The Mousetrap

The Mousetrap is a murder mystery play written by the famous author Agatha Christie. It is known for being the longest-running West End show.

The play opened in London's West End in 1952 and ran for many years. It stopped for a short time during the COVID-19 pandemic but started again on 17 May 2021.

As a whodunit, The Mousetrap has a surprising ending that the audience is asked not to tell others about. There are eight actors in the play, and since it began, more than 400 different actors have taken on the roles. The first Detective Sergeant Trotter was played by Richard Attenborough, and the first Mollie Ralston was played by his wife, Sheila Sim.

History

The play The Mousetrap began as a short radio play written by Agatha Christie for Queen Mary, the wife of King George V. It first aired on 30 May 1947 and was called Three Blind Mice.

The Mousetrap became very popular and has been performed many times. It is famous for its surprising ending. Over the years, it has attracted many visitors who want to see this well-known play. A charity named Mousetrap Theatre Projects was created to help young people enjoy theatre in London. Another play, The Real Inspector Hound, written by Tom Stoppard, playfully makes fun of The Mousetrap.

Theatrical performances

The Mousetrap began as a play on October 6, 1952, at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham. It later opened in London on November 25, 1952, at the Ambassadors Theatre. The play moved to the larger St Martin's Theatre in 1974 and kept running there. It has had over 30,000 performances, making it the longest-running play in the West End and the world.

Some important moments include its 1,000th performance in 1955 and becoming the longest-running play in the West End in 1957. It reached its 30,000th performance on March 19, 2025. Performances stopped from March 2020 to May 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. The play has been enjoyed in many cities, including Toronto, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, and Australia, with plans for Broadway in 2023.

Characters

The play has many interesting characters. Mollie Ralston and her husband Giles take care of Monkswell Manor. The first guest to arrive is Christopher Wren, a happy young man who seems to be keeping a secret. Other guests are Mrs Boyle, a fussy older woman, and Major Metcalf, a retired army officer. There is also Miss Casewell, a strange woman who talks about hard times in her past, and Mr Paravicini, a mysterious man who says his car got stuck in the snow. Detective Sergeant Trotter comes during a snow storm to investigate, and a voice on the radio gives important news for the story.

Twist ending and tradition of secrecy

The murderer’s identity is revealed near the end of the play, creating a surprise twist. After each show, the audience is asked not to tell others who the killer is, so that future viewers can enjoy the surprise.

Agatha Christie disliked when the plots of her works were revealed in reviews. In 2010, her grandson expressed disappointment that the ending of The Mousetrap had been described online. The play’s twist is kept secret to maintain its impact.

Main article: Whodunnit
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Plot

The play The Mousetrap is set in Monkswell Manor, a guesthouse in Berkshire. It is about a group of guests and the owners solving a mystery. The guests arrive and learn that they are snowed in. Sergeant Trotter comes to investigate a recent murder in Paddington, London. The group begins to suspect each other.

Later, one of the guests is found dead. Trotter, who is not really a policeman, says he is the brother of a boy who was murdered. Another guest stops him just in time. The truth is revealed, and the guests learn secrets about each other and find the real policeman.

Critical reception

When The Mousetrap first opened, reviewers in Britain had mixed opinions. Some thought it was just okay. Others liked the clever plotting and the easy-to-tell-apart characters. One reviewer enjoyed the tense atmosphere. Overall, people either loved the surprise ending or thought it was a bit strange.

Publication history

The play was published as a paperback by Samuel French Ltd in 1954 and is still available today. It was later published in hardback in a collection of plays by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1978.

Film and television versions

In 1959, people said they would make a film of the play, but no film was ever made. Later, the story was turned into different shows around the world. In 1960, a Bengali film called Chupi Chupi Aashey was based on the play. In 1980, an Egyptian television drama named فندق الضحايا (Hotel of Victims) starred actor Ahmed Zaki. In 1990, a Russian film called Мышеловка (The Mousetrap) was directed by Samson Samsonov. In 2022, a British-American film named See How They Run was set in the Ambassadors Theatre and showed actors performing The Mousetrap.