St Martin’s Theatre

As The Mousetrap is the only show perfomed at this theatre, obviously that’s what we went to see.
The theatre is beautiful, if on the dusty side, and wonderfully laid out. I don’t think there are any bad seats in the house. We went for a cheaper category and had a great view of the stage.
The show itself might be running for 60+ years, and it does feel a little outdated, but it’s still dynamic and entertaining. We very much enjoyed it.

My my my, this is a delightful theater. I think there are no bad seats in the house.
It was designed by W. G. R. Sprague. Richard Verney, 19^th Baron Willoughby de Broke commissioned Sprague to design the theatre building. The construction of St. Martin’s was delayed by the outbreak of World War I. He went on to design a large number of theatres and music halls, almost all of them in London. At the height of his career he showed amazing productivity and designed six theatres in Westminster in less than four years. He went on to design a large number of theatres and music halls, almost all of them in London. He designed six theatres in Westminster in less than four years. Sprague studied architectural forms and conventions and used his knowledge in his designs, saying of himself that he «liked the Italian Renaissance» as a style for his frontages, but would take liberties when needed «to get the best effects». Saint Martin’s is a delight to the eyes both inside and out.

We were visiting London from the US and since I have always bin a big Agatha Christie friend, we went to go see the play. This play is apparently the longest continuous running play in the world. We loved that the theater was kind of old and charming. The seats are a little close together so there was not a lot of elbow room. The actors and actresses were very convincing. all in all this was a great play!

A London classic. Still as taut, exciting, and superbly acted in 2014 as I remember it being on my first trip to London circa 1990. The theater wasn’t full on a weeknight in June, so we were able to move to choicer seats.

Shhh! Can you keep a secret?
Good, so can I! :P
When you go to see The Mousetrap, the cast asks that the audience kindly keep the mystery of the whodunit so that the longest running show in the world (62 years!) can keep entertaining people. But they never said I had to keep how much fun it is a secret, so here is my spoiler-​free opinion!
The Mousetrap is very enjoyable and builds up great atmosphere. On a cold night in London, I found it really perfect to enter a tale filled with chilly winter storms and very English sensibilities. If you enjoy murder mysteries, as many of us do, or are an Agatha Christie fan as I am, this is your cup of tea. Although I think quite a few of her other books are superior, this storyline translated well into a hammy and over the top performance by most of the actors. This isn’t sophisticated theatre, but it is an institution and now that I’ve seen it, I would recommend it for visitors especially who want to feel British for an evening and enjoy the culture.

If you are reading this to find out who did it, tough luck. You need to to put yourself through this experience just like I did.
On the plus side, bar drinks are affordable and they offer double pours. It helps.

St. Martins Theatre is a lovely small but perfectly formed Edwardian theatre just around the corner from Leicester square. Inside the main auditorium the dress circle is at a decent height not too far above the stage making the slightly cheaper tickets a good buy. Typical then that for the first time in years I decided to splash out on stalls tickets. The Mousetrap itself is a great and classically old school Agatha Christie murder mystery. It really drew you into the post war setting of home counties England. I bought the tickets as the ‘paper’ gift for our first wedding anniversary. Here’s a heads up to anyone thinking of doing the same as the play contains a very charming reference to first wedding anniversaries right at the end. Something that happened by pure chance for me that I managed to play off as part of the master plan. Oh and if you want to know who did it, it wasoh no, I’m not breaking sixty years of tradition, buy a ticket it’s a a great two hours of escapism.

I have lived in London all my life and I have always wanted to see The Mousetrap. It has been on for 60 years now so it’s clearly doing something right. So when Ian presented me with tickets for my birthday I was very excited, and they were great seats too. But I have to be honest and say that my visit was very underwhelming.
Agatha Christie is an institution in her own right and the story itself is very clever, with twists and turns, murder and deception — and a brief warning at the end not to reveal ‘whodunnit’. The play itself… very tired. It really needs a revamp and unfortunately the cast we saw were terrible. They made the dialogue very flawed and stilted. A couple of the cast were good and you could see they had put some real life into their characters but the others… well it was like watching the beginners guide to acting and reading lines without genuine emotion.
How disappointing — but I can only judge it on the one performance I have seen which is why I have given it 3 stars. It has the essence and the history of being a great play, so if you are interested in seeing it, don’t let this review put you off. If you do go be warned, tickets are expensive and there are very rarely any ticket offers for the show itself so book in advance if you can to save disappointment.
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A beautiful theatre. Located down some side roads and opposite the the Ivy restaurant, lies St Martin’s theatre. For some time now it’s been more or less known as The Mousetrap theatre as this has been the only show performed here for the past 60 years and shows no sign of finishing — possibly not even in our lifetime.
The play is great although, sadly, the current cast isn’t the best. But this shouldn’t detract too much from a great story.
A smallish theatre holding around 550 (a rough estimate) over three levels, stalls, dress circle, upper circle. The rows of seats in the auditorium are only as wide as the stage, so no angled, skewed views from seats at the end of a row. Stage visibility is good from all areas with the possible exception being the first couple of rows in the upper circle where a guard rail may obscure the view slightly. I’ve never sat in those rows so I’m only guessing. Reds, browns and golds dominate the eye. Varnished wood panelling gleams (when the lights are up) and almost everything else is a deep shade of red — chairs, curtain, wallpaper etc. — and most of this has either a gold trim or gold designs upon it. There’s also a huge glass dome in the ceiling adding to the grandeur of this modest sized West End theatre.
If you’re not a regular theatre goer then you may be a little surprised at the cost of drinks and nibbles here. That’s not unique to St Martin’s theatre, all theatres in this area will be on the expensive side.
CAVEAT!
I’ve never needed to find out but I gather wheelchair access in to this theatre is more than a little awkward. Steps to get in and more steps when inside then some narrow, slightly winding corridors thrown in to the mix. As I say, it’s out of my experience but I’m aware of some complaints.
Otherwise a lovely little theatre — providing you like The Mosetrap!
TTFN,
Ian

