Agatha Christie’s "The Mousetrap" opened in London’s West End in 1952 and it’s still going strong – more than 25,000 performances – making it the longest running play in modern history.

I’ve been in the play, in high school, and have seen it 10 or 12 times. I know every twist and turn in this murder mystery. But it always bring a smile.

The magic of that long run is perfectly tapped into by the production that opened over the weekend at The Milwaukee Repertory Theater.

"The Mousetrap" is, perhaps the first of the murder mysteries we all know. If not the first it is at least the template for all the others.

You throw a bunch of strangers together in a strange house in the middle of a storm. There is a murder. Everybody is a suspect and everybody suspects everybody else at some point.

And then there is the twist ending that is a surprise.

The overwhelming charm of "The Mousetrap" is that everyone knows that there is a lot of acting going on. The actors know that they are acting one way but in reality they are all hiding secrets. The audience is acting almost as if a full participant in the play as what seems to be so obvious gives way to stuff that isn’t so obvious.

The characters are drawn with a fine point pen on one hand and with a splattering broad paintbrush on the other. Nothing is as it seems and even that is not what it seems.

Director J. R. Sullivan has turned his finely tuned cast loose in this show. He has demanded that they act as actors and as characters and they meet the challenge with remarkable skill. Subtlety is not the coin of the realm here.

The play is set in Monkswell Manor, a guest house run by Giles Ralston (Matthew Mueller) and his wife Mollie (Kelly Faulkner). The design by Jack Magaw creates, along with the distinctive lighting by Jason Fassl, the perfect setting for a mystery. You’ve got glorious old furniture, some secret compartments, shades of light both bright and dim and huge windows that gaze out on the snow drenched grounds.

This is the first day that the guest house has been open and the initial guests are a lineup of the absurd.

First we meet Christopher Wren (Brendan Meyers) a non-stop hyperactive young man who gushes over everything he sees. We know that Wren is running from something, but he won’t let on what it is.

His arrival is followed by Mrs. Boyle (Laura Gordon) and Major Metcalf (Jonathan Gillard Daly). She is imperious and dislikes what she sees as an guest house that is not what it was advertised to be. She wants servants. Metcalf initially seems like a perfectly normal gentleman, loving to read and willing to get exercise by helping to shovel the doorway.

Miss Casewell (Greta Wohlrabe) is the final scheduled guest to arrive. She is a woman who looks like a man and makes no secret of how attractive she finds Millie.

Then comes a surprise guest, Mr. Paravicini (Greg Vinkler), heavily made up and claiming to have rolled his Rolls Royce into a snowdrift and has come asking for a room.

This odd collection of secret keepers is soon joined by Detective Sergeant Trotter (Will Allan), who has skied to the manor to ask about a murder that has taken place nearby. His arrival is the signal that the mystery is about to take full flight.

As twist follows turn follows twist, you can hear the audience squirming in their seats, wanting to shout out hints that might help Trotter or expose yet another disarming lie.

"The Mousetrap" has been dishing out fun and hi-jinks for 63  years and The Rep production continues with that magic.

"The Mousetrap" runs through Dec. 20 and information on tickets and showtimes can be found here.

Production Team: Director, J.R. Sullivan; Scenic Designer, Jack Magaw; Costume Designer, Rachel Laritz; Lighting Director, Jason Fassl; Sound Designer, Lindsay Jones; Dialect Coach,  Jill Walmsley Zager; Fight Choreographer, Jamie Cheatham; Casting Director, JC Clementz; Stage Manager, Lurie Horns Pfeffer; Assistant Stage Manager, Anthony Poston.