'The Rat Trap' review — this poignant, remarkably thoughtful Noël Coward revival digs into art and marriage

Read our review of The Rat Trap, directed by Kirsty Patrick Ward, now in performances at the Park Theatre to 14 March.

Summary

• Noël Coward's early play The Rat Trap is revived at the Park Theatre
• Kirsty Patrick Ward directs a reimagined version by Bill Rosenfield
• The story follows two writers whose marriage crumbles
• Ewan Miller is a find as the charming but entitled husband

Noël Coward wrote his first play The Rat Trap in 1918 at the age of 18 after being discharged from military service on health grounds, and it received its premiere eight years later. This production by Kirsty Patrick Ward is billed as being “reimagined” by Bill Rosenfield. What we are presented with certainly doesn’t play like juvenilia, and it is considerably more than a curiosity, being a remarkably thoughtful and poignant piece of work.

Two writers working from home is a potentially volatile combination. Sheila (Lily Nichol) and Keld (Ewan Miller) are an up-and-coming novelist and aspiring playwright respectively and are certain that they are embarking on a mutually supportive marriage of true minds. Sheila’s spiky divorced friend Olive (Gina Bramhill) is less confident because it’s inevitable that when two creative people get together, one will have to sacrifice their ambitions and much of their personality, and it’s usually the woman, even, or especially, if she’s the one with more talent.

It’s extraordinary that an 18-year-old was capable of such perception and maturity, probably born from the fact that Coward, as a child actor, had had the chance to observe temperamental artistic types at close quarters. As the couple settle into married life, Keld has the study, the typewriter, and even all the pencils. He’s happy to be interrupted by the ingratiating Ruby Raymond (Zoe Goriely), the ex-chorus girl making her straight theatre debut in his play, but hits the roof when the maid Burrage (Angela Sims, who in classic comedy style turns out to be the wisest person in the play and regards her master with justified disdain) asks about dinner arrangements; that should be the mistress’s job, after all.

Miller is a find, embodying the thin veneer of charm that momentarily conceals a breathtaking sense of entitlement in which he expects the entire household to revolve around him and can’t take Sheila’s constructive criticism about structure and the motivations of female characters (“Only abnormal men can get a grip on the female mind”). Nichol does a beautiful job at conveying the emotional depths of Sheila’s disillusionment and ultimately making a pragmatic choice about her future.

Marriage isn’t ideal but free love, represented by the smug poet Naomi (Ailsa Joy) and her hearty swain Edmund (Daniel Abbott), doesn’t look like a particularly appealing option either. The independent Olive, a gossip columnist who travels widely and only has to have a callous sense of humour to do her job, finds safety in detachment, and there’s possibly scope for a queer reading.

Libby Watson’s design is minimalist in its furnishings and purposeful in its costuming. The women are forthright in trousers – the exceptions being Ruby’s pink chiffon frock to accentuate her femininity, and Burrage wears a black dress because that’s tradition. In the third scene set a year later, Sheila is infantilised in a little-girlish sailor dress, reflecting her “caged bird syndrome” and Keld urging her to start writing again as a “diversion”.

It’s always exciting to see a rare revival with such timeless themes. Ward’s production takes the play seriously as social commentary with feminist messaging, and it could even be considered a tragedy. A fascinating centenary production.

The Rat Trap is at performances at the Park Theatre to 14 March. Book The Rat Trap tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk

Photo credit: The Rat Trap (Photos by Mitzi de Margary)