A Long Time Coming
Christie’s Legacy and Venice Theatre’s Future
By Paul and Diane Cline
Mousetrap Sponsors
“The only people who really know what other people are like are artists…” ~ Christopher in The Mousetrap
It was June 1976. Our family had travelled to London to visit Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and England for a month. On arrival, we tried to purchase tickets to see The Mousetrap at St. Martin’s Theatre. Diane and Alice, the older of our two daughters, were fans of Mrs. Christie’s books. Just a few months earlier, on January 12, the great lady had passed away.
Finding it sold out for months, we settled on another of Dame Christie’s plays, Murder at the Vicarage, which was also brilliant. While in Devon in 2001, we even made a special trip to Torquay, Christie’s hometown, to see the area where she lived. But we never got to see The Mousetrap. Imagine our thrill when our younger daughter, Camille, told us that The Mousetrap would be performed right here in Venice, just blocks from our home. We had watched Christie’s mystery movie adaptations too—Marple and Poirot were our favorites of her detectives, especially starring Margaret Rutherford—and all of us were mystery fans. Diane’s father was always reading mysteries and detective stories and Paul was a member of a Sherlock Holmes’ Baker Street Irregulars chapter.
In this 70th year of The Mousetrap in London, we feel like we kind of grew up together. The Mousetrap takes us back to the heritage of the theatre, all the way to Shakespeare’s Hamlet, plus offers us elements of today. The legacy that Dame Christie gave to us, including leaving its copyright to her grandson so the show could go on, resonates in Venice Theatre’s 75th Diamond Season, which gives us a similar legacy of great storytelling, year after year. We felt like it was unique for the Diamond Season and stood out as a production we really wanted to sponsor.
Growing up, Paul listened to tales about his mother and aunt going to Broadway shows in the 1920s, but it always seemed like a far-off thing. We have wonderful theatre here in our midst right now, featuring artists who “really know what we are all like.” Every play or musical or comedy that we’ve seen at Venice Theatre has been superior. Stand-outs are Allan Kollar and Murray Chase in Greater Tuna, Kim Kollar in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and Kristofer Geddie in Lend Me a Tenor. These and so many other productions have been top-notch for such a small town.
It would be a terrible thing to lose it.
Over the years, we have connected with Venice Theatre in so many ways, like watching our grandchildren, Kemper and Jack, perform in its camp showcases, inspired by directors Sandy Davisson, Candace Artim, and Kelly Duyn. We have enjoyed knowing Tayo Shonubi, who called us her grandparents while she stayed with our daughter and performed in Dreamgirls. And we recently participated in supporting the Youth Production Company’s Ride The Cyclone, having always worked with young people in our careers as educators.
In The Mousetrap, Miss Casewell says: “She’d pinched the best chair. I’ve got it now.” With the newly launched Have-a-Seat Campaign, we’re happy that everyone will have a chance to make the Jervey Theatre better than ever, with a gift of $7,500 to “have a seat” in the 432-seat theatre. Seats are going fast, so pinch the best chair today.
Questions? Contact Camille Cline on VT’s Advancement Team at Camille@VeniceTheatre.net to learn more.