The Mousetrap can't be caught - now booking until December 2013

The Mousetrap

As the touring production of The Mousetrap continues to wend its way across the land, bamboozling and beguiling in equal amounts, the longest run in theatrical history continues in the West End.

The Mousetrap opened on 6th October 1952, roughly commensurate with the reign of Queen Elizabeth II and loved just as much. The plot is a classic, definitive, whodunit with a familiar Cluedo set-up - a host of colourful and enigmatic characters holed up in a country house.

Already aware that a murderer is in, or en route to, Monkswell Manor, the ensemble is plunged into crisis when elderly guest Mrs Boyle is murdered. The assembled cast include the hotel's proprietors, a mysterious foreigner, a retired major (of course) and many more genre defining tropes. Then there's Detective Sergeant Trotter, a policemen evidently sent to protect the guests from the murderer, should he or she arrive...

The ending of The Mousetrap is a relatively well-guarded secret, with audiences asked at the end of each performance not to reveal the twist ending. The Mousetrap is West End royalty and, as it marks its Diamond Jubilee in 2012, is now booking until 21st December 2013. There is every possibility that, even after around 25,000 performances to date, The Mousetrap will run forever.

For now, and perhaps always, it runs at the St Martin's Theatre with tickets available priced from as little as £16. The national tour continues in parallel with some tickets available from around £13, rising to £30. It is part of history and remains one of the West End's most popular shows. Just don't give away the ending.

Stewart Darkin