The Mousetrap and Other Plays

Witness for the Prosecution

Produced by Peter Saunders at The Winter Garden Theatre, London, on the 28th October 1953, with the following cast of characters:

(in the order of their appearance)

GRETA, typist to Sir Wilfrid

Rosalie Westwater

CARTER, Sir Wilfrid’s Chief Clerk

Walter Horsbrugh

MR. MAYHEW, a solicitor

Milton Rosmer

LEONARD VOLE

Derek Blomfield

SIR WILFRID ROBARTS, Q.C.

David Horne

INSPECTOR HEARNE

David Raven

PLAIN-CLOTHES DETECTIVE

Kenn Kennedy

ROMAINE

Patricia Jesel

CLERK OF THE COURT

Philip Holles

MR. JUSTICE WAINWRIGHT

Percy Marmont

ALDERMAN

Walter Horsbrugh

MR. MYERS, Q.C.

D. A. Clarke-Smith

COURT USHER

Nicolas Tannar

COURT STENOGRAPHER

John Bryning

WARDER

Denzil Ellis

THE JUDGE’S CLERK

Muir Little

1ST BARRISTER

George Dudley

2ND BARRISTER

Jack Bulloch

3RD BARRISTER

Lionel Gadsden

4TH BARRISTER

John Farries Moss

5TH BARRISTER

Richard Coke

6TH BARRISTER

Agnes Fraser

1ST MEMBER OF THE JURY

Lauderdale Beckett

2ND MEMBER OF THE JURY

Iris Fraser Foss

3RD MEMBER OF THE JURY

Kenn Kennedy

A POLICEMAN

David Homewood

DR. WYATT, a police surgeon

Graham Stuart

JANET MACKENZIE

Jean Stuart

MR. CLEGG, a laboratory assistant

Peter Franklin

THE OTHER WOMAN

Rosemary Wallace

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

SCENE I. The chambers of Sir Wilfrid Robarts, Q.C.

The same evening.

SCENE 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 WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION 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)

CARTER

Gordon Nelson

GRETA

Mary Barclay

SIR WILFRID ROBARTS, Q.C.

Francis L. Sullivan

MR. MAYHEW

Robin Craven

LEONARD VOLE

Gene Lyons

INSPECTOR HEARNE

Claude Horton

PLAIN-CLOTHES DETECTIVE

Ralph Leonard

ROMAINE

Patricia Jessel

THIRD JUROR

Dolores Rashid

SECOND JUROR

Andrew George

FOREMAN OF THE JURY

Jack Bittner

COURT USHER

Arthur Oshlag

CLERK OF THE COURT

Ronald Dawson

MR. MYERS, Q.C.

Ernest Clark

MR. JUSTICE WAINWRIGHT

Horace Braham

ALDERMAN

R. Cobden-Smith

JUDGE’S CLERK

Harold Webster

COURT STENOGRAPHER

W. H. Thomas

WARDER

Ralph Roberts

BARRISTER

Henry Craig Neslo

BARRISTER

Brace Conning

BARRISTER

Ruth Greene

BARRISTER

Albert Richards

BARRISTER

Franklyn Monroe

BARRISTER

Sam Kramer

POLICEMAN

Bryan Herbert

DR. WYATT

Guy Spaull

JANET MACKENZIE

Una O’Connor

MR. CLEGG

Michael McAloney

THE OTHER WOMAN

Dawn Steinkamp

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

SCENE I: The chambers of Sir Wilfrid Robarts, Q.C., in London.

The same evening.

SCENE II: The Old Bailey. The next morning.

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

TIME: The present.

Production stage manager, JOHN EFFRAT

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.

AGATHA CHRISTIE

CARTER

Can double the Judge

INSPECTOR HEARNE

Can double Policeman at end of last act

PLAIN-CLOTHES DETECTIVE

Can be doubled by Warder

CLERK OF THE COURT

This part can be combined with Court Usher

ADLERMAN

Can be dispensed with

COURT STENOGRAPHER

Can be dispensed with

JUDGE’S CLERK

Can be dispensed with

SIX BARRISTERS

Four can be dispensed with

THREE MEMBERS OF THE JURY

These can be dispensed with and the “taking of the oath” and “returning the verdict” can be done by a voice “off”

MR. MYERS, Q.C.

Can double plain-clothes Detective