Welcome to show 28,922 of...
The first rule of The Mousetrap is: don’t talk about The Mousetrap. Agatha Christie’s classic whodunnit has been thrilling audiences for decades – and yet the identity of the murderer remains theatre’s best-kept secret.
The world’s longest-running play reaches its 70th anniversary today, so I went backstage to uncover some of its other theatrical secrets.
Like how the actors manage to arrive on stage looking like they’ve hiked through a blizzard.
In the cramped “snow room” at London’s St Martin’s Theatre, I’m told to shut my eyes and mouth – and then I brace myself for what’s to come.
A flurry of tiny “snowflakes” of white suds, which quickly cover my hair and coat and leave me recalling my university foam party days.
“The room takes a lot of maintenance,” says Paula Salmon, the show’s company stage manager. “We like it to be fluffy, with big flakes, so when the actors walk on stage they genuinely look like they’ve been in a blizzard.”
And it was very realistic – just like the real thing, once I step on to the warmer stage it melts in no time at all.
But The Mousetrap is a lot longerlasting. Starting as a radio play, it premiered in the West End in 1952.
Richard Attenborough played the lead role of Detective Sergeant Trotter and his wife Sheila Sim was Mollie Ralston, the owner of the guesthouse where a murderer is thought to be hiding.
In the years since it may have attracted fewer major stars, with a cast that changes every six months, yet it is as much a part of the London tourist experience as seeing Big Ben.
There have been some technological advances and changes such as computerised sounds, but many of the props and special effects date back to the 1950s.
Paula also shows me the wind machine that creates the eerie sound of the blizzard.
Hand-operated, it’s made from a barrel, and it can do different wind speeds depending on how fast or slow the handle is moved.
The mantlepiece clock is also the same one used in The Mousetrap’s very first production.
However, props are quickly replaced if they get tatty or broken.
Paula says: “Everything has to look new. The audience are seeing it for the first time, so I don’t want them to see props looking dog-eared.
“We have boxes and boxes of printed newspapers, which come from a West End prop-house upstairs, so we always have fresh ones.”
By this morning, The Mousetrap has been performed 28,922 times. More than 10 million tickets have been sold and more than 500 tonnes of ice cream eaten during the intervals.
James Prichard, Christie’s greatgrandson and the CEO of Agatha Christie Limited, describes its longevity as extraordinary.
He adds: “I think my great-grandmother would be amazed that they still
have the interest in her work, and hope she’d be immensely proud.”
But what is its secret? Paula, 43, puts it down to the fact that it’s a window into the past: “It’s like looking back at 1952. It’s set then, and when it opened it was current. So anybody that sees it now gets a snapshot of that year and agatha Christie’s vision of that.” James, 52, says it is because it is a bloody good” murder mystery. It does get some stick for being old-fashioned,” he says. “But the story is a very clever one, with a twist that still shocks audiences today.”
With so much thought put into the play, it’s little wonder audiences are charmed by it. Paula says there’s no obvious demographic of people who come to see it. It attracts everybody from American tourists, who love its quintessentially British charm, to London locals. There’s also a mix of ages, from schoolchildren to people who were brought to see it as children 30 or 40 years ago, and are now bringing their own families.
And it also boasts celebrity fans, including Paul McCartney who saw it two months ago, and royalty – the late Queen saw it with Prince Philip in 2002.
There’s one thing everyone who sees it has in common though.
At the end of the play, the audience are told to “keep the secret” of who the killer is, so the twist isn’t spoiled for those who haven’t seen it.
And they do tend to keep schtum. Paula says: “That’s a big part of why it’s been running for so long.”
Producer Adam Spiegel, 54, wants the play to run on and on. “I have my eye on producing the 80th anniversary,” he says. “I see it as the crown jewel of the West End.”
Tickets at uk.the-mousetrap.co.uk
We have boxes of papers so they aren’t dog-eared
PAULA SALMON STAGE MANAGER FOR THE PLAY The story is a clever one with a twist that still shocks JAMES PRICHARD CEO OF AGATHA CHRISTIE LTD