Matthew Saldivar, Peter Christian Hansen, and Monette Magrath Photo by Dan Norman

That's to say nothing of the multitude of Mousetraps mounted by schools, community players, and regional theatre companies the world over. One of those was my own high school, where I saw The Mousetrap in the mid-1960s. Another was a community theater in Iowa where I saw a production in the mid-1979s. Several years ago, Lyric Arts Main Street Stage in Anoka staged a top-drawer production of the murder mystery. Now, for the first time, the Guthrie Theater has staged The Mousetrap in a brilliant production, brimming with terrific performances, marvelous design choices, and snap-paced direction by Tracy Brigden, whose last visit to the Guthrie brought us another white-knuckle thriller, Dial M for Murder.

Of course, all of those productions, from public school to renowned regional theatre, have the benefit of the same primary material, Dame Agatha's witty and cleverly knotted script. It first appeared as a short radio play written by Christie as a birthday gift to Queen Mary, Elizabeth II's grandmother, and broadcast in 1947. Christie then wrote it as a story, but before its publication, also turned the narrative into a play. She stipulated that the story not be published in the U.K until the play had closed in London. We know how that turned out. She also stipulated that no filmed version of The Mousetrap be made until at least six months after the shuttering of the West End production.

All this has helped to ensure that the plot and the surprising twists that make it such a satisfying experience are kept guarded. At the theater, the play can–as the Guthrie's and all productions are required to do–issue a personal appeal from a human actor, who has just labored for our benefit, calling on live audiences to guard the secrets of The Mousetrap. The ploy has worked well into the play's seventh decade. That kind of appeal would be unlikely to have nearly the same success if issued as an afterward in a book, or scrolling on screen as patrons exit a movie theater.

Christie set her play in "the present," which at that time was 1952. It does have the feel of that era, with England still recovering from the traumas of World War II. There are references to ration books, tight finances, and a slipping away in the social order that had ruled over British life for so long. With this aura of lingering deprivation, we find ourselves in Monkswell Manor, a woodsy but commodious home about an hour outside London, which Molly Ralston (Monette Magrath) recently inherited from her aunt. Molly and her husband Giles (Peter Christian Hansen) decided that rather than sell it, living in the home and operating it as a guest house could be a lovely way to make their living. After some repairs and alterations, Monkswell Manor is about to open for business and receive its first four guests.

Molly and then Giles return home from errands, with the radio blaring on about the gruesome murder of a woman nearby. Turning off this unpleasantness, they receive their guests. First to arrive is a man called Christopher Wren (Greg Cuellar), named for the great architect. Wren is a fey, overly dramatic, and playful chap, with deep insecurities visible beneath his jocular veneer. Next comes Mrs. Boyle (Mo Perry), a woman of a certain age who hasn't a good word to say about anyone or anything, and Major Metcalf (Pearce Bunting), a retired military man with a brisk but agreeable demeanor. The fourth guest is Miss Casewell (Emjoy Gavino), who has been living abroad for many years and goes out of her way to keep the particulars of her life to herself, fending off inquiries with confident swagger.

During all this, we have seen snow accumulating through the large window in the main hall. With the sky darkening (made palpable by Rui Rita's highly effective lighting design), there is a knock on the door. This is Mr. Paravicini (Matthew Saldivar), who reports that his car–a Rolls Royce, no less–took a slide in the snow and lies turned over in a ditch. The storm has gotten quite bad, and there is no way to get immediate help, so Mr. and Mrs. Ralston are compelled to offer accommodations to Paravicini. He is an odd man, prone to enigmatic flourishes, with an Italian accent that seems not quite convincing, and possibly trying to disguise his age with makeup.

The next day finds the Ralstons, their four boarders, and their unexpected guest quite snowed in. A call from the local police informs Molly that a Detective Sargeant Trotter is on his way to interview them. Molly and Giles can't imagine what a police inspector could want–perhaps some permit they failed to secure for the guest house–but are certain he'll never make it through the heavy snow. To their surprise, Detective Trotter (Matthew Amendt) does appear outside their window–on skis!

His business concerns the gruesome murder reported on the radio. The police at the scene found a paper with two addresses–one was the murder victim's, the other was Monkswell Manor. There was also a reference to the children's rhyme "Three Blind Mice" and a remark referring to the victim: "she is the first." Detective Trotter informs those assembled that it appears highly likely the murderer plans to strike twice more, and that someone at Monkswell Manor may well be his next target.

Well, there's our setup, and the game of cat and mouse begins, with each of the guests and even their hosts seeming like possible suspects at different times. One of Christie's gifts is going beyond the mere mechanics of the murder mystery to make each character unique and worthy of our interest, giving them dialogue that feels like authentic conversation and not the forced dropping of clues.

