A murder at a country manor kicks off the Agatha Christie play “The Mousetrap,” and a murder backstage after a London performance of said play kicks off the comedy whodunit “See How They Run.” It stars Sam Rockwell as a veteran and indolent police detective who is reluctantly paired with an overeager constable played by Saoirse Ronan.
Some background: “The Mousetrap” ran continuously from its London premiere in 1952 until 2020, a detail that tends to baffle many (why this play?) though I’m partial to its enduring appeal. The pandemic temporarily got in the way of things (as it did for every theater production) but the play reopened in 2021 and it is a marvel of longevity few anticipated. Consider this clause in its contract: No film adaptations are permitted until six months after the show has closed on the West End. Seeing as it’s never closed (COVID excepting), no movie has been made.
But who could have foreseen a decadeslong run? Certainly not the (mostly) fictional characters herein. What if there had been a movie in the works?
