PRESS RELEASE – Friday 12 April 2019 WWW.MOUSETRAPONTOUR.COM Adam Spiegel and Stephen Waley-Cohen present THE MOUSETRAP TOUR SUSAN PENHALIGON JOINS THE UK TOUR OF AGATHA CHRISTIE’S RECORD-BREAKING MURDER MYSTERY THE MOUSETRAP AS MRS BOYLE FROM 15 JULY 2019 - 16 NOVEMBER 2019 THE LEGENDARY WHODUNNIT CONTINUES ON AN EXTENSIVE TOUR OF THE UK WITH FURTHER DATES TO BE ANNOUNCED THROUGHOUT 2020 THE RECORD-BREAKING RUN CONTINUES IN THE WEST END AT THE ST MARTIN’S THEATRE Television star Susan Penhaligon (Bouquet of Barbed Wire, A Fine Romance, Emmerdale) will join the cast of Agatha Christie’s legendary whodunnit as Mrs Boyle this summer as it continues on a major UK tour. Susan Penhaligon will take over the role from Gwyneth Strong (Only Fools and Horses) from 15 July at Malvern Festival Theatre through to and including Birmingham Alexandra Theatre until 16 November 2019. Directed by Gareth Armstrong, the timeless thriller returned to the road by popular demand in January 2019 and has been earning standout reviews from critics and public alike as it continues to visit more than 40 venues, travelling the length and breadth of the country. The Mousetrap has been delighting audiences for 67 years and the identity of the murderer remains theatre’s best kept secret. This is the second major national tour of the smash hit murder mystery following a record-breaking 60th anniversary debut in 2012. Susan Penhaligon (Mrs Boyle) is well-known for her role in the ITV drama Bouquet of Barbed Wire, and for playing Helen Barker in the ITV sitcom A Fine Romance. She also played Jean Hope in UK soap Emmerdale. She has toured the UK extensively with stage productions including The Importance of being Earnest, Cabaret, Rehearsal for Murder, And Then There Were None, The Constant Wife, Verdict and Dangerous Obsessions. Stage credits also include Caste (Finborough Theatre), Murder on Air (Theatre Royal Windsor), Broken Glass (West Yorkshire Playhouse), The Compliant Love (Palace Theatre) and The Cherry Orchard (Royal Exchange). Susan has also appeared on film in Top Dog, Citizen Versus Kane, Say that You Love Me, Say Hello to Yesterday and Private Road. The full cast includes David Alcock (Mr Paravicini), Geoff Arnold (Detective Sgt. Trotter), Nick Biadon (Giles Ralston), Lewis Chandler (Christopher Wren), John Griffiths (Major Metcalf), Harriett Hare (Mollie Ralston) and Saskia Vaigncourt- Strallen (Miss Casewell). The Mousetrap is playing at Coventry Belgrade Theatre this week with Gwyneth Strong scheduled to continue in the role of Mrs Boyle in the following venues: Crawley Hawth, Darlington Hippodrome, Exeter Northcott, Salford Lowry, York Grand Opera House, Edinburgh Playhouse, Liverpool Empire, Southend Palace, Nottingham Theatre Royal, Bristol Hippodrome, Stoke Regent, Brighton Theatre Royal and Norwich Theatre Royal. Susan Penhaligon is scheduled to perform from 15 July at Malvern Festival followed by Blackpool Grand, Barnstaple Queens, Bournemouth Pavilion, Llandudno Venue Cymru, Milton Keynes, Woking New Victoria, Torquay Princess, Dartford Orchard, Eastbourne Devonshire Park, Cardiff New Theatre, Chesterfield Pomegranate, Portsmouth Kings, Windsor Theatre Royal, Glasgow Theatre Royal, Peterborough New Theatre and Birmingham Alexandra. Further venues to be announced in due course. First seen in Nottingham in 1952 starring Richard Attenborough and his wife Sheila Sim, The Mousetrap went on to become the world’s longest running stage production following its West End transfer to The Ambassadors in 1952 and St Martins in 1973 where it has played ever since, continuing a record-breaking run with over 27,500 performances in London so far. The beloved murder mystery returns to the road following the success of the first ever UK tour in 2012. The Mousetrap continues its open-ended run at St. Martin’s Theatre, London. -ENDS- For further information please contact Chloe Pritchard-Gordon / Su-Ann Chow-Seegoolam / Lydia Aaronson The Corner Shop PR on 020 7831 7657 NOTES TO EDITORS BIOGRAPHIES Mrs Boyle Susan Penhaligon was brought up in Cornwall and trained at the Webber Douglas Academy in London. Her first appearance in the theatre was playing Juliet in Romeo and Juliet at the Connaught Theatre, Worthing and since then she has worked extensively in theatre, film and television. Her early TV credits include Upstairs Downstairs, Tales of the Unexpected, Bergerac, Remmington Steele, Casualty, Inspector Wycliffe and Doctor Who. She played Bianca in The Taming of the Shrew for the BBC’s Shakespeare season and Frank Finlay’s spoilt daughter Prue, in the hugely successful A Bouquet of Barbed Wire. Other leading parts were in Fay Weldon’s Heart of the Country and in Stan Barstow’s A Kind of Loving. She played Lucy in Dracula for the BBC and Judi Dench’s sister Helen in four series of the award-winning sitcom, A Fine Romance. She has also