“The Mousetrap” by Agatha Christie
Nottingham Theatre Royal

The longest running theatre show in the world, now in it’s 67th year, returns to Nottingham.

Agatha Christie gave the rights to The Mousetrap to her grandson Mathew Prichard for his 9th birthday. At the time he wanted a bike. Think how many bikes he could have bought over the years with the gift bestowed on him by his Grandmother.

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

And in the true tradition of Ms Christie's plays, I couldn't possibly tell you who dunnit, as I'd have to..... well you know what I mean!

Gwyneth Strong, who you may recognise from playing Cassandra in “Only Fools And Horses” on the BBC plays Mrs Boyle. The typical crotchety older woman who would get on anyone's nerves.

The husband and wife owners of the house, Mr and Mrs Ralston (Nick Biadon and Harriet Hare) and their guests Christopher Wren (Lewis Chandler), a wonderfully camp, excitable but also quite fragile young man, Major Metcalf (John Griffiths), Miss Casewell (Saskia Vaigncourt-Strallen) - suited and booted, and the unexpected late comer Mr Paravicini (David Alcock) - looking quite similar to Hercule Poirot, complete with foreign accent and a strange sense of humour.

The mood changes somewhat though when the Ralston's receive a call from the police, telling them that Sgt Trotter (Geoff Arnold) is on his way up through the ever deepening snow to ask some serious questions.

Can Trotter stem the flow of murders? Someone in that house is not who they profess to be, but who?

Directed by Gareth Armstrong, he keeps a well balanced tension Vs comedy ratio, and I loved the whole feel of the era with the wonderful set design. You could almost feel the cold from the window when opened and the snow was falling.

Agatha Christie is the Queen of the Whodunnit, and I could watch her plays over and over and still get the same edge of the seat tingle as the story progresses and the person/s responsible are eventually discovered.

There are plenty of twists and turns and red herrings, interesting characters with wonderful accents and costumes befitting of the fabulous period to keep you interested and sleuthing. And the one thing that I noticed as well was just how fast those two hours went by as I was completely enveloped in the story, characters, back stories and motive.

You can see why this play is still as popular with the theatre going audience today as they ever were, and also why it's the longest running piece of theatre today.

I also bet Mathew Prichard is now pleased that Granny Agatha didn't get him a bike!

Brilliant cast, wonderful set, classic whodunnit proving that the older a great piece of writing gets, the better it becomes, at least in this case.

“The Mousetrap” is at the Nottingham Theatre Royal until Saturday 22 June.