A perfect audience

On Thursday night I went with a small group of friends to see The Mouse Trap.  And I didn't even have to shell out the airfare to London to see it.

Two of my talented work colleagues were performing in the first ever New Zealand production of this play that has been playing continuously (or continuously playing?) to audiences in the West End of London since 1952.

One of these actresses made a point of telling me that when I attended I must clap when the lights go out.  Having been reminded that this is important to the cast, I passed the message on to Chris and Lucy who were part of our party and we resolved to be a good audience.

What that actress failed to add was that towards the end of the second act the lights would go out briefly, someone would scream and the lights would come on again briefly to reveal a murdered person and a screaming actress (yes, the one who had reminded me to clap when the lights go out). 

What resulted was two of the audience members starting to clap as the lights came back on to reveal the murder scene!  When I realized the lights had come back on, I had such difficulty concealing my laughter that I failed to notice who had been murdered.

No, I am not your perfect audience!