Philip Franks has been named the new director of the classic Agatha Christie thriller The Mousetrap, the world's longest-running play. His West End credits include The Duchess of Malfi, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, Taking Sides, Collaboration, and Dear Lupin.

The production at London's St. Martin's Theatre will also welcome a new cast beginning May 27: Lucy Doyle (The Play That Goes Wrong) as Mollie Ralston, Daniel Cech-Lucas (Sherlock Holmes: The Final Curtain) as Giles Ralston, Lynton Appleton (Richard II) as Christopher Wren, Jules Melvin (Witness for the Prosecution) as Mrs. Boyle, Ben Onwukwe (The 47th) as Major Metcalf, Elyssia Roe (Macbeth) as Miss Casewell, Lorenzo Martelli (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) as Mr. Paravicini, and Sam Stafford (Ready, Steady, Crooks ) as Detective Sgt. Trotter plus understudies Georgina Duncan, Sam Hollis, Clive Marlowe Georgie Rhys, and Ben Riddle.

This company will continue through November 16. Denise Silvey continues in the role of artistic director.

In the play, adapted from the novel of the same name, a group of seven strangers find themselves snowed in at Monkswell Manor as news spreads of a London murder. When a police sergeant arrives, the guests discover that a killer is in their midst.

The Mousetrap premiered at Theatre Royal Nottingham in 1952 and toured the U.K. before opening in the West End, where it has been playing for 72 years.

In 2022, it was announced that The Mousetrap would come to Broadway. The producers behind the West End production of the play initially said the work would bow on the Main Stem in 2023, but a Broadway production has yet to materialize.

The Mousetrap is produced by Adam Spiegel. 

Visit The-Mousetrap.co.uk.