Set on a wet and wild winter night, a desperate husband is searching for his missing wife and is confronted by a woman claiming to be her...
Like the school children-studded beach in the Market Square or the couples huddled under a blanket and a brolly in front of a film screening at Wollaton Park, Colin McIntyre’s Classic Thriller season at the city’s Theatre Royal is a long-running staple of the August calendar. A firm fixture since 1988, The Mantrap is one of three performances presented by Tabs Productions for 2026.
Based on a play by Robert Thomas, Piège pour un homme seul, and translated and adapted by Sean Aita, The Mantrap is a five-hander jam-packed with twists and turns which aims to keep the audience guessing until the last minute of this two-hour performance.
Set on a wet and wild winter night in a Cornish rental cottage, a desperate husband Daniel Edwards (played by the anguished Pavan Maru) searching for his missing wife, Lizzie, is confronted by a woman (the devilishly delightful Sarah Wynne Kordas) claiming to be her.
While a weather-beaten Inspector Quantock (performed brilliantly and with rich, laconic Cornish tones by John Goodrum) whimsically attempts to get to the bottom of the wife's imposter mystery.
Ably and deliciously supported by Susan Earnshaw as the stereotypical country reverend Susan Green, a plethora of developments ensue as drops of potential evidence are drip-fed to an audience attempting to unpick the truths from the untruths and nail down exactly what is going on here.
Utilising the living room space expertly while the lighting and sound team whip up an effective storm in the background to create mood and tension, it soon becomes apparent that money is the central motivating force - as with any great crime caper - with a fortune set to be inherited by the missing wife thanks to a dying Paris-based uncle.
The plot swings comically back and forth until an impasse seems to have been reached and the audience are left wondering in the interval, just which way it will turn next.Then, just when the story seems to have been ushered down a dead end, a mystery visitor Nat - a hemp-wearing echo warrior - played cheekily by Juliette Strobel, crashes her VW van into the cottage’s fence and enters stage right with the evidence which will presumably solve the whole case as she has met the ‘real’ Lizzie in a bar in London.
When you throw prescription drugs, alcohol, a pistol, hospital visits, missing photos and dead phone batteries into the mix - you have all the ingredients for an intriguing page-turner which keeps the audience intrigued and guessing to the end.
The Mantrap brings this Classic Thriller season to a close for another year, and, as the cast take their bows at the curtain call, Goodrum steps forward to shower plaudits on the theatre before proffering a couple of detective dad jokes, it further cements the importance of keeping this lovely tradition alive.
The Mantrap ran at Theatre Royal Nottingham from 25 - 29 August 2026.
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