Three blind mice …
See how they run …
It seems that each play I see by Agatha Christie features a creepy song, and “The Mousetrap” was no exception. After almost 1 year from seeing “And Then There Were None” by Agatha Christie, I did it again 🙂 Of course, I went to the play without reading the book, so the whole story line was surprising and exciting!
“The Mousetrap” is a classic murder mystery. In a nutshell, the play tells the story of 5 travellers who are hosted at the Monkswell Manor during a snowstorm. At the same time, radio news inform that a murder took place in the neighbourhood and warns that the murderer could be close by, as all roads are blocked by snow.
As I was very enthusiastic about the play, in the aftermath I researched a bit about it. And I found two very interesting facts about the play:
- “The Mousetrap” had its premiere in 1952 (67 years ago) and has been running continuously since then. Thus it is considered the longest running show in the history of theatre, with more than 27.000 representations and more than 400 actors over time!
- Agatha Christie did not expect “The Mousetrap” to be so successful. She initially predicted the play to run for about 8 months (according to her autobiography) … what a surprise must have been when she celebrated the 10th year anniversary of the play!
It seems that, by tradition, at the end of the performances, the audience is asked to keep the secret regarding the identity of the killer so that the surprise element is not ruined for the next spectators. This happened at both plays, and I really hope it works!
At “The Mousetrap” there was one more announcement: one of the actors informed the audience that it was the birthday of one of the actresses and invited us to sing “happy birthday”. This was a nice behind-the-scenes moment that connected the audience with the actors, I enjoyed it a lot!
In conclusion, I recommend going to “The Mousetrap” by Agatha Christie. With plot twists and tense moments, the story will keep you hooked until the last moment!
‘Till next time … happy theatre-ing! 🙂
Georgiana
PS: Some logistical details about the play – it took place at the National Theatre in Bucharest. The ticket was 76 lei/person (approx. 16 euro)
Images from TNB.ro. Cover image adapted from the play’s poster from TNB.ro.
- Original name in Romanian: Cursa de soareci
- Director: Erwin Simsensohn
- Actors: Ileana Olteanu, Dragos Stemate, Florin Calbajos, Lari Giorgescu, Petre Ancuta, Simona Bondoc, Tomi Cristin, Ada Gales, Cosmina Olariu, Mihai Calota, Silviu Biris, Gavril Patru, Razvan Oprea
- Scenography: Liliana Cenean
- Music: Vlaicu Golcea
- Light design: Daniel Klinger
- Technical directors: Adrian Ionescu, Luțu Scobeniuc
Readers' High Tea 
That sounds like such an interesting play! I’ve never seen any Agatha Christie on the threatre, I’m really curious to see how her stories play out on the stage now.
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It’s definitely worth it to go to one of her plays! I’m on the other extreme – I haven’t read any of her books yet 🙂
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Oh really? Since you’re enjoying the plays, I’m sure you’ll enjoy her books too, when you get around to reading them 🙂 I’d love to hear your thoughts on them when you do!
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