Performed by Hart Players, from Fleet in Hampshire, The Rats is one of a trilogy of less familiar Agatha Christie plays known as the Rule of Three. Each play stands alone, but has links between the characters, which become apparent when all three are performed as a single production. At a little over 30 minutes long, The Rats is the shortest in the trilogy. Described as “a dark and chilling tale”, this production didn’t quite seem to know where to pitch the style, hovering somewhere between playing it straight and playing for laughs. Either would have worked, but as it was this play neither thrilled nor amused.
Sandra (Helen Tyson) arrives at an apartment, allegedly the home of the Torrences, to which she’s been invited to a party. The door is off the latch on her arrival and the flat empty, save for a budgie in a cage. Shortly afterwards Jennifer, (Anna Kenrick) arrives to feed the bird, wearing a coat badly in need of an iron and suspicious that Sandra is using the flat for a secret assignation with her lover, an accusation which is strenuously denied. It also turns out that the Torrences are away on holiday in the South of France, so the mystery deepens. After Jennifer’s exit, cue arrival of lover, in the form of David (played by Margaret Wales). The all-female cast is completed by the arrival of Alex, (Linda Johnson) dressed up to the nines having come straight from a garden party. The rest of the plot involves a knife, a box, a body, a balcony and secret notes, culminating, in the last few minutes, with some genuine mystery and tension.
Margaret Wales’s direction is a game attempt in the tiny space with a thrust performance area, but why did she make the downstage area represent the balcony of a fifth-floor apartment? When Alex drops the knife to the ground below with a “Gosh! Thank goodness it didn’t hit anyone”, it’s somewhat ridiculous to see it on the floor in front of her feet. If the “balcony” had been upstage the knife would have been concealed by the blacks, and with a little more thought and minor rearrangement of the blocking, would have worked much better.
Stillness on stage is something that amateurs seem to find particularly hard to accomplish, and the constant two-steps-in-one-direction followed by two-steps-back-to-where-they-started, made a heck of a noise on whatever the surface of the floor was, and created an annoying distraction. Zoe Cole provided adequate lighting and got all the ding dong door bells on cue.
The actors played their roles with relish and clearly enjoyed themselves, and this production makes a pleasant distraction from the mayhem and angst of many other fringe shows. The near capacity audience enjoyed it too, there were some whoops and hollers at the end, and everyone went away happy.
Reviewer: H.S. Baker
Reviewed: 13th August 2024
North West End UK Rating: