Review: THE MOUSETRAP – at the Festival Theatre, Malvern, from Monday, October 13 to Saturday, October 18, 2014.

DAMN and blast! Not a butler in sight - so that was one theory blown out of the water.

Well, it’s always the butler, isn’t it?

Not this time though, as the remote guest house where this whodunit is set doesn’t employ such a person who might have committed the dark deed of murder.

The Mousetrap, which began life way back in 1947 as an Agatha Christie short radio play called Three Blind Mice, subsequently adopted its current name when it moved to the stage.

After its world premiere at Nottingham’s Theatre Royal on October 2, 1952, and then the move to London’s West End, the Queen of Crime believed it would run - at best - for eight months.

How wrong, as this is the second time round the 60th anniversary tour of the longest running show in world and British theatre history has called in at Malvern.

So what is its secret, apart from whodunit?

All things considered it’s nothing special, but then again it is something special.

It’s a classic murder-mystery, totally traditional, cleverly constructed and good fun for all from nine to ninety with its subtle slices of humour.

It must be the way she tells them!

There’s a shoal of red herrings, characters that might fit the bill but then force a change of theory, and plenty of suspense.

You also need a good cast to make it work and under Ian Watt-Smith’s astute direction the current crew of eight on board ensure Christie’s classic sails serenely on.

Stephen Yeo’s Christopher Wren delightfully bounds around like a character off the Magic Roundabout, Anne Kavanagh provides a wonderfully irritating Mrs Boyle - who fortunately didn’t ask why she couldn’t see herds of wildebeest from the windows of her room, and Helen Clapp was an outstanding nerve-wracked Mollie Ralston, whose first dip into the holiday business hit such treacherous waters.

Not a weak link anywhere with Luke Jenkins also impressing as a convincing and resourceful Sgt Trotter.

It’s a two hour and 20 minute treat at the end of which the audience is asked to not to spill the beans.

Since the original opening night more than six decades ago, each performance has ended with the audience being asked not to tell anyone the identity of the murderer.

One of the actors steps forward at the end of the play, and says: “Now you have seen The Mousetrap you are our partners in crime, and we ask you to preserve the tradition by keeping the secret of whodunit locked in your hearts.”

It won’t be giving any secrets away to let you know that it definitely wasn’t the butler this time!

And it’s not a secret at all that the success of this show is set to continue as another full first-night house will testify in any witness box.