The Mousetrap set to mystify Australian Audiences

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.

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.