How has this English country-house whodunnit lasted? By telling a clear yarn with a twist. Politics is absent. Not a single swear word. A solid set. No damn puppets.
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“Those familiar with the Christie canon will find it easy to spot the murderer among this roll-call but this is not the only point of seeing the production. This is a beautifully preserved example of a country house murder mystery, a throwback to theatre going in the thirties. And should a disgruntled cab-driver tell you whodunnit there are several other moments of suspense and surprise in store to keep you guessing...An entertaining night out.”
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“’The Mousetrap’ provides what a theatre museum cannot...A piece of stage life lifted wholesale from the past, a piece that carries the DNA of the first performance, that has not been re-created but continuously re-enacted. Some of what is seen is the stuffiness that gives the overmaligned 50s a bad name...What makes it still enjoyable, for all the creaks, are Christie's puzzle plotting, the soothing certainty of resolution, and one surprise that is never mentioned.”
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“The eight-strong cast, as well as the director, changes regularly and if ‘fresh’ might be something of a stretch, the first half of Ross’s production is certainly spritely enough, as it sets in motion what looks to be a briskly efficient country house murder mystery...Unfortunately the second half gets increasingly creaky before a highly unconvincing, not to mention oddly peremptory ending. The cast play their roles, which are largely character types, with precision."
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“The real mystery...is not whodunit but, in its currently mediocre state, whydoit at all...This is a walking, talking piece of theatre history and the most expensive museum exhibit in London...A thin and campy shadow of its former self, whose creaks arise from cliché not suspense. Christie's best thrillers have a psychological conviction and a subtle sense of evil that the current cast shelve in favour of xenophobic exaggeration or dullness."
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