Lauren Crisp, Author at The Stray Ferret

Review: Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap celebrates 70 years

Lauren Crisp is a book editor, writer and keen follower of arts and culture. Born and raised in Harrogate, Lauren recently moved back to North Yorkshire after a stint in London, where she regularly reviewed theatre – everything from big West End shows to small fringe productions. She is now eager to explore the culture on offer in and around her home town. You can contact Lauren on laurencrispwriter@gmail.com

The West End met West Yorkshire last night as Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap, the world’s longest-running play, hit the stage at Leeds Grand Theatre. The show’s 70^th anniversary tour is taking the production to more than 70 venues countrywide, meaning us northerners finally have the opportunity to don our detective hats and guess whodunnit.

It is the early 1950s, and newly married couple Mollie and Giles Ralston have just opened a guesthouse in the countryside outside London. As the pair prepare for the arrival of their first visitors, a newsreader on the wireless reports on a brutal murder in the capital. None the wiser, the Ralstons rally, as one by one, their eagerly anticipated guests arrive at Monkswell Manor.

But, as a snowstorm cuts them off from the outside world, the suspicion and intrigue mounts: could the killer be among them? The scene is set for one of Christie’s classic closed-circle mysteries.

The tour’s staging is a no-expense-spared affair: the set is masterful, with its intimate, wood-panelled drawing room; a fire roars in the hearth, as, outside the window, snow falls thickly; scattered trinkets and nick-nacks on side tables place us firmly in the past, as does costume. In the ornate surrounds of Leeds Grand Theatre, where chairs gently squeak under the weight of their occupants and a chandelier glitters overhead, the play feels quite at home.

Yet, the set’s cosiness is challenged by a mounting sense of isolation and unease, thanks to the play’s eight-strong and triumphant cast. Each member so impeccably drawn in the first instance by Christie’s imagination, the actors make their characters their own, with a clear understanding of their unique roles: each distinct and each crucial to the successful telling of the tale.

I understand now more than ever this iconic play’s longevity: a quintessentially British whodunnit, devised by the Queen of Crime, whose flawless recipe for murder mysteries, which made her the best-selling novelist of all time, is just as perfect a concoction on stage as in the pages of her novels. With its tight structure, ingenious clues and final outrageous twist, The Mousetrap is a must-see. Beyond that, my lips are sealed.

Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap is on at the Leeds Grand Theatre until September 2.

Review: Sense and Sensibility at Knaresborough Castle

Last Friday, in the tranquil grounds of Knaresborough Castle, crowds gathered on the lawns in anticipation of an evening of open-air theatre, and, under a threateningly grey sky, of the heavens opening.

But despite the potential perils of the English summer, touring theatre group Chapterhouse resolved to perform their adaptation of Jane Austen’s much-loved novel, Sense and Sensibility, for their picnicking audience.

It is a tale that follows the highs and lows of sisters Elinor and Marianne Dashwood, who embody the titular and often opposing qualities of reason and passion.

An economic set was split to show a wealthy dwelling on one side and a modest cottage on the other. Costume was delightfully plausible and, along with lively and emotive music interposing the drama, the scene was set for a pleasant evening spent in Regency-era England, filled with dancing, duets and duels.

The cast brought to life the wit and satire.

With the elements against them, the small cast of eight was a resilient bunch and, despite some technical glitches, was not deterred.

Without the use of microphones, the cast’s ability to enunciate at volume was truly tested and oftentimes unsuccessful; by having to exaggerate and bellow lines, some of the feeling and meaning was lost, and characterisation was subsequently underdeveloped.

Still, there was a great deal to enjoy in an energetic and fanciful adaptation that managed to convey a great deal of Austen’s wit and satire. George Barnden’s Sir John Middleton, with his outrageous booming laugh, received titters aplenty; Becky Bond captured the melodrama of thirteen-year-old sister Margaret with aplomb; Sasha Snowdon as Fanny was as snobbish as anyone who knows the story might expect; and, Lorna Panton, the impassioned Marianne, was convincing in her heartache.

While not fully equipped for the acoustics of the outdoors, Chapterhouse delivered a congenial and light evening’s entertainment of period drama; and, to everyone’s delight, the rain held off.

Review: Lucy Worsley on Agatha Christie’s ‘missing days’ in Harrogate

The twentieth-anniversary edition of Harrogate’s Crime Writing Festival went out with a bang on Sunday, with Lucy Worsley, acclaimed historian, curator and broadcaster, filling the final special-guest spot of the weekend.

