BWW Reviews: THE MOUSETRAP, Theatre Royal, Glasgow, September 15 2014

One of the reasons I was most excited for my first visit to see The Mousetrap was that I had never had it spoiled for me. Last night I learned that the reason for this is that the audience are politely asked at the end to keep the secret of The Mousetrap to themselves. It appears this has worked very well for the last 62 years and this really adds to the charm of the play.

Set in a newly opened guest house outside London, a recently married couple take in their first guests during a blizzard. The radio reports a woman was strangled nearby and gives a vague description of the killer. As events unfold we learn that the woman who was killed was convicted of child neglect and the investigating officer informs the guests at Monkswell Manor that the address of the guesthouse was found at the crime scene. Everybody is under suspicion and we begin to learn more about these mysterious travellers and the body count soon doubles.

At the interval I enjoyed listening to the audience members around me trying to speculate who the murderer was. The storyline is excellent and this is a very well executed production. The set is simple yet beautiful and lighting has been used with very effective results. I have been sworn to secrecy and can't give away very much about Act 2 but there are a lot of unexpected twists.

I'm not surprised that The Mousetrap has been running for as long as it has- but I am surprised it hasn't aged at all. Nothing about the production seems dated and there is a decent amount of humour as well as mystery in the play.

The Mousetrap is on tour around the UK.

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