Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap -- arrives in NZ next week

The longest-running show in the world opens in Auckland on Tuesday
Headed for Christchurch and Wellington

‘A truly entertaining classic’ - The Sunday Times, UK

The longest-running show in the world, THE MOUSETRAP – a slick locked-room whodunit by the grande dame of murder mysteries Agatha Christie – arrives in New Zealand next week.

A limited number of tickets remain for the Auckland season which opens at the ASB Waterfront Theatre on Tuesday, 2 April (gala night Wednesday). Fans are urged to get their tickets ASAP to avoid disappointment.

Tickets are also selling fast for the theatrical masterpiece at Christchurch’s Isaac Theatre Royal from
24 April and Wellington’s Opera House from 8 May. Check out www.themousetrap.co.nz for details.

Written by the best-selling novelist of all time (Death on the Nile, Miss Marple, Poirot) and the ‘Queen of Crime’, Dame Agatha Christie, THE MOUSETRAP has kept audiences guessing for six decades.

In her own inimitable style, Dame Agatha has created an atmosphere of shuddering suspense and a brilliantly intricate plot where murder lurks around every corner.

Newly opened guesthouse, Monkswell Manor, is snowed in and amongst the seemingly ordinary gathering of guests, a killer lurks.… Having already killed once, the murderer strikes again. The tension is razor sharp: everyone is a suspect; everyone a potential victim. One by one the characters reveal their pasts, and a complex web of deceit and suspicion emerges. But who will be next, and who is the killer?

The fabulous cast features English actor and ‘60s pop idol and UK entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest, Mark Wynter (Venus in Blue Jeans and Go Away Little Girl) as Mr Paravicini who arrives at Monkswell Manor by accident after his car becomes stuck in snow during a terrible blizzard.

Describing it as “a classic Agatha Christie story,” Wynter believes that THE MOUSETRAP's irresistible combination of a thrilling murder mystery and more jovial elements is a big part of its success. “The production has a lot of humour in it, which was one of the hallmarks of Agatha Christie’s writing,” he says. “She would build up the tension and then throw in a bit of black comedy that would undercut it, and allow her to build the tension back up again.

Bumbling newbie hoteliers Mollie (Melissa Haiden, Jadotville and Troy: The Fall of a City, Saints & Strangers, and BBC’s The Wrong Mans) and husband Giles (Mark Sykes, The British (BBC), The Mighty Boosh (BBC), Bluestone 42 (BBC)) prepare to receive their first batch of visitors.

These include the architect Christopher Wren (Matthew Lotter), fussy retired magistrate Mrs Boyle (Michele Maxwell), military man Major Metcalf (Malcolm Terrey), and self-assured Miss Casewell (Shannyn Fourie). The weather has turned foul, and as a result they’re trapped in the guest house.

Meanwhile in London, a woman has been murdered, and a suspect is on the loose. According to district Detective Sergeant Trotter (Aidan Scott) he could be headed to the guest house. So the valiant copper puts on his skis and battles a snow storm to get to the venue. Once there, he warns the guests that they may be in some danger, and that the danger could come from within the guest house itself. Next thing, in true Christie style, there’s another corpse. And the quest is on to find out whodunit.

Christie’s classic whodunit opened in London’s West End in November 1952 and has since played over 27,500 performances. THE MOUSETRAP is the longest running stage production in the world and after 66 years, continues to play to packed houses and delight audiences at London’s St. Martin’s Theatre. Originally written by Agatha Christie as a radio play titled Three Blind Mice and broadcast in 1947, Christie then adapted the radio play for a short story of the same name before again rewriting for the stage as THE MOUSETRAP.

‘One of the most skilfully written murder mysteries ever produced.’
- New York Times

THE MOUSETRAP is produced in New Zealand by Lunchbox Theatrical Productions
in association with Pieter Toerien.

Book at
www.themousetrap.co.nz

Auckland
ASB Waterfront Theatre
From Tuesday, 2 April
Show times: Tuesday – Friday 7.30pm; Saturday 2.30 & 7.30pm; Sunday 1pm & 5pm
Special matinee performance Thursday, 11 April, at 2pm
Tickets from $89.90
www.themousetrap.co.nz

Christchurch
Isaac Theatre Royal
From Wednesday, 24 April
Show times: Tuesday – Friday 7.30pm; Saturday 2.30 & 7.30pm; Sunday 1pm & 5pm
Tickets from $89.90
www.themousetrap.co.nz

Wellington
Wellington Opera House
From Wednesday, 8 May
Show times: Tuesday – Friday 7.30pm; Saturday 2.30 & 7.30pm; Sunday 1pm & 5pm
Tickets from $89.90
www.themousetrap.co.nz

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