World's longest running whodunit The Mousetrap is back on a stage near you

Geraldine is one of Australia's most renowned stage and screen stars and she reprises her role as the seriously unpleasant retired magistrate Mrs Boyle.

She will be joined once again by Gerry Connolly, as Mr Paravicini, an unexpected visitor at the manor.

"It's wonderful to be in The Mousetrap again," Geraldine said. "I loved it so much the last time that I wanted to do it again.

"When I started reading the script, I didn't recognise some parts but it all came back to me as we started rehearsals in Melbourne.

"I've only ever appeared in one other play twice and that was 10 years apart. The same thing happened - the lines just came back to me. They must have been locked away in part of my mind for 10 years."

The Mousetrap was first presented at London's West End on November 25, 1952, and has run continuously ever since.

It centres on a group of strangers stranded in a boarding house during a snowstorm, one of whom is a murderer.

The suspects include a newly-married couple who run the house, and the suspicions playing on their minds nearly wreck their perfect marriage.

"It's a murder mystery in typical Agatha Christie fashion," Geraldine said. "But it's a very funny one and audiences don't expect that.

"Even in intermission, you have total strangers asking each other if they know who did it. It's just wonderful."

The acclaimed thriller will tour throughout NSW, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania and the Northern Territory - kicking off at Newcastle's Civic Theatre on May 11.

The Mousetrap is directed by Australian theatre icon and former artistic director of the Sydney and Queensland Theatre Companies, Robyn Nevin.

Now, for those of you who haven't seen it, we can't give anything away as for 72 years, audiences have traditionally been asked not to reveal the end after leaving the theatre.

"That still exists to this day," Geraldine said. "It's a thriller all the way through.

"Despite the fact it was written 72 years ago, it has contemporary themes that are relevant today such as child abuse in an institution.

"I think that relevance is what makes the play so enduring."

Geraldine loves her character Mrs Boyle who is not loved by her fellow lodgers.

"I think my character is misunderstood," Geraldine said. "The other characters think she is vile.

"But she is a great character to play.

"She is only complaining about the way the guest house is being run by the young couple and she has every right to."

Agatha Christie originally wrote the story as a short radio play entitled Three Blind Mice, which was broadcast in 1947 as a birthday present for Queen Mary.

She eventually adapted the work into a short story before again rewriting it for the stage as The Mousetrap.

Ironically, Christie did not expect the play to run for more than a few months and stipulated in her will that no film of The Mousetrap be made until at least six months after the West End Production closed.

"And 72 years on, as the show continues its historic London run and it has never been made into film unlike Agatha's books," Geraldine said.

Bookings: themousetrap.com.au