When was the play mousetrap written

Theatre Characters. Search all theatre characters. Audition Songs. Search all audition songs. Musical Theatre. Here are some of our favorite resources to help maximize theatre e-learning and enjoyment. Shows The Mousetrap.

Log in to add yourself as a fan! Show Information. Agatha Christie. Number of Acts. First Produced. Cast Size. Samuel French. It is not really frightening. It is not really horrible. It is not really a farce, but it has a little bit of all these things, and perhaps that satisfies a lot of different people.

But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! World-renowned Japanese writer Yukio Mishima dies by suicide after failing to win public support for his often extreme political beliefs.

Born in , Mishima was obsessed with what he saw as the spiritual barrenness of modern life. He preferred prewar Japan, with its austere The cover of the original programme. Note that it doesn't actually include the play's title. The Mousetrap is a murder mystery play by Agatha Christie. The Mousetrap opened in the West End of London in , and has been running continuously since then. It has the longest initial run of any play in history, with over 24, performances so far. It is the longest running show of any type of the modern era.

The play is also known for its twist ending, which the audience are traditionally asked not to reveal after leaving the theatre. The play had its origins in the real-life case of the death of a boy, Dennis O'Neill, who died while in the foster care of a Shropshire farmer and his wife in The play is based on a short story, itself based on the radio play, but Christie asked that the story not be published as long as it ran as a play in the West End of London.

The short story has still not been published within the United Kingdom but it has appeared in the United States in the collection Three Blind Mice and Other Stories. When she wrote the play, Christie gave the rights to her grandson Mathew Pritchard as a birthday present.

Outside of the West End, only one version of the play 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. In Shakespeare's play Hamlet , "The Mousetrap" is Hamlet's answer to Claudius's inquiry about the name of the play whose prologue and first scene the court has just observed III, ii.

The play is actually The Murder of Gonzago , but Hamlet answers metaphorically, since "the play's the thing" in which he intends to "catch the conscience of the king. The play's longevity has ensured its popularity with tourists from around the world, and in , with producer Stephen Waley-Cohen , it helped spawn a theatrical education charity, Mousetrap Theatre Projects, which helps young people experience London's theatre.

It was originally directed by Peter Cotes, elder brother of John and Roy Boulting, the film directors. It ran at this theatre until Saturday, 23 March when it immediately transferred to the St Martin's Theatre, next door, where it reopened on Monday, 25 March thus keeping its "initial run" status.

I imagine these send-ups are brilliant — could Mrs Barlow be the murderer? As Tom Stoppard demonstrated with his early play The Real Inspector Hound, about two theatre critics who get caught up in the preposterous country-house murder mystery they are watching, The Mousetrap must be the most spoofable play ever written. A few days later, I get a taste of what an alternative Mousetrap might be like.

At a gala charity evening to mark the 25,th performance , an all-star cast — including Patrick Stewart, Julie Walters Iain Glen and Miranda Hart — perform a reduced version, running to 80 minutes rather than two hours. They are clutching scripts and have had hardly any rehearsal, but give a spirited account that points up the comedy. Sudden death seems even more inconsequential than usual. Just before the gala, a memorial to Christie is unveiled close to St Martin's by her grandson, Mathew Prichard, to whom she gave the rights to The Mousetrap for his ninth birthday.

What a present! The statue, a bronze bust of the author set within a book, is monolithic and apparently immovable, but whether it will outlast her creation is a moot point. The Times, in a leader this week headlined "Mystery of The Mousetrap", anticipated the day when the show would finally close. But will that day ever come? Managed properly, I think it will run for ever.

The Mousetrap at why is this the world's longest-running play? Agatha Christie's whodunnit is 60 years old. What's the secret to its longevity? Stephen Moss goes behind the scenes, into 'the snow room' and off to the pub for a sing-song with the cast.