The Mousetrap - 75th Anniversary Tour

The Mousetrap is coming to the Sunderland Empire from Monday 22 to Saturday 27 March 2027, as part of its 75th anniversary tour across the UK and Ireland. It's Agatha Christie's classic murder mystery, and it's probably the most famous play you've never actually seen. It opened in the West End in 1952, adapted from her radio play Three Blind Mice, and it's been running at St Martin's Theatre for over 70 years—more than 30,000 performances and counting. This production is directed by Hannah Chissick, and it's touring while the original London run continues.

There's a bit of a legend attached to it, too. Christie insisted that no audience member or press person ever give away the plot, and she gave it eight months at most; it's outlasted that by decades. She also stipulated that a film adaptation could only be made six months after the West End production closed—a clause that's kept a movie version off the screen all this time. If you've heard people talking about it, you've probably heard the warning not to spoil the ending.

The cast for this run includes Nicholas Bailey as Major Metcalf, Susan Penhaligon as Mrs Boyle, Emily Laing as Mollie Ralston, Jack Hardwick as Giles Ralston, Thomas Barrett as Christopher Wren, Clare Duffy as Miss Casewell, James Peake as Mr Paravicini, and Alfie Richards as Detective Sergeant Trotter. It's a tight ensemble, and the whole thing centres on a small group of strangers trapped in a guest house during a snowstorm, with a murder to solve.

The Sunderland Empire itself is a proper old-school theatre, opened on 1 July 1907 as the Empire Palace. It's one of the few British auditoriums with four tiers of seating, around 1,860 places in total. The play runs every evening at 7.30pm, with 2.30pm matinees on Wednesday 24 and Saturday 27 March, so you've got a choice of dates across the week.