Spider's Web, Canberra Repertory, 24 July-9 August

 

Agatha Christie has a simple appeal to readers and theatre audiences - pure plot and puzzles with a mystery to be solved by the finale. "Spider's Web" falls into the more obscure part of her theatrical repertoire - it doesn't have the hook that her top rank plays like "Witness for the Prosecution" or "And then There Were None" have, but there are its own compensations - it plays with the whodunnit form in interesting ways, not taking itself terribly seriously without ever activley spoofing the whole thing.

The formula is so well known at this point (last spoofed at Rep with the energetic "Bloody Murder" last year) that playing it somewhat straight can be challenging, but this production plays it pretty down the line. The tone is mostly reasonably light but the characters are taken seriously - we believe in them enough to be engaged in the story. For most of the length of the show, the question isn't "whodunnit", it's "will we be able to fool the police so the wrong person isn't arrested", and us being on the side of the wrongly-accused helps the tone be a mixture of tense and comic. Director Ylaria Rogers has pitched the show just right - it's just the right side of the gap between cozily familiar and cliche. 

Sian Harrington leads the cast as Clarissa, the genteel hostess of the evening - creative, compassionate, we always wonder just what she's thinking and are usually surprised by the answer. We're mostly carried along the plot by her and she's always a watchable enjoyable lead. Adele Lewin as the bluntly-spoken gardener Mildred Peake is a delight- forthright, opinionated and a strong presence. Therese Maguire at my performance played Pippa, the stepdaughter, as an enthusiastic teenager with just the right amount of hints at her troubled past. Terry Johnson, Anthony Mayne and John Winfield as three golf-club types dragged in to assist in the mayhem are a delightfully posh set of 1950s gentlemen, helpful and slightly dufferish. David Bennett has poise and sternness as Elgin, the Butler who may know a little more than he's telling, Robert Weardon as the sinister Oliver Costello gives us good reasons to dislike him early, Leo Amadeus is suitably bemused as the inquisitive Inspector Lord, and Sophia Bate looms impressively as Constable Jones.

Sarea Coate's set design has all the charm of a mid 50s country house complete with visible garden through the french windows, and Ange Fewtell dresses the cast well, between Clarissa's bright red cocktail dress, the men's formal suit and Mildred's casual garden wear. David Brown lights smoothly with a couple of mood moments for the more thrilling bits, and Neville Pye keeps the sounds right in period.

In short, this is a delightful distracting charmer - absolutely something to take with the Rep Bar's warm Glühwein as a winter comforter.