Journal

Button Theatre is holding non-equity auditions for Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap on Tuesday, April 28 from 7 to 10pm at The Red Clay Theatre in downtown Duluth.

Please prepare a one minute dramatic monologue and be prepared to perform a small section in a Brittish accent.

Call backs will be held on Thrusday, April 30 from 7 to 10pm. You may be asked to do a cold reading at either the audition or the call back.

Reherasals will begin in June. The show will run from July 17 to August 2.

All actors will be paid. To make an appointment, please call 678-407-0772 or email MC at mconti (at) button theatre . com.

For character descriptions, directions and other information please visit us at www.buttontheatre.com

Character Descriptions:

* Mollie Ralston – proprietor of Monkswell Manor, and wife of Giles. Although initially above suspicion, it later transpires Mollie made a secret trip to London on the same day Maureen Lyon was murdered.

* Giles Ralston – husband of Mollie who runs Monkswell Manor with his wife. The very first suspect, as Giles enters the stage dressed in clothing similar to that worn by the killer. It transpires Giles also made a secret trip to London on the day Maureen Lyon was murdered. Even Mollie begins to suspect Giles, when she realises she has known him just a year and knows nothing of his background.

* Christopher Wren – the first guest to arrive at the hotel, Wren is a hyperactive young man, who is depicted as acting in a very peculiar manner. He admits he is running away from something, but refuses to admit what. The audience quickly leaps to the conclusion he was one of the abused children, driven schizophrenic by repeated abuse and now a murderer. Wren claims to be named after the architect of the same name.

* Mrs Boyle – a critical older woman who is pleased by nothing she observes. A former magistrate, we discover she had placed the three children in Maureen Lyon’s care. Shortly afterwards she is murdered and therefore the only character above suspicion.

* Major Metcalf – retired from the army, little is known about Major Metcalf. Suspicion falls upon him once it is revealed that the father of the three siblings was in the army at the time their mother died, which led to them being put into care.

* Miss Casewell – a strange, aloof woman who speaks offhandedly about the horrific experiences of her childhood. Refusing to give any more away, the natural conclusion is that she is one of the abused children, here to seek a terrible revenge.

* Mr Paravicini – a man of unknown provenance. He appears to be affecting a foreign accent and artificially aged with make-up. Who he is or where he comes from remains a mystery and his refusal to answer a direct question only underlines this point. The audience is encouraged to theorise he is the children’s father, disguised as an elderly foreigner and returned from the army to wreak a terrible revenge.

* Detective Sergeant Trotter – a policeman who arrives in a snow storm saying he has come to protect the guests from the murderer.

* Maureen Lyon (unseen in the play) – the first victim. Mrs Lyon’s real name is Mrs Stanning and she was imprisoned for abusing three siblings – the Corrigan children – left in her and her husband’s foster care. Mr Stanning died in prison and upon her release, Mrs Stanning, seeking anonymity under the name of Maureen Lyon, moved to London where she was murdered.