Hi Friend ? Today’s HHMicroBiog is an outstanding female playwright you probably know for something else entirely: Agatha Christie.
Why outstanding?
I hear you ask? Well, how about these factlets to be going on with.
? Is the writer of the longest continuously running play in stage history. The Mousetrap opened at the Ambassadors Theatre in London in 1952 and is still running today, although it did move to the St Martin’s Theatre in 1974. That counts as well over 25,000 performances!
? It has been performed in at least 41 countries.
? Made a Dame in 1971.
? Is *still?* the only female playwright to have three plays running in the West End at the same time (‘The Mousetrap’, ‘Witness for the Prosecution’ and ‘Spiders Web’ in case you’re wondering). Agatha Christie is the only female playwright to have three plays running in the West End at the same time! Share on X
? Wrote more than 20 plays in total.
? West End theatres dimmed their lights for an hour when she died.
? ‘The Mousetrap’ began life as a 20 minute radio play.
? She also wrote at least two unpublished radioplays: ‘Butter in a Lordly Dish’ (1948) and ‘Personal Call’ (1960).
? Achieved equal international fame as a crime novelist and a dramatist. The only person to do so.
? For many years she was the President of the local amateur drama society in Wallingford.
HER FULL STATS: Born Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller on the 15th September 1890 in Torquay, Devon, England.
Died on 12th January 1976 in Winterbrook, Oxfordshire, England.
She’s buried in the Church of St Mary in Cholsey, Oxfordshire, England in case you’re passing.
?: John Gay, National Portrait Gallery.
Agatha Christie Playlist
I’ve curated a playlist of YouTube videos about Christie. Have a watch 🙂 Please note, I don’t own any of these videos, I’ve simply up pulled together a few that I feel may be of interest for you to watch in one place. If you’d like me to remove anything please /contact me and I’ll oblige a.s.a.p. I want to uplift women writing for the stage, the last thing I want to do is cause upset.
