Sergeant Trotter in Mousetrap

[ReederWI]

Posted: 7/27/05 at 10:04pm

I have been looking over this character in Mousetrap and I have been feeling him out. Any advice on how he should be played or what traits you see emerging as the show progresses?

[roquat]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 12:20am

*** Spoiler Alert ***

(As if anyone on this board doesn't know how "The Mousetrap" ends!)

I have seen a couple of productions of "Mousetrap", good and bad, and I think the thing to remember about Trotter is that his persona through most of the play is formed from books and movies--he's not a "real" policeman, but a popular idea of what a policeman is--gruff, efficient, overbearing. This makes it shocking at the end when this facade cracks away, revealing a devilishly childish cunning underneath. ("I killed her...in the fog. It was great fun!") The trick is to hint at this throughout the play without making it obvious. The speech after Mrs. Boyle's death is the perfect spot for this--

"I've got to deal with a crazy cunning brain. Two little blind mice cancelled out. One mouse still to be dealt with."

In one awful production I saw, the Trotter delivered these lines in such a sinister, Basil Rathbone way (he did everything but twirl a mustache) that the audience almost laughed; it was obvious at that moment who the killer was. So you see, it is a very fine line. Audiences at the time were used to trusting the police, so the ending was a great shock to them; nowadays, with Rodney King, etc., in real life and "The Shield" on TV, we're not so easily taken in.

[brdlwyr]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 12:24am

It is a long standing tradition that the outcome of Mousetrap is never discussed!

[ReederWI]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 7:25am

Roquat- I appreciate the post to my question. Your points are well taken. Sorry, if the question spoils the "tradition" of not knowing the outcome to the show. But I needed the advice!

[roquat]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 12:52pm

Well, sorry, brdlwyr, but there was no other way to answer the question!

[brdlwyr]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 12:56pm

You do not need to be sorry, I really do not care, I was just stating what I thought was a tradition.

You could have sent a PM???