Next year the world’s longest-running stage production will celebrate its 60th consecutive year in London’s West End.
For over 50 years, Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap has been the world’s longest-running theatrical show. Richard Attenborough and his film-star wife Sheila Sim played the leading roles in the opening production at the Ambassadors Theatre in 1952. The play moved to the St Martin’s Theatre in 1973 without missing a performance. Since The Mousetrap opened, 403 actors and 235 understudies have appeared in the play.
On 25 November 2002, The Mousetrap celebrated its golden jubilee with a Birthday Gala performance attended by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh. Lord (Richard) Attenborough gave the famous curtain speech exactly 50 years since he first delivered it in London: ‘Now you have seen The Mousetrap you are our partners in crime, and we ask you to preserve the tradition by keeping the secret of whodunit locked in your hearts.’
Agatha Christie’s books have sold billions of copies around the world, and more than any other author except Shakespeare and copies of the Bible.
In September 2012 The Mousetrap will begin its first ever UK tour. The tour is planned to run for 60 weeks. It starts in Canterbury and will travel to Glasgow, Milton Keynes, Belfast, Cardiff, Plymouth, Manchester, Edinburgh, Southampton, Woking and Bradford.
The Mousetrap continues at St Martin’s Theatre in London at 7.30pm Mon–Sat, with matinees 3pm Tue and 4pm Sat. There are no discounted tickets for any performances, but at £15–£41 they generally cost less than full-price tickets for other London shows.
St Martin’s Theatre, West Street, London WC2H 9NZ
Tel: +44 844 499 1515 (box office)
Website: www.the-mousetrap.co.uk