Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap is heading into its 75th year in the West End with a new director in Hannah Chissick, a new company from 11 November, a refitted St Martin's Theatre and a gala performance on 25 November 2026.
Producer Brian Fenty has set out how Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap will mark the start of its 75th year in London, and the plan runs well beyond a birthday curtain call. The world's longest-running show is getting a new director, a new company of eight, a redesigned set, lighting and sound, and a refurbishment of its home at the St Martin's Theatre, with a gala performance on 25 November 2026 to round it off.
The gala date is the anniversary itself: the play opened in the West End on 25 November 1952, and it has occupied the St Martin's since 25 March 1974.
Hannah Chissick, who is already directing the production's 75th anniversary UK and Ireland tour, now takes charge of the London staging as well. Her new West End company begins performances on 11 November 2026:
- Marcus Adolphy as Major Metcalf
- Jonathan Cobb as Detective Sergeant Trotter
- Rosa Coduri-Fulford as Miss Casewell
- Dean Graham as Mr Paravicini
- Dan Nicholson as Giles Ralston
- Jake Rory as Christopher Wren
- Gay Soper as Mrs Boyle
- Sarah Twomey as Mollie Ralston
The staging has been rethought around them, with set design by Walt Spangler, lighting by Nic Farman and sound by Max Perryment. Marc Frankum cast the company, Maisie Carter is fight and intimacy director, Caroline Hannam is costume supervisor, Nicola Crawford is associate lighting designer and Myles Brown is resident director. The words themselves stay as Christie wrote them.
The building is being given the same attention. Studio Shayne Brady, whose recent hospitality work includes the Gallery at The Savoy and Simpson's in the Strand, is refreshing the interiors, with new bars and Christie-inspired detailing across the Stalls, Dress Circle and Upper Circle, and Mr Lyan Studio is devising a cocktail menu served only at the St Martin's.
For a show whose appeal has always rested on staying the same, that is a good deal of change at once, and Fenty was careful to present all of it as serving the original. "As we approach the extraordinary 75th year of The Mousetrap, we have made a substantial investment in the production, its historic home at St Martin's Theatre and the entire audience experience, ensuring this theatrical treasure shines with all the brilliance of its opening night in 1952," he said. "Every element of our investment - from the loving refurbishment of the theatre to the care devoted to the set, lighting, effects and direction - serves her storytelling."
Chissick said: "I am so honoured to be joining The Mousetrap as director, especially as the show enters its incredible 75th year in the West End."
The play began life as Three Blind Mice, a Christie radio play first broadcast on 30 May 1947. It is one of just two plays by women on in the West End at present, and for most of its long run it has been the only one.
Performances run at 7.30pm on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, at 3pm and 7pm on Tuesday, and at 3pm and 7.30pm on Friday and Saturday, with a different schedule over Christmas. Tickets start at £25.
The Mousetrap is booking now at the St Martin's Theatre.
