The Mousetrap

This week I rather indulgently attended the theatre a number of times. One of the shows I saw was Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap. At the performance’s conclusion, the cast appear to request that no-one divulges the plot’s twist, which I intend to honour. Suffice to say, it was wonderfully performed and nicely filled an evening. I was particularly impressed to learn that the show is still in its ‘initial run’, having started in 1952 and performed ever since. Theoretically, an actor might have started his career in this cast and retired from it forty years later without ever having played anything else. So why has it been so enduring a play? Apart from its clever script, pleasant humour and renowned authorship, of course. We humans derive satisfaction from the solving of puzzles. Our God-given sense of order requires that mysteries be explained and questions answered. This, combined with our innate sense of justice makes watching The Mousetrap most wholesome. The audience knows that the murderer will be correctly identified and apprehended. Imagine how disgruntled we would all be if the murderer gets away with it, or kills every other part, or remains unnamed and unknown by the time the curtain falls. So too with the universe.

Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops. Luke 12:3

Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? Genesis 18:25

Image by David Mark from Pixabay