The Mousetrap

SCENE: The drawing room at Gull’s Point, Lady Tressilian’s house at Saltcreek, Cornwall. A morning in September. It is a large, very beautiful room, obviously belonging to somebody with exquisite taste. It has been furnished to combine elegance with comfort. There is a deep, arched alcove upR. with French windows opening on to a terrace overlooking the garden and tennis court. A large curved-bay window upL., with a built-in window-seat, shows a view across the river to Easterhead Bay, with a large hotel on the cliff opposite. This window is slightly raised above the rest of the stage on a platform or rostrum. A door downL. leads to the other parts of the house. There is a chaise-longueR. C.; easy chairs downR. and downL. and armchairsL. C. andR. In the alcoveR. there is a bureau-bookcase with a carver chair, a small table and an upright chair. A wastepaper basket standsL. of the bureau. DownR. there is a small table, and on it a framed photograph of Audrey. A standing work-basket isR. of the armchairL. C. On the rostrum in the bay window is a low butler’s tray with a variety of drinks and glasses. A large circular coffee table standsC. A low bookcase, with a table-lamp on it, isL. of the window and there is a corner tableR. of the window. On the window-seat, at theL. end is a portable record player with some loose records. At night the room is lit by electric-candle wall-brackets downL. and above and below the alcoveR. The switches are below the door downL.