WHODUNNIT....
On the weekend I went and saw Agatha Christie's play Mousetrap .
I grew up with Christie - probably said this before but my mum was a crime reader. Christie, Doyle, Marsh, Upfield ....the golden era of crime writers. And they are what I call 'cosies' - you knew what to expect. Always knew that Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, or Tommy and Tuppence would save the day. Put the real villain behind bars. Live happily ever after.
So when the play came to Australia I was there. I'm not going to talk about the play as such- I mean it's a whodunnit and the audience are told not to reveal who actually did it. But....
Mousetrap began as a short radio play called Three Blind Mice.
It then became a play that Christie thought would last for perhaps eight months. Sixty years later and it is still going. It is the longest running play in modern times. Over 24, 500 performances. Yep over twenty thousand performances.
Through contractual negotiations there is to be no film adaptation until the West End production has been closed for at least six months.
Don't know about you but I find those numbers staggering. I'm trying to imagine writing a play, writing anything that has such influence. Such staying power.
Whether you like her work, or whether you cringe and call them puerile, fluffy, cliche ridden....she has definitely left her mark. Her novels are constantly being reprinted- constantly being borrowed from libraries, her novels and even short stories being made into television movies.
That is an amazing legacy.
So when the play came to Australia I was there. I'm not going to talk about the play as such- I mean it's a whodunnit and the audience are told not to reveal who actually did it. But....
Mousetrap began as a short radio play called Three Blind Mice.
It then became a play that Christie thought would last for perhaps eight months. Sixty years later and it is still going. It is the longest running play in modern times. Over 24, 500 performances. Yep over twenty thousand performances.
Through contractual negotiations there is to be no film adaptation until the West End production has been closed for at least six months.
Don't know about you but I find those numbers staggering. I'm trying to imagine writing a play, writing anything that has such influence. Such staying power.
Whether you like her work, or whether you cringe and call them puerile, fluffy, cliche ridden....she has definitely left her mark. Her novels are constantly being reprinted- constantly being borrowed from libraries, her novels and even short stories being made into television movies.
That is an amazing legacy.
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