The Mousetrap

The Mousetrap: A Classic - A Landmark - A Legend

In her own inimitable style, Dame Agatha Christie has created an atmosphere of shuddering suspense and a brilliantly intricate plot where murder lurks around every corner.

"The cleverest murder mystery of the British theatre" The Daily Telegraph

The Mousetrap opened at The Ambassadors Theatre on 25 November 1952 where it remained for 21 years. On Saturday 12 April 1958 The Mousetrap became the longest running production of any kind in the history of British Theatre, beating the five-and-a-half years run of Chu Chin Chow. After its 8,862nd performance on the evening of Saturday 23 March 1974 it transferred to its current home, The St Martin's Theatre, on Monday 25 March 1974.

"A truly entertaining classic thriller" The Sunday Times

This production celebrated its 50th Anniversary on Monday 25 November 2002 with a special Gala Performance attended by Her Majesty, The Queen and His Royal Highness, The Duke of Edinburgh. On 25 November 2004 The Mousetrap celebrated its 52nd Birthday. The total number of actors and actresses who have appeared in the London production now number 350 with 187 understudies.

"Deservedly a classic among murder thrillers" The Observer

Sir Peter Saunders (1911 to 2003), the original producer of The Mousetrap from 1952 to 1994, writes: "When the late Queen Mary was approaching her eightieth birthday she was asked by the BBC what she would like to celebrate the event - anything from Shakespeare to opera. Queen Mary said she would like "an Agatha Christie play" and Mrs Christie promptly wrote a thirty-minute radio production called Three Blind Mice. This was eventually to become The Mousetrap.
It was some years later when Agatha Christie asked me to lunch with her. Over the coffee she handed me a brown paper parcel and said, "This is a little present for you". The present was the script of The Mousetrap and the one person who made no money out of it was the authoress herself. She had left it in trust for her seven-year-old grandson and all her royalties went to him.
When The Mousetrap opened on the 25th November 1952, Sir Winston Churchill was Prime Minister, Harry S. Truman was President of the USA and Stalin was Head of Russia. Meat, bacon, sugar, cheese, butter and margarine were still rationed. And every man and woman in the country had to have an Identity Card.
It would be easy to write a statistical biography of Agatha Christie. She has written or had adapted from her books 21 plays; her eightieth book was published on her eightieth birthday in September 1970, more than one billion of her books have been sold in the English language and more than one billion in foreign languages. In fact, in March 1962, UNESCO announced that Agatha Christie was the most widely read British writer in the world, with Shakespeare coming a poor second. In 1956 she was awarded the CBE, and in the New Year's Honours List of 1971 she was made a Dame of the Order of the British Empire.
But after an association and friendship with her lasting more than 25 years and halted only by her death on 12th January 1976, I would like to write a little more personally about her. Agatha Christie was very shy, although this shyness extended only to strangers. Among her friends she was both extremely talkative yet a wonderful listener and was extremely knowledgeable on a vast range of subjects. A great Royalist, she nevertheless disliked pomp. Until well into middle age she played tennis and could be seen with her family bathing on the beach at Paignton in Devon."

The Mousetrap in London originally opened at the Ambassadors Theatre on 25 November 1952, closed 23 March 1974, transferred to the St Martin's Theatre on 25 March 1974.