The Mousetrap is a murder mystery play by Agatha Christie.
The Mousetrap opened in London’s West End on 25th November 1952 and has been running continuously since then.
It’s the longest running West End show with over 26,000 performances.
Agatha Christie herself did not expect The Mousetrap to run for such a long time.
In her autobiography, Christie reports a conversation that she had with Peter Saunders, the theatre impresario and producer of the show. Saunders thought the show would run for about fourteen months. To which Christie replied, “It won’t run that long. Eight months perhaps. Yes, I think eight months.”
The original West End cast included Richard Attenborough as Detective Sergeant Trotter and his wife Sheila Sim as Mollie Ralston. They took a 10% profit-participation in the production, which was paid for out of their combined weekly salary.
The murderer’s identity is divulged near the end of the play in a twist ending. By tradition, at the end of each performance, audiences are asked not to reveal the identity of the killer to anyone outside the theatre, to ensure that the end of the play is not spoilt for future audiences.
We went to see the show years ago but I can’t remember what happened in the end, so I can’t tell you anyway!
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