Magrath, with Broadway, Off-Broadway and many regional credits, makes her Minnesota debut as Molly and gives a beautifully nuanced performance. Her shifting loyalties, suspicions and fears could not seem more genuine, and she wholly earns the audience's sympathy. Magrath is well matched by Hansen, as Giles. Molly and Giles have been married just a year, and the whiff of newlywed romance is palpable between them, as is a dawning realization that there is a lot they don't yet know about one another. Hansen's character is prone to take things in stride, but some things mightily alarm him. Hansen is adept at shifting from an easygoing to a tightly coiled demeanor. He also shows himself to be the go-to actor for suspense, having appeared in the Guthrie's Dial M for Murder and Murder on the Orient Express, as well as Turn of the Screw at Gremlin Theatre earlier this season.

Cuellar plays up the vulnerabilities that are the real force behind Christopher Wren's eccentricities, in a performance that balances between endearing and disturbing. Perry makes it easy to deeply dislike Mrs. Boyle, which means Perry plays the role perfectly. With a plethora of Twin Cities credits amassed by Bunting, it is a surprise to note that he is making his Guthrie debut as Major Metcalf. He endows the major with the requisite bluster, along with a can-do and stepping-into-the breach spirit. Gavino portrays Miss Casewell as a sophisticate who relishes being an unknowable cipher. The character is often described as "mannish," but Gavino embeds Miss Casewell with a crusty but still womanly air.

Saldivar, an actor frequently appearing on Broadway, has been seen at the Guthrie in past seasons as Ebenezer Scrooge himself. He has a grand time as Mr. Paravicini, playing up the character's eerie manner of dissociating himself from the others and of embracing, rather than recoiling from, the most grim possibilities. Last to appear on stage, but commanding it once he does, is Matthew Amendt, taking charge of the fraught business of one murder already committed and another one–or two–almost certain to occur. Amendt has dazzled at the Guthrie in Born with Teeth and, last season, in Henry V. Playing in a quite different key in The Mousetrap, he is equally impressive.

Brigden keeps the pace swift in staging the play, with one character exiting as another enters with elegant precision. When a pause does occur, it makes moments of rising suspense become all the more keenly felt. Along with Spangler's extravagant set (from stuffed stag head mounted on the wall to ballroom-worthy chandeliers) and Rita's exquisitely atmospheric lighting design, Susan Tsu's costumes embrace the 1952 era along with each character's distinct personality, and John Gromada's sound design and music add further to establishing a chilling sensibility.

A quibble about the production: As each character initially makes their arrival, they appear in a spotlight with an audible flourish, as if to tell us "Look sharp, this might be your man or woman." It is a campy device that feels out of place with the overall tone of the production. A quibble about the play itself: Only after the play was over did I begin to raise questions about coincidences and unexplained circumstances embedded in the play. One expects the work of the great Christie to be watertight; this feels like it is while it is unspooling on stage, but upon inspection there are leaks. Perhaps that's why she never expected it to be a major success, let alone a cultural institution. When it opened in 1952 she reportedly predicted it would run no more than eight months. Dame Agatha got a lot of things right in her lifetime, but that wasn't one of them.

If you have never seen The Mousetrap, you'd be hard pressed to find a production to top this one as a chance to experience a cultural icon. If you have seen it, it's worth a revisit for the pleasure to be derived from the performances and stagecraft and to renew your acquaintance with Christie's classic. And don't think you can just wait for the movie to appear. That day may outlive us all.

The Mousetrapruns through May 18, 2025, at Guthrie Theater, McGuire Proscenium Stage, 618 South 2nd Street, Minneapolis MN. For tickets and information, please call 612-377-2224 or visit GuthrieTheater.org.

Playwright: Agatha Christie; Director: Tracy Brigden; Scenic Designer: Walt Spangler; Costume Designer: Susan Tsu; Lighting Designer: Rui Rita Sound Designer/Composer: John Gromada; Dramaturg: Lynde Rosario; Vocal Coach: Keely Wolter; Weapons Consultant: Aaron Preusse; Resident Casting Director: Jennifer Liestman; NYC Casting Consultant: McCorkle Casting, Ltd.; Assistant Director: Lee Hannah Conrads; Stage Manager: Laura Topham; Assistant Stage Manager: Matthew Meeks.

Cast: Matthew Amendt (Detective Sergeant Trotter), Pearce Bunting (Major Metcalf), Greg Cuellar (Christopher Wren), Emjoy Gavino (Miss Casewell), Peter Christian Hansen (Giles Ralston), Monette Magrath (Molly Ralston), Andrew May (radio broadcast voice), Mo Perry (Mrs. Boyle), Matthew Saldivar (Mr. Paravicini).