The Mousetrap
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- For more meanings, see mousetrap (disambiguation).
The Mousetrap is a play by Agatha Christie that started off as a short radio play called Three Blind Mice in honour of Queen Mary, the consort of King George V.
It began a record shattering run on the London stage on 25 November 1952 at the Ambassadors' Theatre and has clocked up over 20,000 performances. It is still running to date (2005) at St Martin's Theatre.
The original West End cast included Richard Attenborough.
Since the death of David Raven, who made history as the most durable actor for his 4575 performances as Major Metcalfe, the cast has been changed anually. The change usualy occurs around November, and was the initiative of Sir Peter Saunders, the original producer. There is a tradition of the previous leading lady and the new leading lady cutting the "Mousetrap cake".
The play is based on a short story, itself based on the radio play, but Christie asked that the story not be published as long as it ran as a play in the West End of London. It has still not been published within the United Kingdom. However, the script has been made available for common purchase.
By tradition, audiences are asked not to reveal the identity of the killer to anyone outside of the theatre at the end of the performance.