"Spider’s Web at Lakewood Theatre:

 
Heaps of good English fun. Posted by OregonLive Jan. 16, 2010

If you don’t mind an Agatha Christie play that can’t
decide if it’s a comedy or a whodunit, you’ll find "Spider’s Web"
heaps of good English fun. Despite a lot of verbal explanation more suited to a
Christie novel than a play with living, breathing characters, "Web"
weaves a spell, thanks to smart, thorough direction from Don Alder, who
enhances Christie’s humor, and a very able cast.
 
The piece was written in the wake of Christie’s success on the London theater
circuit with other, better-known plays, such as "Witness for the
Prosecution" and "The Mousetrap," supposedly the world’s
longest-running drama. She wrote "Web" in 1953 expressly for British
film star Margaret
Lockwood, who had been playing a string of wicked women on the screen and
was tired of them: She longed for a role in a comedy thriller.

For Lockwood, Christie
created Clarissa, the central figure in "Spider’s Web" and an imaginative
young wife of a foreign-office diplomat. She likes to fantasize various
scenarios involving murder and intrigue, then tries to solve them. When a real
dead body materializes in Clarissa’s living room, she’s in her element, even
confessing to the police that she was the killer, to protect her step-daughter
Pippa, who may or may not be involved.
 
It’s a fabrication, of course. After the plot twists and turns in convoluted
confusion a la Christie, we’re rewarded with the real villain’s identity as all
the pertinent facts surface in the final scene. The show’s only real flaw lies
with Christie’s exposition: There’s too much dialogue describing events, which
are much better handled in a book or a film version that could show instead of
tell.

Lauren Bair, with her sparkling dark eyes, luxuriant mane of hair and crisp
British accent, dives into the role of glamorous Clarissa with style and gusto.
She’s the fulcrum of the action, one of Christie’s strongest female characters
(except for Miss Marple, of course), despite being an amalgam of 1950s
stereotypes of the perfect woman: a loving stepmother, a supportive wife who
takes good care of her flurried husband (a thankless role neatly sketched by
Garland Lyons) and the cherished ward of her elderly guardian Sir Rowland
Delahaye (Scott Parker).

Clarissa’s upper-class drawing room in post-war Kent has a priest hole, or
hidden room, behind the bookcase — a perfect place to hide a corpse and a
great focal spot of attention for the stage action. Did Clarissa’s stepdaughter
Pippa (a first-rate performance by Amber Mitchell, a Honeysuckle Weeks
look-alike) hit someone over the head and kill him? If it’s true, Clarissa is
willing to protect Pippa by confessing to the deed herself.

But there’s more to the story, as eccentric gardener Mildred Peake (Jamie M.
Rea) lets on. She catches Clarissa’s enthusiasm, gets happily excited about
foiling the police even further and single-handedly hides the corpse under a
bed bolster. She later reveals her true identity, which sheds new light on
what’s going on.

"Spider’s Web" was unfavorably reviewed when it first opened in
London in 1954. Critics were confused by the combination of genres, the hybrid
mix of mystery and humor.

Today, comic mysteries abound in books, films and on stage. No big deal. In
fact, some of the best mysteries are infused with humor, and some of the most
thoughtful comedies contain a mystery. Director Alder celebrates the hybrid
with attention to every detail in both areas, and Jeff Seats’ set elegantly
captures the subdued glamour of a British post-war drawing room. 

— Holly Johnson, The Oregonian