Following the publication of her latest book, Agatha Christie: A Very Elusive Woman, Worsley gave Sunday’s crowd an insight into the life of the beloved novelist (a woman whose books, they say, are outsold only by Shakespeare and the Bible). And how very apt that a celebration of the Queen of Crime should provide the grand finale to a weekend’s worth of the genre in all its glory, at a festival with Christie as its very raison d’etre. Christie is, as many Harrogate locals know, inextricably linked to our town’s history. It was in December 1926 that the already fêted Christie, grief-stricken by her mother’s recent death and her husband’s infidelity, seemingly disappeared without a trace. Eleven days later, she was discovered at the Swan Hydropathic Hotel – or the Old Swan, as we know it today.

Simply walking through the corridors of this grand old hotel is enough to spark anyone’s imagination, but for Christie fans, it must be magic to picture her there almost one hundred years ago. It is an enchantingly historic setting, but also one which was for Christie, according to Worsley, quite literally an escape from reality.

The novelist’s “disappearance” was subject to wildly varying interpretations. The discovery of her abandoned car led many to speculate she had taken her own life, yet, without a body, a mammoth police investigation ensued, a public circus involving all manner of theories and personalities: in her book, Worsley explains how Arthur Conan Doyle was said to have employed a psychic to connect to Agatha via one of her discarded gloves.

When a member of the hotel staff eventually revealed Christie’s location to authorities, she was found alive and seemingly well, but, as she claimed, with no memory whatsoever of events. The press pack claimed that such a tale had guilty written all over it: that either she had meant to frame her husband for murder, or it was an elaborate publicity stunt in the style of one of her very own detective novels (indeed, sales of her books went through the roof at the time).

What does Worsley think was really going on with Agatha during these fateful days? She presents evidence to suggest that Christie may have suffered a rare psychological condition described as “dissociative fugue”, thought to be a mechanism by which someone extracts themselves from a stressful situation as a form of self-protection. They forget who they are, taking on a new identity and reality. In Agatha’s case, she became Mrs Teresa Neele from South Africa; she appeared to enjoy her stay, participating in activities and making friends, apparently oblivious to the manhunt.

Worsley has found historical records, as well as autobiographical hints in Christie’s own later novels, to suggest it likely the author subsequently visited a psychotherapist, reinforcing the theory that Agatha was unwell. Worsley decries the injustice of the media frenzy and its enduring impact on Christie, writing “… people ever since have suspected her of duplicity and lies.”

It was, Worsley believes, a terrible time for the author, but asserts that 1926 also acted as a watershed year, one which marked a new phase in Christie’s life and writing. As the historian puts it, “… act one of her life was over […] and even she had begun to see that within an ending, may lie a new beginning”. She divorced her first husband, remarried, and lived out the rest of her truly remarkable life: the author of some eighty books, celebrated the world over. Christie is part of the fabric of the cultural history of this country, and of the small spa town of Harrogate, which, for eleven days in 1926, was home to a slice of crime-writing history.

Review: Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival celebrates its 20th year

2023’s Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival got off to a killer start on Thursday with the announcement of the winner of the Crime Novel of the Year, awarded to M.W. Craven for The Botanist, the latest in his Washington Poe series.

But this was just the start of a truly arresting line-up: a celebration of all things murder and mayhem (fictional, of course) and one of the biggest crime-writing festivals there is, now in its twentieth year. The Old Swan, its halls and gardens once walked by Agatha Christie, the Queen of Crime herself, was ready and raring to play host to the “Glastonbury of Crime”.

Whether author, agent, publisher, blogger, reader or author, every visitor had one thing in common, and that was books. For four whole days, the festival hustles and bustles with people from far and wide who love books, want to talk about them, hear about them and meet the minds behind them. There was a tangible buzz about the place; a camaraderie and shared excitement among the reported 17,000 ticketholders.

Even the A-List of the crime-writing world gets right into the mix, mingling with their readers. You might, as I did, run into Val McDermid in the corridor, or spy Richard Osman browsing the shelves of the Waterstone pop-up. I heard excited word of Richard Armitage, actor and now debut author, charming guests at Saturday’s author dinner. I was lucky enough to chat to Shari Lapena, writer of the smash hit The Couple Next Door, and to hear about her latest penning, Everyone Here is Lying.

