The Rotorua Little Theatre Society's production of The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie has already had a few sold-out nights. Photo / Willi Werner
Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap is into its 70th West End year.
Bookings are open until September 2024, when they’ll undoubtedly be extended yet again and then again.
So what is it about the Queen of Crime’s enduring classic that makes it such a theatre stalwart?
There’s no need to take a long-haul flight to solve the mystery.
Head instead to our own Shambles Theatre where, as two excellently executed acts reach their climax, all will be revealed.
Director Richard Rugg is a Rotorua Little Theatre (RLT) past master of Christie productions. The Mousetrap makes it a three-peat.
Three of the cast of eight are also Christie old hands.
Helene Nicholson, Ashton Kusabs and Ian Stabler won applause for their roles in RLT’s 2021′s Witness for the Prosecution. This time round Stabler takes on the persona of ex army major Metcalf.
Nicholson plays Mollie Ralston, Kusabs is her husband Giles. They run the snowed-in guest house in which the plot is set.
Sharing the stage are the suspiciously named, self-proclaimed architect Christopher Wren (Matthew Sheard), the fault-finding Mrs Boyle (Rachael Bell), the aloof Miss Casewell (Kim Chapman) and the decidedly oddball Mr Paeravicini (Steve Fisher). All have the finger of suspicion pointed at them.
Detective Sergeant Trotter (Alasdair Hay), who skis in to crack the case, is doing the pointing as Three Blind Mice plays eerily in the background.
A killer is in their midst, He (or is it a she?) has murdered once. Will they strike again?
To reveal more would be the ultimate spoiler.
It takes a collectively talented cast to pull off a whodunnit of this calibre. Our home-grown dream team have succeeded in spades
With a run of only a couple of weeks as opposed to London’s seven decades, and with tickets in hot demand, time is of the essence.
It would be a criminal act to miss out.
The Play: The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie
Who: Director Richard Rugg, Cast from the Rotorua Little Theatre Society
Where: Rotorua’s Shambles Theatre
When: June 11 to June 24
Jill Nicholas was the author of the Rotorua Daily Post’s Our People series, which highlighted the lives of everyday Rotorua residents. She was also a former radio journalist, Rotorua Daily Post chief reporter and assistant editor and more recently contract court reporter.
The 19-year-old disappeared without her wallet or mobile phone.