Review: Park Square ensnares murderous mirth with "Spider's Web"

photo by Petronella Ytsma

Consider the elements: the murder of an enigmatic visitor, an isolated home populated with suspects, and an inspector tasked with pulling back layers of deception to reveal the real killer. Sounds like Agatha Christie is at it again. In and of itself, there’s plenty of macabre enjoyment to be had in an evening of whodunit theater penned by the Queen of Crime. In Park Square Theatre’s new adaptation of Spiders’ Web, however, the level of fun is ratcheted up several notches by a playfully stylized approach that sets the action in the Swinging Sixties with a charismatic cast that matches the vibrancy of the era with the colorful eccentricities of their roles.

Spider’s Web begins with a premise atypical of Christie’s work. In a richly appointed drawing room Clarissa, the vivacious young wife of Foreign Office Diplomat Henry Hailsham-Brown, is passing the time until her husband’s return by entertaining three of the couple’s friends - Sir Rowland Delahaye, Hugo Birch, and Jeremy Warrender - and taking care of her stepdaughter Pippa - Henry’s child from a strained previous marriage. The unexpected arrival of Oliver Costello, who is not only the husband of Henry’s former wife, but alleged to be an unscrupulous drug dealer, will soon bring the revelry to a halt. Shortly after Costello conveys his wish that Pippa live with her estranged mother, Clarissa angrily shows him the door. But just when Clarissa believes her troubles have passed, she literally stumbles over a corpse on the drawing room floor.

Pippa’s presence at the murder scene, coupled with her apparent confession, drives Clarissa to enlist the help of her three guests in hiding the body before Henry returns. Their scheme will be stopped short, however, by the arrival of Inspector Lord and Constable Jones who have received an anonymous tip regarding the murder. Frantic efforts to convince the authorities that their tip was merely a prank are dashed by the discovery of the hastily concealed body, launching the entire household into audacious (of often uproarious) attempts to preserve their own innocence while simultaneously seeking the true culprit.

Carolyn Pool is charmingly vibrant in the lead role of Clarissa Hailsham-Brown, possessing an inquisitive intelligence and irreverent wit that complement, not contradict, her devotion to her husband and stepdaughter. She might dress in London chic and walk with a swagger, but Clarissa is no femme fatale. Instead, Pool underscores two distinct sides of her character, one moment breezily singing the Beatles, the next devising a way to shield Pippa from being suspected of murder. Her early admission to sometimes playing mental games of “Suppose” in which she imagines outlandish scenarios to ward off boredom, is finely played by Pool as not an indication of sinister tendencies, but rather a harmless indulgence of a comfortably content wife and mother.

Such inner virtuosity cannot be extended to the character of Oliver Costello, played by Bob Davis with delightfully sleazy zeal. Sauntering across the room in his blinding mod attire - imagine a villainous Austin Powers - Davis seems unpleasant enough to leave a trail of slime in his wake. And while his time on stage is relatively limited, Davis proves an unshakable presence - try as the other characters might to get rid of him.

The three guests of the household, represented by Allen Hamilton as Hugo Birch, Bruce Hyde as Sir Rowland Delahaye, and Sid Solomon as Jeremy Warrender each do exceptionally well at establishing the uniqueness of their roles. Rather than an interchangeable group of three, each character is afforded distinctive traits, allowing each to be a potential hero or villain. Due in part to the diversity of the three performances, the questioning by Inspector Lord and Constable Jones become a showcase of comic tension. Speaking of the investigators, the casting of Michael Paul Levin as the Inspector and Amy Schweickhardt as the Constable prove a model of unspoken interaction. For example, witness the hilarious reactions of Schweickhardt’s Constable during the scene in which Clarissa bends her account - and uses her charms - to play on the, um, gender bias of Levin’s Inspector.

Any description of the acting talents in this production would be grossly incomplete without the inclusion of Steve Hendrickson. His recent performance in the Jungle Theater’s production of Crime and Punishment in which he played multiple roles must have been a positive experience, considering he takes on no less than three characters here - the frazzled gardener Mildred Peake, the droll caretaker Elgin, and Clarissa’s ever-proper husband, Henry. Like a locally grown Peter Sellers, Hendrickson inhabits each role with quirky comic abandon, an aptitude that could perhaps be best measured by the moments of spontaneous applause evoked by his performance.

This exceptional cast is surrounded by an equally striking world, courtesy of a richly detailed set design by Rick Polenek and a period precise costuming by Amy B. Kaufman. Just as the 1960s demonstrated a cultural shift from traditional tastes to the more avant-garde, so too do the setting and clothing of the production. The drawing room, for example, is dominated by the classically appointed styles of the English upper class - excepting the Warhol-like print hung by Clarissa at the play’s beginning. Likewise, the well-cut suits of the older generation are offset by the vibrant mod fashions of the young, from Clarissa’s patterned minidress to Costello’s leather platform shoes. While the effect of shifting the setting doesn’t change the storyline, the tone is given a fresh rehauling that takes it away from the standard bleakness of storms and lightning.

Director Peter Moore has orchestrated the action to run with an engaging efficiency, crossing characters like threads on a literal spider’s web, each pull on one drawing a reaction from the others. Part of the play’s effectiveness comes simply from watching those interactions develop while anticipating each new revelation. And while the prevailing comic tone might diminish the gravity of the tension, there’s no denying the macabre enjoyment of watching characters debate the best way to dispose of an inconvenient corpse.

Spider’s Web might not conform with a traditional by-the-numbers approach to Agatha Christie’s work, but the lively spirit of this adaptation makes it all the more essential. Murder is a nasty business, the production suggests, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a few laughs at its expense.

For more info: Park Square Theatre