The World's Longest Running Play!

In 1952, Agatha Christie's sprawling and intricate new whodunnit, The Mousetrap (based on her radio play, Three Blind Mice), opened in the West End on a very strict condition; no audience or press member was to ever give away the plot of the show! 

While Agatha Christie was not overly optimistic about the play's success, predicting it would last 'eight months at most,' her skepticism seemed reasonable back then. Nevertheless, the fact that The Mousetrap has stood the test of time at St. Martin's Theatre, running for over 70 years, is a testament to theatre audiences' enduring love for it. To give you some historical context, the play's debut occurred during Winston Churchill's tenure as Prime Minister, amidst the Great Smog in London, when the NHS was just a fledgling four-year-old institution, and Dame Vera Lynn was a staple of the music charts!

sssshhhh!

Seven decades have done nothing to dull The Mousetrap, the story of an odd assortment of guests snowed in at Monkswell Manor, whilst a murderer is at large and en-route. But could they be already here? When bodies start showing up, it's up to the stranded group to solve the mystery, before they become a part of it?

Did you know?

Wonder why you haven't seen the film? The secrecy around the plot wasn't the only condition laid down by Dame Agatha. A film adaptation is only allowed six months after the West End production closes, and given that it has been going strong for nearly seventy years without any sign of ending, that doesn't look all that likely any time soon!