THE MOUSETRAP Welcomes New Cast Member as Extra Performances Announced

Rising star Katherine Pearson (A Midsummer Nights' Dream, Wind in the Willows) will be joining the cast of Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap in the role of the mysteriously aloof Miss Casewell for the Canberra, Parramatta and return Brisbane seasons. To celebrate its 70th Anniversary, this iconic play is touring Australia and receiving critical acclaim and unanimous praise from sell out audiences. The Mousetrap will play at Canberra Theatre Centre from 11 May, a return season in Brisbane from 25 May, and at Riverside Theatres, Parramatta from 15 June.

Due to huge demand, extra performances have been added to the Brisbane season (on Sunday 11 June) and to the Parramatta season (on Sunday 25 June).

Katherine Pearson joins the celebrated cast which includes international theatre star Anna O'Byrne as Mollie Ralston, the young owner of Monkswell Manor, and Helpmann Award winner Alex Rathgeber as Giles Ralston. Laurence Boxhall is Christopher Wren, a flighty and neurotic young guest at Monkswell Manor. As the seriously unpleasant retired magistrate Mrs Boyle, Geraldine Turner returns to the stage, alongside Adam Murphy as retired British military officer Major Metcalf. Mr Paravicini, an unexpected guest at Monkswell Manor, is played by the legendary Gerry Connolly while Belvoir favourite Tom Conroy plays Detective Sergeant Trotter. Jack Bannister, Elisa Colla and Chris Parker complete the cast as standbys. The Mousetrap is directed by Australian theatre icon Robyn Nevin. Costume design and associate set design is by Isabel Hudson, and lighting design by Trudy Dalgleish.

"I'm thrilled that sell out audiences across Australia have been loving Robyn Nevin's new production of The Mousetrap with this stellar cast," said John Frost. "This enduring and much-loved murder mystery, celebrating its 70th anniversary, has received an overwhelmingly positive response everywhere it has played. Will you solve the mystery and pick the murderer?"

The Mousetrap had its world premiere on 6 October 1952 at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham. After a brief tour, it opened in London's West End on 25 November 1952 at the Ambassadors Theatre, where it ran until 23 March 1974. It immediately transferred to the larger St Martin's Theatre next door, where it continues to this day.

The longest-running West End show, it has by far the longest run of any play anywhere in the world, with over 28,500 performances so far. The play has a twist ending, which the audience are traditionally asked not to reveal after leaving the theatre.

Agatha Christie originally wrote the story as a short radio play entitled Three Blind Mice, which was broadcast in 1947 as a birthday present for Queen Mary. She eventually adapted the work into a short story before again rewriting it for the stage as The Mousetrap. Ironically, Christie did not expect the play to run for more than a few months and stipulated that no film of The Mousetrap be made until at least six months after the West End Production closed. 70 years on, as the show continues its historic London run, a film adaptation looks unlikely at this stage.

After a local woman is murdered, the guests and staff at Monkswell Manor find themselves stranded during a snowstorm. It soon becomes clear that the killer is among them, and the seven strangers grow increasingly suspicious of one another. A police detective, arriving on skis, interrogates the suspects: the newlyweds running the house; a spinster with a curious background; an architect who seems better equipped to be a chef; a retired Army major; a strange little man who claims his car has overturned in a drift; and a jurist who makes life miserable for everyone. When a second murder takes place, tensions and fears escalate. This record-breaking murder mystery features a brilliant surprise finish from the foremost mystery writer of all time.

For 70 years, Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap has kept millions of people from every corner of the globe on the edge of their seats. It is the genre-defining murder mystery from the best-selling novelist of all time ... case closed! Can you solve this world-famous mystery for yourself?

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