Masterful web of intrigue
IT was Agatha Christie’s second-most successful play in the West End, beaten only by The Mousetrap, yet it appears that until now Spider’s Web has not been performed in Townsville, and why not is as big a mystery as the plot.
Clarissa Hailsham-brown (Samantha Kennedy) is the rather flighty, radiantly beautiful, much younger wife of Henry Hailsham-brown (Stephen Duffie), a trusted, mid-level employee in the Foreign Office.
The story unfolds at their residence in the country.
Clarissa’s uncle Sir Rowland Delahaye (Glenn Shield), Hugo Birch (Stephen Smith) and young Jeremy Warrender (Ben Henderson) are guests at the residence. While the two older men are simply protective, Jeremy is obviously interested in seducing Clarissa as much as looking after her.
She flirts with him, as she does with all men, but is devoted to her husband. To say her imagination runs wild is an understatement. She is forever concocting stories to confuse and entertain her friends.
There are others in the cast who are also instrumental to the plot. Miss Peake (Charlotte Kidd) is the feisty gardener who will brook no argument with anyone.
Mrs Elgin (Abbie Wakeham) is the eavesdropping housemaid. The antagonist of the story is Oliver Costello (Andrew Warren), the new husband of Henry’s first wife.
Clarissa’s stepdaughter Pippa Hailsham-brown is played by 11-year-old Lily Lipscomb.
She is a wonderful new talent with an onstage maturity way beyond her years.
Eventually there is a murder committed and a murderer to be revealed. Needless to say, there must be police on the scene, and they are Inspector Lord (Andy Carter) and Constable Jones (Aaminah Kahn).
From this point on, Spider’s Web is full of intrigue, plot twists and lots of red herrings.
Every character is perfectly cast and fits their roles exactly.
There are no weak links in this ensemble.
Congratulations are deserved by everyone in the cast. This, and the excellent plot devised by Christie, makes Spider’s Web one of the best plays Townsville Little Theatre has presented in many years.
Director Katherine Shield assembled this exemplary cast and gave us a well-directed, fraught mystery to solve.
The play is a clever parody of the whodunit, with laughs and suspense in equal abundance.
The set by Glenn Shield is sumptuous. There is no trouble believing that this is a living room in a 1950s English country house.
If you wish to see quality theatre, get some laughs and exercise your brain looking for clues, this must be on your calendar to see over the weekend.
Can you pick the murderer?
You can catch Spider’s Web at PIMPAC, Pimlico High’s Performing Arts Centre on Fulham Rd, with three performances remaining.
They are tonight and tomorrow night at 7pm, with a matinee tomorrow afternoon at 1.30pm. Tickets will be available at the door.