What’s it all about?
If we tell you too much, we’ll be letting slip one of theatre’s best kept secrets. Bearing in mind it’s been kept for more than 60 years, we’re not too keen on being the ones to drop the ball.
Here’s what we can tell you: It’s an Agatha Christie play, so you know you’re in for a twisty, murderous thrill ride of a show. It’s set in an isolated country guest house on a night so snowy no-one can get in or out. I know, it’s the perfect setting for a crime drama, isn’t it? Unless you’re one of the guests, I guess…
Casting coup
You can talk about star casting all you like, but if The Mousetrap was part of a pack of West End Top Trumps cards, it would win that category hands down, as well as length of run. No Hollywood name, British stage legend or star of the music world would ever beat Lord Richard Attenborough who led the original cast. Boom.
Fascinating facts
What? Is the fact that at 62 years and more than 25,000 performances The Mousetrap is the longest-running theatre production in the world not good enough? Will Nancy Seabrooke spending 15 years as an understudy on the production and setting a world record in the process do you? Or do I need to throw in that over the course of its history more than 430 tons of ice cream have been consumed by the audience?
Olivier Awards history
The Mousetrap pre-dates the Olivier Awards, so was never nominated in one of the panel-judged categories. Though it has always been eligible for the This Morning Audience Award, it has never made it to the final four. Will it manage this year? That mystery will be solved on 9 March.
They say…
“It’s got something for everybody, there’s a bit of comedy in there, there are a lot of thrills, twists and turns, and it keeps people guessing until the very last minute. And I mean the very last minute. It’s a part of theatrical history. For years and years I walked past the St Martin’s Theatre and looked at who was in The Mousetrap and so to have the opportunity to be in it was amazing.
“We’re probably the senior company member because we’re 62-years-old so it’s nice to be recognised by the Audience Award because the audiences are still coming to see us at the St Martin’s Theatre. We play to three levels most nights and we’d love to win it.” The Mousetrap’s Daniel Crowder
We say…
Nothing. We don’t want to give anything away. If we were to say anything, however, it would be that 62 years of audiences can’t be wrong. The Mousetrap is a special show that is part of the theatrical fabric of London, the UK and the world. If you don’t know whodunit, you need to experience this classic to find out. Because we’re not going to tell you.
The Mousetrap is booking at the St Martin’s Theatre until 19 December. You can buy tickets through us here.