, even with their small flaws, always have a certain nostalgia, and they offer the viewer light and entertaining brain teasers without great brutality.
The star of the play is Santeri Kinnunen, who plays Paravicini in a slick supporting role, and he is excellent down to the smallest expressions. Sauli Suonpää’s Christopher Wren, on the other hand, brings a delightful comedy to the plot. This is not the first time that Suonpää has become one of the play’s central points of reference in his role, and he seems to be able to enliven the role with physical comedy easily.
Humour and the energy of the main couple Keinonen and Saarinen contribute to keeping the play going and entertaining despite its minor flaws.