The Mousetrap tickets

Agatha Christie's phenomenon The Mousetrap playing at the St. Martin's Theatre, now in its 65th year.

When The Mousetrap opened on 25th November 1952, with Richard Attenborough and his fellow film star and beloved wife Sheila Sim in the leading roles, it was only seven years since Hitler died. Much essential food was still rationed, Mr Winston Churchill was Prime Minister, Harry Truman was President of the United States, and Stalin was ruler of Russia. There was fighting in Korea, and Princess Elizabeth began her long reign as Queen. The last tram ran in London, television programmes ended at 10.30 p.m., and the entire TV listings only occupied three and a half lines.

Since The Mousetrap opened 450 actors and actresses have appeared in the play, there have been 260 understudies. The play has been presented in 27 different languages in more than 50 countries.

Having achieved many world records at The Ambassadors Theatre, where it opened, it moved to the St. Martin’s Theatre in March 1974 without missing a performance, and in its new home it has achieved many more world records. Only the clock on the mantelpiece has survived onstage and the original wind machine is still in use to this day. Everything else has been replaced.

What Is The Mousetrap About? 

The scene is set when a group of people gathered in a country house cut off by the snow discover, to their horror, that there is a murderer in their midst. Who can it be? One by one the suspicious characters reveal their sordid pasts until at the last, nerve-shredding moment the identity and the motive are finally revealed.