Spider’s Web
By Agatha Christie
Directed by Joe Harmiston
Richmond Theatre
1st – 6th June

The is a very good reason why The Mousetrap has played for over 50 years, why Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple are two of the most enduring and bankable characters ever created and why Agatha Christie’s works are still sold in their millions and that is she was one of the finest writers of her age and a total master of her genre. This very fine example of her work has been furnished with a lavish production by Bill Kenwright. A sumptuous set and even more sumptuous cast furnish the stage in this country house murder mystery. Do not be fooled by some over egged acting early in the piece, that is entirely part of the plot, instead spend the evening looking for the clues to furnish you with the killer, the cold dastardly murderer who is ….

That is why Agatha Christie was so sublime, the ability to write a narrative which does keep you spellbound in anticipation, in which you are absorbed in the intimate and fine detail, where you do care for the characters and none more so than in this very sensitive piece. The Hailsham-Brown’s have taken a let on a country house in part this is to allow the young step-daughter, Pippa played by Karen Elliot, to continue her recovery from the experience of her real mother. The father, Henry Hailsham-Brown is expecting a very important guest to be diverted to visit and to meet the Foreign Secretary. In true Christie style that part of the plot is a sideline, what is important is the love, care and devotion shown towards Pippa by her stepmother and the rest of her extended family.

This cast is excellent and they judge their performances very accurately and one could spend ages extolling the performances and craft of Denis Lill, Melanie Gutteridge, Ben Nealon, Bruce Montague, Robert Duncan, Michael Gabe, Lucas Hare, and Matthew Hebden, but just take it from me they are all excellent and worth seeing. Instead I looked at the performances of firstly Karen Elliot, it is not easy to play a young teenage girl form the 1950’s and Miss Elliot does it superbly and with consummate ease, the audience audibly cared for her character and they did so because they believed this person, that she was a real person. Congratulations. Catherine Shipton also turns in a very fine performance and has to judge what she is doing exactly right for the benefit of the plot, you have to remember that Agatha Christie never wrote the obvious so when she uses it as a plot device it has to be played right and this Miss Shipton does. With an ensemble cast such as this, I always like to look at an essential lesser, but integral character, in this case Constable Jones played by Mark Rose, again this was another fine performance with some excellent touches of timing and visual humour nicely offsetting the rather more serious, but still excellent performance from Denis Lill as Inspector Lord.

So many of the faces seemed so familiar and indeed they were and that is the advantage of having a producer such as Bill Kenwright who can make sure that justice can be done to a piece and makes sure that that the audience are treated to an enjoyable night out and this was indeed a very enjoyable night out.

Reviewed by Evan Rule