The Mousetrap and Other Plays (66 page)

The play directed by Wallace Douglas

Décor by Michael Weight

Suggestions for reducing the cast to ten men and five women will be found in the Author's Note

 

SYNOPSIS OF SCENES

ACT
ONE

The Chambers of Sir Wilfrid Robarts, Q.C. Afternoon.

ACT
TWO

The Central Criminal Court, London—better known as the Old Bailey. Six weeks later. Morning.

ACT
THREE

S
CENE
I.
 
  The chambers of Sir Wilfrid Robarts, Q.C.
The same evening.

S
CENE
II.
 
  The Old Bailey. The next morning.

During Act Three, Scene II, the lights are lowered to denote the passing of one hour.

Copy of program for the first performance of W
ITNESS
F
OR
T
HE
P
ROSECUTION
as produced at Henry Miller's Theatre, New York, December 16, 1954.

Gilbert Miller and Peter Saunders

present

WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION

A Murder Mystery by

Agatha Christie

Production directed by Robert Lewis with

Francis L. Sullivan     Patricia Jessel

Ernest Clark     Gene Lyons

Una O'Connor     Robin Craven     Horace Braham

Production designed by Raymond Sovey

Costumes supervised by Kathryn Miller

CAST

(
In order of appearance
)

 

SYNOPSIS OF SCENES

ACT
ONE

The chambers of Sir Wilfrid Robarts, Q.C., in London. Late afternoon.

ACT
TWO

The Central Criminal Court (The Old Bailey) in London.

Morning. Six weeks later.

ACT
THREE

S
CENE
I:
 
  The chambers of Sir Wilfrid Robarts, Q.C., in London.
The same evening.

S
CENE
II:
 
  The Old Bailey. The next morning.

(The lights will be lowered during this scene to denote the passing of one hour.)

T
IME
: The present.

Production stage manager,
J
OHN
E
FFRAT

 

AUTHOR'S NOTE

I have great faith in the ingenuity of amateurs and repertory companies to devise means of reducing the very large cast of
Witness for the Prosecution
in order to make it possible to perform, and my suggested means of reducing the cast is probably only one of many.

As there are a large number of non-speaking parts, it may well be that local amateurs can be used, or members of the audience be invited on to the stage, and I believe that this would be greatly to the benefit of the play rather than lose the spectacle of a lot of people in the court scene.

Although Greta never appears at the same time as “The Other Woman,” i.e. the strawberry blonde in the final scene, this part should
not
be doubled, as the audience will think it is “plot”—which, of course, it isn't.

The play has given me enormous enjoyment in writing, and I do hope that the repertory companies who do it will derive the same pleasure from it. Good luck.

A
GATHA
C
HRISTIE

 

ACT ONE

SCENE
:
The Chambers of Sir Wilfrid Robarts, Q.C.

The scene is Sir Wilfrid's private office. It is a narrow room with the door
L
.
and a window
R
.
The window has a deep built-in window seat and overlooks a tall plain brick wall. There is a fireplace
C
.
of the back wall, flanked by bookcases filled with heavy legal volumes. There is a desk
R
.
C
.
with a swivel chair
R
.
of it and a leather-covered upright chair
L
.
of it. A second upright chair stands against the bookcases
L
.
of the fireplace. In the corner up
R
.
is a tall reading desk, and in the corner up
L
.
are some coat-hooks attached to the wall. At night the room is lit by electric candle-lamp wall-brackets
R
.
and
L
.
of the fireplace and an angle-poise lamp on the desk. The light switch is below the door
L
.
There is a bell push
L
.
of the fireplace. The desk has a telephone on it and is littered with legal documents. There are the usual deed boxes and there is a litter of documents on the window seat.

When the Curtain rises it is afternoon and there is sunshine streaming in through the window
R
.
The office is empty.
GRETA
, Sir Wilfrid's typist, enters immediately. She is an adenoidal girl with a good opinion of herself. She crosses to the fireplace, doing a “square dance” step, and takes a paper from a box-file on the mantelpiece.
CARTER
, the Chief Clerk, enters. He carries some letters.
GRETA
turns, sees
CARTER
, crosses and quietly exits.
CARTER
crosses to the desk and puts the letters on it. The TELEPHONE rings.
CARTER
lifts the receiver.

CARTER
. (
Into the telephone.
) Sir Wilfrid Robart's Chambers . . . Oh, it's you, Charles . . . No, Sir Wilfrid's in Court . . . Won't be back just yet . . . Yes, Shuttleworth Case . . . What—with Myers for the prosecution and Banter trying it? . . . He's been giving judgment for close on two hours already . . . No, not an earthly this evening. We're full up. Can give you an appointment tomorrow . . . No, couldn't possibly. I'm expecting Mayhew, of Mayhew and Brinskill you know, any minute now . . . Well, so long. (
He replaces the receiver and sorts the documents on the desk.
)

GRETA
. (
Enters. She is painting her nails.
) Shall I make the tea, Mr. Carter?

CARTER
. (
Looking at his watch
) It's hardly time yet, Greta.

GRETA
. It is by my watch.

CARTER
. Then your watch is wrong.

GRETA
. (
Crossing to
C
.) I put it right by the radio.

CARTER
. Then the radio must be wrong.

GRETA
. (
Shocked.
) Oh, not the radio, Mr. Carter. That
couldn't
be wrong.

CARTER
. This watch was my father's. It never gains nor loses. They don't make watches like that nowadays. (
He shakes his head, then suddenly changes his manner and picks up one of the typewritten papers.
) Really, your typing. Always mistakes. (
He crosses to
R
.
of
GRETA
.) You've left out a word.

GRETA
. Oh, well—just one word. Anyone might do that.