I Finally Saw The Mousetrap
As I mentioned in my London diaries for this year, I did finally buckle down and see The Mousetrap. It's been running for 72 years, so there's technically no real concern of it suddenly stopping its run. But there is that little part of my brain that assumes that the minute I decide I can just see it "whenever," this pillar of English theatre will suddenly collapse just to spite me. (Don't laugh, it happened with a really good chicken restaurant so now I have trust issues.)
Recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as "the world's longest-running play," Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap is what I guess we'd term a "cozy murder mystery" in this day and age. It takes place in a massive country house turned guest house, just after a major murder has made it into the papers. As demonstrated early in act one, literally anyone in the cast could be the murderer, and they could absolutely kill again. The audience is silently invited to play detective as the story spins out, with the final twist being one of theatre's best-kept secrets.
Or at least it was 'til someone put it up on the Wikipedia article. But I didn't look before I went because that didn't feel sporting.
I was present for the 29,811th performance of this history-making play. So... is it worth it?
Yeah sure I think so.
The Story
I, frankly, do not care that you can look up the ending online. I am keeping my summary spoiler-free. The cast asked nicely at the end and by God I shall listen.
The story takes place at Monkswell Manor, now owned by Giles and Mollie Ralston and soon to open as a guest house. The married couple have four guests on the docket for opening: Christopher Wren (not that one), Mrs. Boyle, Major Metcalfe, and Miss Casewell. A fifth guest, calling himself Mr. Paravicini, also arrives amidst a raging snowstorm that cuts off the Manor from the outside world.
Just before the action of the play begins, a woman named Maureen Lyon is murdered. The killing hangs over the entirety of the play, initially because every person who walks through the door appears to be dressed fitting the description of her murderer. But the murder veers closer to Monkswell Manor when they receive a visit from Detective Sergeant Trotter, braving the snowstorm to tell them that the murder is in fact tied to this very manor.
The prehistory of The Mousetrap unfolds bit by bit, with nearly every character having some tie to the much olde tragedy believed to have inspired this murder. Someone else in Monkswell will die... and by the end of the first act, they do.
From there, the story becomes a locked-room mystery, with the story of an abused young brother and sister underscoring the action from the past. The murderer is in their midst—and if the constant appearance of "Three Blind Mice" is any indication, one more person will die on this night.
The Twist
"But she's just said she's not giving away the twist!" I'm not. But I do still want to talk about the fact that it exists, its place in theatrical history, and its place in mystery fiction as a whole.
It was interesting coming in as an audience member in 2024, relatively immersed in all sorts of detective fiction (both as a reader and an occasional writer). In many genres, we're in an era where pretty much every twist that can be twisted has been twisted. Things that were once surprises are now tropes, and it can be difficult to remember that when going back and viewing the trope-maker. Nowadays, we "twist" stories by mashing up genres, or fitting a genre or medium used to tell one type of story to another type of story. (Magilumiere Co. Ltd., for example, subverts magical girl tropes by using them to tell a story of finding satisfaction in an adult work environment.)
In other words, the twist of The Mousetrap has emerged in other detective fiction in the decades since. But in the time it was written, it was very new and very subversive and was something of a commentary on the whole genre itself. If and when you go to see it yourself, bear that in mind: this is of another era. This is history-making for more reasons than "lots of performances." You may guess the twist (I did and then second-guessed myself), but it's because Christie herself helped to grow the murder mystery genre with her works (this play included).
And if you don't guess the twist, I don't blame you. Like I said, I second-guessed myself. And there are enough red herrings to jar and pickle for the winter. But even those red herrings (or at least most of them) have a purpose in the larger plot.
The Writing
It won't surprise you to know that the writing for The Mousetrap is Very Good Actually; nor will it surprise you to know I'm especially intrigued by it. A book and a play are two very different beasts, requiring two very different writing methods. Books are read leisurely (by some, I hear); plays happen in a set time at a set pace. With a book, you can flip back and check things you may have missed or reference things that seem important. In a play, you're on a ride and you're not getting off 'til it's over.
As a person of very flighty brain, I was initially concerned about having to remember multiple suspects/potential victims as Giles and Mollie started going over their ledger. But I love the trick Christie pulled here: finding reasons to repeat the names of the lodgers several times in list form—checking their reservations, swapping their rooms, etc. By the time the house was full, you had "Christopher Wren, Mrs. Boyce, Major Metcalfe, Miss Casewell" lodged in your mind.
Each character's personality, motivation, and (chiefly) reaction to everything going on around them differs enough that even if a name slips your mind, everyone stands sufficiently apart. This is naturally well done on the actors' part, too, but it's also very rooted in the writing. Miss Casewell's snide, aloof exterior is worlds apart from Mollie Ralston's professionalism thinly spread over a waiting panic attack. Every character also has layers, and seeing those layers fall away to reveal someone completely new and different and vulnerable is amazing.
There's a reason Agatha Christie is as celebrated as she is. And if for some reason you haven't already seen it in book after book, The Mousetrap will show you.
In short—I went to see The Mousetrap because I love Agatha Christie, and because it's A Thing You Do when you're in London. You go see the forever play with the secret ending. But the focus on its cultural significance fell away as I got into the story, and yeah, there's a reason it's gone on as long as it has.
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