SPIDER'S WEB by AGATHA CHRISTIE

 

Spider’s Web by Agatha Christie.

Directed by Ylaria Rogers. Assistant Director Ariana Barzinpour. Set Design & Properties Sarea Coates, Lighting Design David Brown. Costume Design Ange Fewtrell. Sound Design Neville Pye Stage Manager Leeann Galloway. Production Manager Antonia Kitzel. Set Coordinator Russell Brown OAM Council Liaison.Wolfgang Hecker
Production Team: Antonia Kitzel, Victoria Dixon , Set Construction: Russell Brown OAM, Andrew Kay, Brian Moir, Eric Turner, Gordon Dickens, Wolfgang Hecker, John Klingberg, Kimmo Weel,Lucas Bremstaller Wardrobe Ange Fewtrell, Wardrobe Wenches Lighting Assistance Mike Moloney Lighting: David Brown, Lennard Duck. Sound Neville Pye, John Gildor
Properties & Set Dressing. Sarea Coates Stage Crew : Samson Ullinger, Ariana Barzinpour, Kelly McInnes, Eliza Begley Front of House: REP members & volunteers Artwork : Tiana Johannis, Helen Drum, Antonia Kitzel Marketing : Victoria Dixon, Helen Drum Promotional images : Cathy Breen Foyer Images: Ross Gould

Cast:

Sian Harrington. Terese Maguire, Manasa Kannan, Adele Lewin, Nathan McKenna, Terry Johnson, Anthony Mayne, John Whinfield, David Bennett, Robert Wearden, Leo Amadeus, Sophia Bate. The role of Pippa is shared by Terese Maguire and Manasa Kannan Canberra Rep. July 24-August 9 2025. Bookings: 62474222. www,canberrarep.org.au


Reviewed by Peter Wilkins.

John Whinfield (Jeremy) Sian Harrington (Clarissa)Terry Johnson (Sir Rowland)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anthony Mayne (Hugo) and Adele Lewin (Mildred Peake) in SPIDER'S WEB.

Lovers of the Queen of Crime are certain to enjoy director Ylaria Rogers’ Canberra Rep production of Agatha Christie’s Spider’s Web. It is classic Christie with eccentric English characters caught in a murderous web of false clues, red herrings, secret rooms, and plodding coppers on the trail of the murderer.

Adele Lewin (Mildred) and Robert Weardon (Oliver Costello)

In the tradition of comic parody Christie’s characters are a collection of clichés and stereotypes. The flighty lady of the house, Clarissa Hailsham-Brown is given to fanciful flights of fantasy and imaginative supposing. Sian Harrington is perfect in the role of the hostess of the house trapped in the reality of a true to life murder. She enlists the help of three men in her life to cover up the discovery of a body in her house before the return of her husband Henry (Nathan McKenna). Terry Johnson plays a very droll guardian, Sir Rowland Delahaye. Anthony Mayne is the proper stiff upper lip JP Hugo Birch and John Whinfield as Jeremy Warrender is the third member of this trio of coopted accomplices with a certain affection for Clarissa. Rogers’ talent for physical comedy comes to the fore when the trio attempt to remove the body of the nasty drug dealer Oliver Costello, played with the right touch of menace by Robert Weardon. It’s a moment of sheer slapstick. And then there is the butler, of course. David Bennett’s Elgin, strikes a sombre presence in contrast to Adele Lewin’s Mildred Peake. Lewin’s busybody rustic is sheer caricature but not without purpose as audiences will later discover.

Leo Amadeus as Inspector Lord

As the twelve year old stepdaughter, Pippa, Terese Maguire is a delight to watch on the stage. Her performance is natural, lively and animated. In a play of tangled motives, oddball suspects and silly characters, Maguire’s portrayal of a young girl caught up in a frightening situation for which she believes herself to be responsible rings totally true. Here is a young performer with a bright future as an actor. Only Leo Amadeus’s Inspector Ford seems out of period for Christie’s highly successful play that premiered in 1954. Amadeus’s long pony tail and casual Seventies costuming by Ange Fewtrell may seem oddly anachronistic. As did Elgin's costuming as the Butler. As Inspector Lord Amadeus gives a highly credible performance of a young country inspector, combining youthful authority and ambition with perceptive awareness and a determination to get his man or woman. His crisp Oxford University articulation ( an audible and welcome asset on the Rep stage) betrays the conventional view of the lugubrious sleuth. Sophia Bate as offsider Constable Jones exudes the appropriate air of impartial detachment and professional duty,

Terry Johnson (Sir Rowland) and Adele Lewin (Mildred Peake)

Spider’s Web ran for an impressive 774 performances after its premiere on London’s West End. It is far short of The Mousetrap’s phenomenal run over several decades but it nonetheless attests to Christie’s talent for keeping an audience guessing. Rogers’ production crackles along, keeping the action on top throttle, but taking the moments to allow an audience the opportunity to let suspicions flare and falter as fresh clues lead audiences down a different path. It all ends happily enough, except for the villain and the victim. Inspector Ford gets his culprit. Clarissa learns the peril of the tangled web she weaves when first she practises to deceive and some of the audience may be heard muttering as they leave the theatre “I knew who did it all along”

Spider’s Web may appear dated to an audience flooded with new crime stories and stage and screen whodunnits but the Queen of Crime still holds a special and original place in the chronicle of the crime drama. It is a genre that Canberra Rep excels in. There would be very few amateur rep companies that could boast the extraordinary quality of Rep’s production values. Saria Coate’s set design, David Brown’s lighting design, Ange Fewtrell’s idiosyncratic costuming and Neville Pye’s sound design, all assisted by an excellent production team achieve the highest standards of production in Canberra Rep’s intimate theatre.

Terese Maguire as Pippa. Terry Johnson as Sir Rowland
and Sian Harrington as Clarissa Hailsham-Brown in Spider's Web

Theatre Rep’s stylishly staged production of Agatha Christie’s Spider’s Web throws down the gauntlet and challenges you to solve the crime. For a cosy evening of entertaining and puzzle solving crime drama, Christie enthusiasts and amateur sleuths won’t be disappointed.