It was great to see some local authors on the panels, too. A.A. Dhand, writer of the Bradford-based DI Harry Virdee series (with a TV adaptation in the works) spoke of his hometown’s influence on his writing. Yorkshire-born debut author Heather Darwent got a golden ticket to the much-coveted New Blood panel (a choice of the year’s best debuts) to share her book, The Things We Do to Our Friends.

Talking of new blood: this is also very much a festival for the new kids on the block – the debut authors for whom this is an exciting new adventure, and the aspiring writers, who must truly be in their element, surrounded by stars of the crime-fiction world, sharing their processes and secrets to success. It’s a crash course in the process of writing crime fiction, from those authors who plan methodically with spreadsheets and pie charts, to those who simply invent as they go, with no apparent idea of where their writing will take them. It’s enough to make anyone want to (try to) write a novel.

I met audience members who had travelled from the other side of the world, and locals who’ve visited since the festival’s infancy, recalling its much smaller scale when it first began. Today, the festival’s programme is mammoth, set to appeal across the fanbase of the myriad of sub-genres found in crime fiction, from detective novels to domestic noir to police procedurals and everything in between. With interviews, panel discussions, book signings, incident rooms, meet and greets and more, there is such a constant stream of entertainment that even those not into crime writing would likely still find themselves engaged and inspired (but of course, a love of crime, intrigue and bloody murder is encouraged).

2023’s big names included the inimitable Ann Cleeves (who received the Outstanding Contribution Award), Jeffrey Deaver (on his whopping 42nd novel), Lee and Andrew Child (the now-collaborators on the multi-million selling Jack Reacher novels), and Lucy Worsley (whose recent biography of Agatha Christie throws new light on the Queen of Crime’s time in Harrogate). I also enjoyed Lisa Jewell and Ruth Ware in conversation, the Murder Most Joyful panel (creators of so-called ‘cosy’ crime, who, with their gallows humour, were just as amusing a bunch in person as on paper) and the Never-Ending Golden Age discussion, which delved into the enduring appeal and influence of Agatha Christie and her peers.

If you love crime fiction and want to get up close and personal with the masterminds, this is the festival for you. My first visit was an open and shut case: it was criminally good.

Tomorrow we will be publishing Lauren reviews one of the highlights of this year’s Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival – a talk by well known TV historian Lucy Worsley on Agatha Christie.

Review: Upstage Academy’s Grease is electrifying

Grease was the word on Saturday night at Harrogate Theatre, as members of Ripon’s Upstage Academy threw on their Pink Ladies jackets, greased their hair, and jived hips and hands for a high-energy performance of this most nostalgic of musicals.

Upstage Academy School of Performance has been instructing children and young people in the performing-arts arena for 14 years. Based out of their studio in Ripon, the school provides youngsters with the chance to train, perform and prepare for competitions and examinations. Over the weekend, Upstage presented the culmination of months of hard work with their electrifying production of Grease.

Noticeably and delightfully age-inclusive, all members of the cast, from the very youngest to the 18-year-olds about to fly the nest, had an opportunity to shine. The more junior members sparkled with a couple of sharp dance numbers (complete with flips and splits), while the older performers, bubbling over with talent and commitment, impressed me with just how comfortable they were on stage, allowing them to truly showcase all of which they are capable – a great deal.

Alfie Davies was a dazzling Danny, oozing with the prerequisite posturing, charisma and cool of his character, and pulling off John Travolta’s trademark laugh to a T. He was a pleasure to watch: bound for the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, whose alumni include Olivia Colman and Sir Patrick Stewart, we should be keeping an eye out for Alfie on future screens and stages.

This was the final performance for Upstage’s eldest performers, before they spread their wings to head off to universities, drama schools and the rest of their lives. As the crowd laughed, whooped and cheered, I could sense how this performance, and the school, sat close to many a heart in the audience. I could imagine how hard these young people have worked over the years; how many lines have been practised over the dinner table; how much energy and anticipation must precede any performance. Youth theatre par excellence, these kids are proving themselves the professionals of the future.

Review: Oddsocks’ Much Ado About Nothing draws the picnicking crowds

From the moment I arrived at Harlow Carr on Tuesday evening, it was apparent that this was no ordinary event. I watched as theatregoers young and old descended in their droves, weighed down with picnic hampers, wrestling with folding tables and chairs and wearing enough layers to make you question whether they were planning on camping overnight. I wondered if I had accidentally happened upon Harrogate’s very own Glasto.

