After a sold-out capital city tour in 2022-23 to celebrate its 70th birthday, Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap will embark on a further tour across Australia in 2024. Produced by John Frost for Crossroads Live Australia and Shake & Stir Theatre Co, the acclaimed murder mystery will tour throughout New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania and the Northern Territory – kicking off at Newcastle’s Civic Theatre. Tickets are on sale or waitlists are live from today at themousetrap.com.au
The Mousetrap will be directed by Australian theatre icon Robyn Nevin with costume design and associate set design by Isabel Hudson and lighting design by Trudy Dalgleish.
“Following the hugely successful 70th anniversary tour, I’m thrilled to partner with Shake & Stir Theatre Co to tour The Mousetrap to regional Australia for the first time,” said John Frost. “I know audiences love to try and solve the mystery in what is probably the world’s most loved murder whodunnit. Will you pick the murderer?”
“We are chuffed to be collaborating with Crossroads Live to take ‘the world’s longest running show’ to some of our country’s most beautiful regions and venues,” says Nick Skubij, Shake & Stir Theatre Co’s Artistic Director. “This play has been a sensation for seven decades, and now audiences in regional areas will be able to experience the very same, adored production – that has continually broken records – in their own backyard. It will be a monumental tour.”
The Mousetrap had its world premiere on 6 October 1952 at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham. After a brief tour, it opened in London’s West End on 25 November 1952 at the Ambassadors Theatre, where it ran until 23 March 1974. It immediately transferred to the larger St Martin’s Theatre next door, where it continues to this day.
The longest-running West End show, it has by far the longest run of any play anywhere in the world, with over 28,500 performances so far. The play has a twist ending, which the audience are traditionally asked not to reveal after leaving the theatre.
Agatha Christie originally wrote the story as a short radio play entitled Three Blind Mice, which was broadcast in 1947 as a birthday present for Queen Mary. She eventually adapted the work into a short story before again rewriting it for the stage as The Mousetrap. Ironically, Christie did not expect the play to run for more than a few months and stipulated that no film of The Mousetrap be made until at least six months after the West End Production closed. 70 years on, as the show continues its historic London run, a film adaptation looks unlikely at this stage.
After a local woman is murdered, the guests and staff at Monkswell Manor find themselves stranded during a snowstorm. It soon becomes clear that the killer is among them, and the seven strangers grow increasingly suspicious of one another. A police detective, arriving on skis, interrogates the suspects: the newlyweds running the house; a spinster with a curious background; an architect who seems better equipped to be a chef; a retired Army major; a strange little man who claims his car has overturned in a drift; and a jurist who makes life miserable for everyone. When a second murder takes place, tensions and fears escalate. This record-breaking murder mystery features a brilliant surprise finish from the foremost mystery writer of all time.
For over 70 years, Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap has kept millions of people from every corner of the globe on the edge of their seats. It is the genre-defining murder mystery from the best-selling novelist of all time … case closed! Can you solve this world-famous mystery for yourself?
THE MOUSETRAP 2024 TOUR
Newcastle: Newcastle Civic Theatre 11-25 May 2024
Gold Coast: HOTA, Home of the Arts 29 May – 2 Jun 2024
Hobart: Theatre Royal 11-22 Jun 2024
Orange: Civic Theatre 27-30 Jun 2024
Geelong: Geelong Arts Centre 4-7 Jul 2024
Darwin: Darwin Entertainment Centre 11-13 Jul 2024
Port Macquarie: Glasshouse 17-19 Jul 2024
Toowoomba: Empire Theatre 23-24 Jul 2024
Frankston: Frankston Arts Centre 31 Jul – 3 Aug 2024
Albury: Albury Entertainment Centre 8-11 Aug 2024
Frenchs Forest: Glen St Theatre 15-25 Aug 2024
Mackay: Entertainment Convention Centre 29 Aug – 1 Sep 2024
Wollongong: Illawarra Performing Arts Centre 5-15 Sep 2024
