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The Mouse Trap premiered on 6th October (1952), the play has been running continuously ever since, (approx 28,000 performances). It began life as a short radio play called Three Blind Mice and was first broadcast on May 30th 1947 in honour of Queen Mary, the consort of King George V.
It originated from the real-life case of Dennis O'Neill, who died after he and his brother Terence suffered extreme abuse while in the foster care of a Shropshire farmer and his wife in 1945.
When Agatha Christie wrote the play, she gave the rights to her grandson Mathew Prichard as a birthday present. In the United Kingdom, only one production of the play in addition to the West End production can be performed annually, and under the contract terms of the play, no film adaptation can be produced until the West End production has been closed for at least six months.
The Cast of Characters:
Mollie Ralston
Proprietor of Monkswell Manor, and wife of Giles.
Giles Ralston
Husband of Mollie who runs Monkswell Manor with his wife.
Christopher Wren
The first guest to arrive at the hotel,
Wren is a hyperactive young man who acts in a very peculiar manner.
He admits he is running away from something, but refuses to say what.
Wren claims to have been named after the architect
of the same name by his parents.
Mrs Boyle
A critical older woman who is pleased by nothing she observes.
Major Metcalf
Retired from the army, little is known about Major Metcalf.
Miss Casewell
A strange, aloof, masculine woman who speaks offhandedly
about the horrific experiences of her childhood.
Mr Paravicini
A man of unknown provenance, who turns up claiming his car
has overturned in a snowdrift. He appears to be affecting a foreign
accent and artificially aged with make-up.
Detective Sergeant Trotter
The detective role during the play. He arrives in a snow storm and
questions the proprietors and guests.
Voice on the radio
source of news relevant to the story
More than 400 actors have appeared in the play since 1952, including a handful of household names. When it first opened in London, it starred Richard Attenborough and his wife Sheila Sim.
Aged 84, Agatha Christie appeared in public for the last time at The Mousetrap’s annual party, in 1974. She died just over a year later, on January 12, 1976.
The murderer's identity is divulged near the end of the play, in a twist ending which is unusual for playing with the very basis of the traditional whodunnit formula, where the cliché is that the detective solves the crime and exposes the remaining plot secrets. By tradition, at the end of each performance, audiences are asked not to reveal the identity of the killer to anyone outside the theatre, to ensure that the end of the play is not spoilt for future audiences.
Now you have seen The Mouse Trap you are our partners in crime, and we ask you to preserve the tradition by keeping the secret of whodunit locked in your hearts.
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