TO CELEBRATE its Platinum (70th) jubilee this year the world’s longest-running play, Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap, is coming to Australia.
Opening at Sydney’s Theatre Royal in October, it will be directed by Australian theatre icon Robyn Nevin and produced by John Frost for Crossroads Live Australia.
This thrilling West End production is THE genre-defining murder mystery from the best-selling novelist of all time … case closed!
“We’re so excited to present a new production of this enduring and much-loved murder mystery to Australian audiences, directed by Robyn Nevin,” said John Frost.
“With new films and television mini-series based on her books, there has been a resurgence of interest in Agatha Christie’s thrillers, and the novels are selling more than ever. What better time to bring The Mousetrap to Australia as it celebrates its 70th anniversary. Will you solve the mystery and pick the murderer?”
The Mousetrap had its world premiere on 6 October 1952 at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham. After a brief tour, it opened in London’s West End on 25 November 1952 at the Ambassadors Theatre, where it ran until 23 March 1974. It immediately transferred to the larger St Martin's Theatre next door, where it continues to this day.
The longest-running West End show, it has by far the longest run of any play anywhere in the world, with over 28,500th performances so far. The play has a twist ending, which the audience are traditionally asked not to reveal after leaving the theatre.
On air as `Three Blind Mice`
AGATHA Christie originally wrote the story as a short radio play entitled Three Blind Mice, which was broadcast in 1947 as a birthday present for Queen Mary. She eventually adapted the work into a short story before again rewriting it for the stage as The Mousetrap.
Ironically, Christie did not expect the play to run for more than a few months and stipulated that no film of The Mousetrap be made until at least six months after the West End Production closed. 70 years on, as the show continues its historic London run, a film adaptation looks unlikely at this stage.
After a local woman is murdered, the guests and staff at Monkswell Manor find themselves stranded during a snowstorm. It soon becomes clear that the killer is among them, and the seven strangers grow increasingly suspicious of one another.
A police detective, arriving on skis, interrogates the suspects: the newlyweds running the house; a spinster with a curious background; an architect who seems better equipped to be a chef; a retired Army major; a strange little man who claims his car has overturned in a drift; and a jurist who makes life miserable for everyone. When a second murder takes place, tensions and fears escalate. This record-breaking murder mystery features a brilliant surprise finish from the foremost mystery writer of all time.
For 70 years, Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap has kept millions of people from every corner of the globe on the edge of their seats. Can you solve this world-famous mystery for yourself? DON’T JUST SEE IT. SOLVE IT!
THE MOUSETRAP is at Theatre Royal, Sydney from October 2022. Tickets on sale from 27 June. Waitlist now to be first in line to buy tickets at themousetrap.com.au
ABOUT AGATHA CHRISTIE
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, DBE (born Miller; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer. In 1971 she was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for her contribution to literature.
Christie was born into a wealthy upper-middle-class family in Torquay, Devon. Before marrying and starting a family in London, she had served in a Devon hospital during the First World War, tending to troops coming back from the trenches. She was initially an unsuccessful writer with six rejections, but this changed when The Mysterious Affair at Styles, featuring Hercule Poirot, was published in 1920.
During the Second World War, she worked as a pharmacy assistant at University College Hospital, London, acquiring a good knowledge of poisons which feature in many of her novels.
The Guinness World Records lists Christie as the best-selling novelist of all time. Her novels have sold roughly two billion copies, and her works come third in the rankings of the world’s most-widely published books, behind only Shakespeare’s works and the Bible.
The Mousetrap holds the world record for longest initial run. It opened at the Ambassadors Theatre in the West End on 25 November 1952, and is still running after more than 27,500 performances.
June 20, 2022
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