appeared most recently in Casualty, Doctors, as regular Jean Hope in Emmerdale and as Joan in The Dead Room, written and directed by Mark Gatiss. Her West End credits include, Three Sisters, (Albery Theatre), The Real Thing (The Strand Theatre) The Mysterious Mr Love and The Maintenance Man both at the Comedy Theatre, Dangerous Corner (The Whitehall Theatre) and Of Mice and Men (The Mermaid Theatre). Other Theatre: Caste, Martine. & Hindle Wakes (all at the Finborough Theatre); Louise Brooks in American Venus (So & So Arts Club), Keeping up with The Joans (Edinburgh Fringe), The Complacent Lover, A Doll’s House (The Palace Theatre, Watford), Time and the Conway's, Lower Depths and The Cherry Orchard (Royal Exchange), Broken Glass (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Romeo and Juliet (Jermyn Street Theatre) Prophecy (The New End Theatre) Abducting Diana (Edinburgh Festival) & Misery (King’s Head Theatre). Touring credits include: Handbagged, The Importance of Being Earnest, Cabaret, Rehearsal for Murder, And Then There Were None, All Creatures Great & Small, Having a Ball, Bedroom Farce, The Constant wife, Mrs Warren’s Profession, Death Trap, Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime, The Madness of George III, Verdict, & The Unexpected Guest. Her films include leading roles in, The Uncanny, The Land that Time Forgot, No Sex Please We’re British, Leopard in the Snow, Nasty Habits, Patrick, Soldier of the Queen and Private Road and most recently two short films, Citizen versus Kane, Say you Love Me and Top Dog (directed by Martin Kemp). Susan also published her first novel, For the Love of Angel (Truran Books) a story set in Cornwall in the 1880’s and co-authored with Sara Kestelman, an anthology of original poetry, A Two Hander. Twitter: @susanpenhaligon Director Gareth Armstrong has worked across the world as both a director and actor. He was an Artistic Director of Cardiff’s Sherman Theatre where he directed classics including Shakespeare, Shaw and Chekov and modern works from Coward to Stoppard. He is a founding director of the Made in Wales Stage Company and previously an Associate Artist Director at the Salisbury Playhouse. Gareth most recently directed Hugh Whitemore’s Sand in the Sandwiches seen in the West End and on UK tour. He has written and performed his own solo play, Shylock, which premiered at the Salisbury Playhouse and toured internationally for ten years. Mr Paravicini David Alcock is the recipient of the South African Fleur du Cap and Vita Life theatre awards. He has performed in many productions at the Nuffield Theatre in Southampton, including Waiting for Godot, Twelfth Night, The Tempest and Our Country's Good. His stage credits also include The Taming of the Shrew (Bristol Old Vic) and Kiss Me Kate (Pitlochry Festival Theatre). His touring credits include Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and South Pacific. Detective Sgt. Trotter Geoff Arnold’s theatre credits include Pride and Prejudice (Regent’s Park Theatre), Catch 22 (Northern Stage UK Tour), Mansfield Park (Theatre Royal) and Molly (Pleasance Courtyard). He has also appeared on screen in Cold Blow Lane. Giles Ralston Nick Biadon most recently performed in the UK tour of Still Alice. His stage credits including Macbeth (Catford Broadway), ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore (Tristan Bates) and The Bacchae (Lazarus Theatre). Christopher Wren Lewis Chandler is delighted to be making his UK tour debut with The Mousetrap. His previous theatre credits include Foul Pages (Hope Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Creation Theatre) and The Devil is an Ass (Mercurius Theatre). Lewis played the title character in Film Noir parody Trimble which was nominated for a BBC Audio Drama Award. Major Metcalf John Griffiths’ West End theatre credits include The Sound of Music (London Palladium), The Woman in White (Palace Theatre), The Royal Family (Haymarket), The Phantom of the Opera (Her Majesty’s) and Oliver! (Aldwych). He has also appeared in the national tour of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as well as Volpone at the National Theatre and The Tempest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Kiss Me Kate and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. Mollie Ralston Harriett Hare has performed on stage in The White Carnation (Finborough & Jermyn Street Theatre), Look Back in Anger (Reading Rep Theatre Company), Body Language (Suffolk Summer Theatre) and All Creatures Great and Small (UK tour). Harriett has also voiced for gaming and animation franchises and international campaigns for well-known brands. Miss Casewell Saskia Vaigncourt-Strallen has performed on stage in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Lazarus Theatre Company), All the Angels (Shakespeare’s Globe), The Diary of a Teenage Girl (Southwark