But these people knew something I didn’t: that the Oddsocks’ summer do is the place to be. The touring company has been around for years – 34, in fact – and for around 20 of those, has stopped off in Harrogate. Relaxing into my (rented) deck chair in the gardens, in full and beautiful bloom, I marvelled as, all around, the generations gathered in groups, freshly baked goods emerged from Tupperware and prosecco flowed into plastic flutes. Oddsocks’ Harrogate audience, it seems, is a seasoned one.

The Bard’s consummate comedy, Much Ado About Nothing, is Oddsocks’ 2023 summer piece and, in its suitably Shakespearean outdoor setting, is a production bursting with energy and humour, interspersed with musical ditties, gags galore, improvisation and audience participation, with a small but perfectly formed (and very silly) cast of people who undoubtedly enjoy what they do.

Oddsocks has, in its own words, an “irreverent style” in bringing Shakespeare to life and, amidst the slapstick humour and modern additions, there is both a respect and a cheeky disdain for the Bard and his oft tricky text that can, for the modern theatregoer, prove challenging to unravel.

The approach is one that works to make the production appeal across the generations: quirky and fresh, lacking condescension or the need for a knowledge of the First Folio. “You don’t have a clue what I’m going on about, do you?”, joked one player, to an audience that clearly didn’t quite follow her drift – but far from feeling foolish, the crowd delighted in being made to feel part of it.

Perhaps not one for the serious Shakespeare-lovers; but, for those in search of a civilised summer evening’s entertainment spent with family and friends, this is just the ticket. I’ll be back next year, albeit wearing another layer or two, and having prepared the perfect picnic in advance.

Oddsocks’ Much Ado About Nothing at RHS Harlow Carr is on tonight and is part of the Harrogate International Festival. For more information on this evening’s performance and this summer’s events click here.

Review: The Cripple of Inishmaan brings dark comedy to Harrogate Theatre

Whilst the somewhat indelicate title of this Irish tragicomedy may have you doing a double take, don’t think twice about buying a ticket – it’s a performance not to be missed.

Written in 1996 by celebrated playwright Martin McDonagh, who has since found big-screen success with films such as In Bruges and The Banshees of Inisherin, The Cripple of Inishmaan centres on orphan Billy Claven, a disabled youngster living on the remote island of Inishmaan, off the west coast of Ireland, in 1934.

Plagued by the incessant ridicule of his neighbours, he is referred to by all (despite his protestations) as Cripple Billy.

This even extends to his own foster ‘aunties’, who love him like a son, yet apply the same casual cruelty that is the very lifeblood of this play. Whilst pondering their sickly ward’s future, his aunt, Eileen, doubts he’ll ever be kissed, “…unless it was by a blind girl”.

When a Hollywood film director arrives on a neighbouring island (to film the real-life documentary, The Man of Aran), Billy finally sees his opportunity to escape his miserable existence.

An outrageously dark comedy, the play mixes hilarity, cruelty and kindness with great dexterity, its writing electric, with one uproarious quip after the other.

The Harrogate Dramatic Society cast, under Stuart Kellett’s direction, performing their opening night last night, knew exactly how to deliver every line – particularly impressive for what is a challenging play, jam-packed with dialogue.

This is a pleasingly rounded story with a satisfying arc, but it is also made or broken by the ability to draw its cast of characters, whose absurdity and colourfulness lie at its core; there is no disappointment here, with the HDS’ small yet mighty cast of nine. The Irish accents were out in full force, and the performers’ efforts to maintain these throughout were truly commendable.

Engaging and thoughtfully chosen, the cast proved consistently comic and dependably droll. The play’s sole non-comic player, outcast Billy, was handled by Adam Naylor with great earnestness and vulnerability.

A play like this was made for the simplicity of the studio at Harrogate Theatre. It is one without fuss; a neat piece which hops from scene to scene with real deftness. A clean, no-frills set with few distracting props, this production is really all about its players, who capture both the play’s sentimentality and its more outlandish threads, providing an evening as punchy as potent poteen.

The Cripple of Inishmaan is on tonight and tomorrow evening at Harrogate Theatre, and twice on Saturday. More information is available here.

Review: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in Harrogate filled with charm and heart

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is a family classic that surely needs no introduction, and Tuesday’s performance by the Harrogate Operatic Players (HOPS) overflowed with all the joy, humour and whimsy you’d expect.

Opening night brought with it some inevitable nerves, but after a few initial hiccoughs, all handled toot sweet and with consummate professionalism (including by the youngest members of the cast), the show went on, proving itself a well-oiled machine.

