The Mousetrap (Wolverhampton)
The Queen of murder mystery, Agatha Christie arrives in Wolverhampton this week with the 60th Diamond Anniversary tour of The Mousetrap.
Setting the scene in a beautiful country manor, we’re introduced to Giles (Bruno Langley) and Mollie Ralston (Jemma Walker) who are set to open up their home as a guest house. One by one the guests arrive on a snowy night: Christopher Wren (Steven France), Miss Casewell (Clare Wilkie), Major Metcalfe (Graham Seed), Mrs Boyle (Elizabeth Power) and finally Mr Paravicini (Karl Howman). When Sergeant Trotter (Bob Saul) arrives and explains that one of them could be in danger after a recent murder everybody becomes a victim but also a potential suspect.
All is not as simple as it first appears and with a murder taking place within the walls of the manor, it’s left to the seven of them to discover who the murderer could be.
Perhaps one of the reasons this is the longest running show in British theatre history is down to its speech at the curtain call and in asking the audience (who are now partners in crime) to never disclose the true secrets that lie within Monkswell Manor, ensures the mystery around the play brings people back again and again.
With its clever back story and gripping performances, I can now understand why this classic tale of whodunit has lasted 60 strong years in the West End.
The Mousetrap plays at Wolverhampton Grand until Saturday 1 June and returns to the West Midlands when it arrives at Coventry’s Belgrade in November.
