Caught in The Mantrap: A Twisting Tale Where Nothing Is Quite What It Seems
Written by Sarah Barrett and Keith Williams
We sat in silence and darkness in the theatre waiting for the production to start. We were then startled by scary music and thunder which was a brilliant opening. Everyone sat to attention.
The scene was a lovely living room setting with windows showing dusk which was a clever touch. It was convincing and came over like most peoples front room with appropriate lighting. It was the same setting all the way through. It was a Cornish holiday cottage. The opening scene consisted of “The Man” on his mobile phone and then there was a knock at the door which was the inspector. He reminded us of David Jason in profile.
The inspector’s humorous character was in contrast to the seriousness of “The Man” at the beginning. However this made it more light-hearted. The inspector and “The Man” then talk about the “missing wife” so we now know what the story is about. The next character to be introduced to us was the vicar who came across as authentic and also quite humorous. The story started to make sense a bit more as to the whereabouts of the missing wife. We felt that we were now making progress with the storyline.
Then “The Woman” was next on the scene. The plot thickened and without giving too much away the story suddenly got more interesting and we felt sympathy for her. We started to wonder about “the Man’s” mental health. During the interval it was clear that the audience were gripped and there was lots of speculation about the situation.
The second half started with “The Visitor” appearing on the scene. This was one of our least favourite characters. Her accent was a bit over the top and difficult to understand the point of her character. It felt like it was delaying the outcome but then her role became critical to the storyline. She also made the audience laugh. She helped to carry the story along to its unexpected conclusion though.
Overall it was a great drama with lots of twists and a very unexpected ending. It was witty, needed concentration and was satisfying at the end. Psychological warfare perhaps ! All actors were very much on form and were consistently in character. “The Man” remained convincing in his role until the end. We now had a lot of details about the man and the woman and their relationship and history so we felt as though we knew them.
Much of the play was about who was lying, who was not and we suspect the audience each had their favourites, but we believe the conclusion was a shock and a twist that nobody suspected. A very thoughtful play which left an impact on the audience. One could liken the whole play to a cryptic crossword with all the clues fitting neatly together by the end. The actors were amazing and there was a lot of words they would have had to have learnt which was very impressive.
Well done to all we really enjoyed it.
All content is original to Keith Williams and Sarah Barrett. Slight editing by Katie Barr
In-article images provided by Nottingham Theatre Royal’s press team. No changes were made to these images.
Featured Image provided by Nottingham Theatre Royal. No changes were made to this image.
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