Here’s another rediscovered little gem from the ever resourceful Mint Theater. The Rat Trap was Noel Coward’s first play, written when he was eighteen. This production is its American premiere. Filled with intense cynicism and psychological warfare, this play is long overdue to be seen.
Mr. Coward would soon enough become famous in the years after this play was created. In an introduction to a book containing three early works he describes wanting to defy the forces of “sex-repression, lack of education, religious mania, respectability, and above all, moral cowardice”. Funny how timely 1918 can feel today.
The Rat Trap takes place over four acts. Sheila Brandreth and Keld Maxwell are two up-and-coming writers madly in love. The celebration in Olive-Lloyd Kennedy’s London flat is filled with bubbles and witticisms. Fresh faces gloriously beginning their lives brimming with he hopes and dreams of youthful innocence.
Dear friend Olive has a telling conversation with Sheila where she warns against the dangers of marriage. There has to be sacrifice in order for the institution to work. She believes Sheila is the more clever of the happy couple. As a result, she will be the one to sacrifice. It is no surprise that the play proceeds directly down that path.
What’s most interesting about The Rat Trap is the darkness of the material. Where these two tread is a shockingly abusive, immersive train wreck. There’s no real mystery about what will happen. The pessimistic ending is fully appropriate and, frankly, a sad inevitability.
The core relationship has to degrade believably and does so here thanks to unsympathetic performances by Sarin Monae West and James Evans. Their chemistry is spot on and the two year time arc comes across as realistic if predictable.
Cynthia Mace (as the maid Burrage) and Claire Saunders (as young starlet Ruby Raymond) have superb moments which lighten the mood amidst the looming dark clouds. The hipster friends Naomi and Edmund came across a tad too cartoonish but they are not full characters just representations of a free love ideal.
The Rat Trap would be an excellent choice for regional and community theater productions. Juicy parts and crackling dialogue with a topic that never seems to get old. When we look back with open eyes, we realize how little we learn.
Next up from the Mint is Betty Smith’s Becomes A Woman. This play was written in 1930. She would find huge success in 1943 with her debut novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. This semi-autobiographical coming-of-age play has never been produced or published so this production will be a world premiere.
The Rat Trap concluded performances on December 10, 2023. Becomes A Woman is scheduled to run from February 7 through March 18, 2023 at City Center.