Ein Klassiker beim Londonbesuch.
Wir waren damals mit unserer Englischklasse da.
Das Ensemble weiß aber auch nach der x-​ten Vorstellung immer noch zu begeistern und mit dem Mörder zu überraschen.
Wenn man Abends vom Sight Seeing erschöpft ist, kann man hier den Abend gewiss auf eine nette Art ausklingen lassen.
(Natürlich sollten für ein Theaterstück in englischer Sprache auch die entsprechenden Sprachkenntnisse vorhanden sein, sonst macht es wahrscheinlich nicht ganz so viel Spaß)
Hingehen!

I’m so glad we decided to skip all the American imports and see this London institution. It was wonderful and had a great surprise ending that we couldn’t have seen coming. I wonder if the board game Clue was based around something like this. I’m glad we saw it.

A fun show for a decent price and well acted. A good mystery and only giving it a 4 stars because I had seen Kevin Spacey in Richard II at the Old Vic, which makes everything else pale a bit in comparison. Still, Mousetrap is an interesting show and well-​done and good for the family.

When you’re visiting London for the first time and you tell friends you’re going to see «The Mousetrap,» their reactions will be the same: a wry smile and a polite benign groan. After seeing it, you’ll understand and feel the same way. If you’re planning a trip to London, and a friend suggests you go see it, put it on your list of possibilities but don’t plan an entire day around it.
This Agatha Christie whodunnit is not one of her best (it was written as a gift), and figuring out who the murderer is doesn’t require as much brain power to figure out. The actors are rotated on a yearly basis. The St. Martin’s Theatre is a beautiful interior – unpainted dark woods, tight seating (big American butts beware), old fashioned.
As for the ending: no, it wasn’t the butler; there is no butler in the cast.

Wir waren in der — wenn ich’s mir richtig gemerkt habe — 16.437 Vorstellung — von The Mousetrap. Als Agatha Christie fans kannte ich das Stück und Sohnemann und ich haben es vorher schon zusammen in Berlin im Kriminaltheater gesehen. Und es empfiehlt sich auch unbedingt, selbst bei sehr guten Englischkenntnissen, sich vorher mit dem Stück vertraut zu machen, sonst versteht man wenig.
Zum Stück erzähle ich jetzt nix, weil es sicher eh jeder kennt.
Das Theater selber ist einfach eine Wucht. IM Jahr 1916 gebaut, mit alten Holzgalerien, Plüschsitzen, altmodischen Logen wirklich schön. Sehr schönes Bühnenbild und gute Schauspieler.
Das drumherum ist ebenfalls gut organisiert: Man kann in den Bars, die zum jeweiligen Sitzplatz gehören, Getränke für die Pause vorbestellen, das klappt sehr gut. Wäre hier nicht nötig gewesehn, das das Theater nicht annähernd ausverkauft war.
Uns hat’s gut gefallen, auch wenn Sohnemann kein Wort verstanden hat. Der Besuch war wirklich ein Highlight unseres Aufenthalts.
Tip für alle: Scheinbar ist es in London völlig normal, die Jacken mit zu den Sitzen zu nehmen. Nur ein paar Touristen haben die Garderobe abgegeben. Nachdem es im Innenraum ziemlich kühl war, hätte man die Jacke gut gebrauchen können.

Excellent night out. won’t tell who dunnit… go and see for yourself! Great rates at the moment through
!
Enjoyed ithaving thought about going for several years now!

Running its 56^th year of performing, Mousetrap is not only the longest running production in British history, it’s one of London’s MUST SEES
Some of the actors are in the Guinness Book of World Records for being in the show for so long & that’s all kinds of impressive!
Fantastic, intimate, venue w/​lush reds & golds. Easy to walk to & it’s right in the Theatre District. Acoustics are wonderful, comfortable seats w/​great viewpoints from all areas so there isn’t a bad location in the house & the Play itself is outstanding.
One of Agatha Christie’s wonderful mysteries about a group of people who get stranded at a B&B, due to snowstorm & then BAM, someone gets murdered… but that’s all you get out of me.
We’re sworn to secrecy & can’t tell you whodunit!

Mum is a huge fan of Agatha Christie so this was a treat for her birthday! As far as i know, its the longest running show in HISTORY and i can see why.
I’m used to seeing musicals rather than plays so i wasn’t too excited about this one! But! It was fanastic! Such a good play and i’d love to see it again.
Mum is disabled so there was a slight problem with out seats but the staff were so lovely and helpful — they sorted us right out and we even got a box to make her more comfortable!

I saw the Mousetrap here last night and it was excellent. i had high hopes for this play and it certainly did not disappoint. it had me hooked all the way through and kept me guessing ‘whodunit’ til the very end.
great show i would definately like to see again :)

The long-​running play, The Mousetrap is showing at the St. Martin’s Theatre next to the Ambassadors Theatre in London’s West End. I was in the audience for the 22,639^th performance. That’s right, I didn’t slip on the keyboard and add a couple of extra numbers. Agatha Christie’s classic has been going longer than I have been alive so they must be doing something right. I can’t give away the story because I would have to kill you if I did, so it’s better to see it yourself, if not just to satisfy your curiosity, then for the sake of your health.