Always set to be challenging – a flying car alone would have any director scratching their head – the HOPS team were undeterred, delivering suitable magic to their set and staging. Costume, too, was a highlight, the outfit changes seemingly infinite, from white petticoats to regal regalia to samba ruffles. Performing a host of lively choreographed numbers, the cast, chorus and band dazzled with energy.

The stage adaptation is not the 1968 film reincarnate: it has all the classics we know and love, and then some, with a few extra surprises and catchy new numbers to boot. The script does not shy away from the more wicked humour of the film. Indeed, refreshingly, it might just be even more risqué, particularly with the help of two hilarious duos: Rohan Green and Rob Hastings as the court spies, and Chris Cowling and Georgie Gladwyn as the tyrannical Baron and Baroness of Vulgaria.

As for the more sinister threads of the tale? Jack Moran’s Child Catcher is a spine-tingling caricature, sniffing out his innocent prey with zeal and revelling in his role. Stealing a glance at some of the young children around me, they appeared somewhere between captivated and terrified; indeed, I overheard one nervously ask his mother, ‘Can he smell me?’.

Kate Griffiths deserves special mention as Truly Scrumptious, capturing the essence of the sweet but fiery heroine. Lucas MacLeod and Eva Lofthouse played siblings Jeremy and Jemima, and I think it would be fair to say, are probably the hardest-working children in Harrogate this week.

A production filled with charm and heart, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is so suited to the joys of local community theatre, with a huge cast and crew dedicated to putting on their very best show. This is what it’s all about: theatre that makes you smile, at whatever age; that has you humming as you leave, with a skip in your step.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is at the Harrogate Theatre from today (June 14) every day until Saturday, June 17. For more information and to book tickets, visit the theatre website here.

Review: My first experience of Salon North in Harrogate

After almost a decade living in London, I recently returned to live in my home town of Harrogate. Now thirty-something (and lacking the stamina of my teenage years), I’m looking for new ways to enjoy the town; I’m reacquainting myself with it, with more mature eyes. I’m on a cultural recce of the north, of sorts, to continue where I left off in London. My first foray came in the form of Berwins Salon North, on Thursday evening.

Billed as ‘TED-style talks exploring the most stimulating ideas in art, science and psychology’, the concept was originally launched by Helen Bagnall, in the big smoke, as Salon London. A trio of speakers, each an expert in their field, take to the stage for 25-minute slots, broken up with audience question time, and short intervals, for a top-up of wine.

Bagnall brought the concept to Harrogate, introducing the northern equivalent as part of Harrogate International Festivals’ cultural calendar, and it was clear, as I settled into my seat in the packed-out Victoria suite at the Crown Hotel, that the people of Harrogate are as ready as any Londoner to lap up this kind of evening’s entertainment.

The first of Thursday’s speakers was Sally Adee, an award-winning science writer with some pretty cool credentials. Her book, We Are Electric, is an exploration of the body’s ‘electrome’; she described how every living cell has a voltage, much like a tiny battery, each with a particular purpose. It’s fascinating stuff, destined, according to Adee, to transform science and medicine as we know it. Her passion was just as electric; anecdotal and digestible, it was the perfect starter for 10 for even the most unscientific minds (like mine).

Musician and writer Oliver Condy was up next, ready to prescribe classical music for any malaise. He described writing his book, Symphonies for the Soul, over the course of the covid lockdowns; while at his most isolated, it was classical music that provided the strength and solace to help him through. Whether you’re feeling angry, anxious, or want to be transported to another time or place: there’s a piece of music for that. Condy hypnotised his audience with snippets of some of his favourites, demonstrating the magical role music plays in connecting us with ourselves and others. Uplifting and engaging, I’m off to read his book and listen to some Rachmaninoff.

Another Oliver was the third and final guest: Oliver Burkeman, author of Four Thousand Weeks, a title that refers to the average human lifespan, a potentially anxiety-inducing notion. Eek – really? Four thousand weeks in which to make the very most of our lives; to achieve all that we want to and more? In a world driven by compulsion towards productivity and goals, where does it end? You’ll be pleased to hear that Burkeman turns the idea of time management completely on its head – but I won’t ruin the ending. With humour and empathy, Burkeman had the room enthralled, in stitches, and, I’m certain, inspired.

Forget a night down the pub, or an evening in front of the TV – Salon North hits the sweet spot: a social, friendly evening, refreshingly unstuffy and accessible, curated with thought and craft. I came away feeling just a little bit smarter – and who doesn’t love that?

The next Salon North, ‘Rethinking Modern Britain’, is on July 6 – for more information click here.

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