Stage Light

Yet another revival of an Agatha Christie murder mystery play is hardly of note. What is, however, is that the nonprofessional, 10-year-old Woodland Hills Community Theatre is reviving Christie’s “The Mouse Trap” at the new, municipally owned Madrid Theatre in Canoga Park. Since the facility opened late last year, this marks the first use of the Madrid as a spoken-word theater.

Having haunted the old Madrid when it was a cinema, this reviewer was struck at how small the midsize house actually is. The front lobby is notably shallow, with high, stark white walls (desperately in need of large-scale artworks to add texture, dynamism and color to the overall flatness). The faux-industrial design within and without the auditorium tends toward the drab and merely functional (including functional seats suitable for a public school auditorium). Still, the second floor, which accesses both bathrooms and the balcony, contains the surprise of an open-air terrace facing Sherman Way.

Intended for concerts and small-scale live performances, the Madrid’s auditorium has only side aisles, which result in the single biggest problem for audience members. Aisle lights have been set too high on the side walls and produce an irritating glare. This is especially a problem on the left side, which contains an extra, useless side walkway--and thus, a double dose of the glaring aisle lights. Some patrons at Sunday’s matinee were actually shielding their eyes from the glare, which doesn’t subside when the action begins on stage.

The Madrid’s prettiest feature is its royal blue curtain (imagine, an actual curtain on a Valley theater stage), which opens on Victoria Profitt’s sizable manor house set that occupies the standard-issue proscenium stage.

The theater’s rear stage entrance door is visible, but no matter. Director Jon Berry’s staging is perfectly competent if a bit boring, and his actors mostly have their British accents in place. But those accents are often marred by the Madrid’s acoustics, which are reportedly fine for music but are far too echo-prone for theater.

Revival productions of “The Mouse Trap” are fond to note that the play has been running on London’s West End since 1952--the English-language record--as if that fact alone makes it a good play. It doesn’t. The play has perhaps the poorest, least believable plot twist in the Christie library of plots. It’s too bad the maiden theatrical voyage at the Madrid is with such forgettable material; for something more interesting, we’ll have to wait until this spring when Berry’s company returns with a version of “A Tale of Two Cities.”

BE THERE

“The Mouse Trap,” Madrid Theatre, 21622 Sherman Way, Canoga Park. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2:30 p.m. Ends Feb. 28. $14-$16. (818) 884-1907. Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes.