Agatha Christie’s iconic murder mystery The Mousetrap is the world's longest running play, having opened in 1952 in London’s West End and this week it has come to Milton Keynes Theatre on its 70th anniversary tour.
The plot of The Mousetrap is one of the closest guarded secrets in theatre, and at the end of the show, the audience is asked the ‘keep the secret’ so there will be no spoilers in this review. Suffice to say, this is classic Agatha Christie – plenty of twists, turns and surprises alongside a set of interesting, well developed characters whose layers are slowly peeled away as the plot thickens.
This is the classic ‘whodunnit’, set in a guest house cut off during a snow storm with the telephone lines cut and no way to contact the outside world… and of course, everyone is a suspect in a murder case. And with no butler, it’s anyone’s guess who the murderer is.
The Mousetrap stars Todd Carty (EastEnders, Grange Hill, Dancing on Ice) who continues to play Major Metcalf and Catherine Shipton (known for
playing Lisa ‘Duffy’ Duffin in BBC drama Casualty) as the snooty former magistrate, Mrs. Boyle.
They are joined by Rachel Dawson (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe at the Gillian Lynn Theatre) as Mollie Ralston, Michael Lyle (Amedeus at National Theatre and RSC’s A Christmas Carol) as Giles Ralston, Shaun McCourt (The Railyway Children at Kings Cross Theatre and War Horse at the National Theatre), as the very camp architect Christopher Wren, Leigh Lothian (Lovely Bones at Birmingham Rep and Beautiful: The Carole King Musical at Aldwych Theatre and on tour) as Miss Casewell and Steven Elliot (The Ladykillers UK tour and Associate Artist of Theatre Clwyd) as the unconvincing Italian surprise guest Mr. Paravicini.
There’s no Poirot or Miss Marple in this mystery, it’s Detective Sgt. Trotter, played by Garyn Williams (The Corn is Green at the National Theatre) who leads the investigation.
This is a thoroughly entertaining show with some great performances and a very clever plot which isn’t too difficult to follow, plenty of red herrings but the clues were there for you to spot and although it would be possible to work out the solution to the mystery you’re probably going to leave the theatre satisfied with the outcome.
It’s easy to see why this has been such a success and if you’ve not seen it before, I’d recommend catching this play before someone spoils the ending for you!
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