The Mousetrap

Finally got round to seeing the Mousetrap today. I must be the only person on the planet who didn't know who the murderer was. However, I assure you, it didn't stay that way for long! Even half way through the play I think most of the audience should have worked it out. I can only conclude, modern audiences have grown so sophisticated over the sixty years since it premiered that every literary sleight of hand going, has been seen so many times before, we know each step even before it's been taken. So what explains it's runaway success? It certainly is entertaining. There is something ever so slightly pantomime about its individual parts. Each character appears desperately earnest in its endeavor to convince the audience that they are the murderer in question, however unlikely. Maybe, we just need the familiar? After all, when we see a likeable comedian telling a joke that we've all heard before, we still laugh. The set was excellent. The first act was very good, but for me, the second act was a bit too busy self-consciously winding itself down, and with it's celebrated twist, by the time it finished, was actually more like a collapsing pack of cards.