THE longest running show in the world – The Mousetrap – is coming to Salisbury later this month.

Agatha Christie’s psychological thriller will be at Salisbury Playhouse as part of the play’s 60th anniversary production tour which began four years ago.

And among the cast will be a familiar face to theatre-goers as Tony Boncza is performing the role of Major Metcalf.

No stranger to Salisbury (having appeared in around 20 shows, including Jamaica Inn, To Kill a Mocking Bird, Yes Prime Minister and a comedy revue with Nicholas Lumley), Boncza is well-accustomed to The Mousetrap having been in around 600 to 700 performances.

“I was Sergeant Trotter in the West End 26 years ago,” he said, “and then Mr Paravicini in the tour of South East Asia so this is my third part in The Mousetrap.

“It’s a fun play and it really acts as the queen of genres of murder mystery.

“When you see it you will probably recognise the template for the genre – it starts off very light and then it darkens leaving everyone in interval trying to work out who it is.

“It’s also a serious play which focuses on an actual event where children were tortured – the play opened in 1952, five years after the events.”

As part of the 60th anniversary tour in 2012, Bonzca performed in Thailand, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.

“Bangkok was odd, fast and furious,” he said. “A lot of the time our audience was the Thai Royal Family and various princes so we felt we were secondary to the proceedings, a sideshow.

“We then went straight on to Singapore, being the resident show at the Raffles Hotel, which was great fun and then on to Kuala Lumpur. It was a job in a lifetime.”

Bonzca who lives not far from Blandford first trained as a journalist but then never actually turned up to his job at the Surrey Comet because he decided to join the National Youth Theatre and take a job at the Euston Shaw theatre, working his way up to house manager.

His feature films include Chariots of Fire, where he was a policeman and Empire of the Sun where he played a prison camp gardener, selling tomatoes to Christian Bale.

Last year Bonzca played General Mills in the American TV series The Royals, starring Liz Hurley and Joan Collins.

The current UK tour of The Mousetrap started in January and finishes in December and also stars Louise Jameson (Doctor Who, EastEnders, Doc Martin) as Mrs Boyle.

The Mousetrap is at Salisbury Playhouse from June 20-25 at 7.30pm and there are matinees on Thursday and Saturday at 2.15pm.