Just imagine being trapped in a hotel with a bunch of strangers, with a snow storm blowing outside and a killer on the lose.
For Larrisa Galloway, it’s clearly unnerving.
“I was really into Nancy Drew when I was younger,” says Galloway, who appreciates the twists and turns, surprises and suspense in Agatha Christies’ The Mousetrap, which opens next week at Samuel Robertson Technical School.
As Miss Casewell in The Mousetrap, the Grade 12 student is savouring the chance to be wrapped up in mystery.
“I think it’s pretty cool that we get to be someone else,” says Galloway, who signed up for drama for the first time this year so she could experience everything high school has to offer before she heads off to university. She’s one of three Grade 12 drama neophytes in the play.
A curious mixture of 1950s drawing-room comedy and murder mystery, The Mousetrap is the world’s longest running play, still playing in London’s West End, where it had for more than 60 years.
When a group of strangers are trapped together at Monkswell Manor during a snowstorm, they soon discover one of them is a murderer.
Is it the newlyweds? It could be the architect, the retired army major or maybe the odd man who claims his car overturned in a snowdrift?
Maybe it’s the spinster with the dubious background, Miss Casewell.
Galloway loves that the play keeps you guessing till the end.
“That’s the best part about it,” she says.
“There’s a twist at the end and no one sees it coming.”
Miss Casewell is a young woman who is masculine in appearance and with a masculine voice. She claims not to have lived in England for some years, since she was 12 to 13 years old, but remains equally mysterious about where she does live now when asked.
Mastering a British accent with a masculine voice has been a little taxing for Galloway.
“I just try to imagine what she’s like in my head,” says Galloway.
“I see this gruff, manly woman who doesn’t care for anyone else.”
Unlike his class mate, Dylan Johnson has been an avid thespian since Grade 8.
This year, he plays Giles Ralston, who runs Monkswell Manor with his wife Mollie.
“Giles is just your regular husband,” says Johnson.
“He’s not the most interesting of all the characters since most of them are kind of eccentric. I’m just there protecting my wife.”
But pretending to be a married couple isn’t as easy as it looks.
Johnson admits he’s still trying to overcome his inherent awkwardness.
Showing affection is not my strong suit, says Johnson.
“I’ve never been married,” he adds, with a nervous laugh.
• The Mousetrap plays at Samuel Robertson Technical School, 10445 245 St Maple Ridge Wednesday April 17 to Friday April 19 at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $6 for students and $8 for adults. Tickets can be purchased at the door or in advance by calling 604-466-8409 or email mbarichello@sd42.ca.