June 29, 2009
Like ham sandwiches, wet summers and strawberries at Wimbledon, Agatha Christie is synonymous with Englishness. There is rarely a season on television when one of Christie’s much-loved characters isn’t appearing weekly on our screens. Similarly, it’s hard to go to a play in this country and be entertained by cast members whose credits don’t include The Bill or Casualty. Spider’s Web stands out, however, in that it is credited with Casualty’s Catherine Shipton who played my all-time favourite TV nurse Duffy. Is there anyone who didn’t love Duffy? My little sister even named her pet rabbit after her; though unfortunately, and fittingly in the context of an Agatha Christie murder mystery, Duffy met her end via a hard-hitting cricket bat delivered by my mother.
Spider’s Web is set in a country house in 1952, depicted exquisitely by the play’s set, and centres on Clarissa, an engaging young woman married to an older gentleman in the foreign office. As a new-found step mother to Pippa, and away from London, Clarissa adjusts to her new situation well, though confesses to spicing up her life with the odd tall tale and playing an ongoing game of “supposing...” – such as, “supposing I wake up one morning to find a dead body in the hallway.” Of course this is a Christie classic so Clarissa’s supposing becomes fact and consequently she is torn between working with truths (no one ever believes her when she’s telling the truth, she complains) and using her superlative story-telling skills to keep everyone out of trouble.
Clarissa is played by Melanie Gutteridge who is best known as The Bill’s PC Emma Keane who was blown up earlier this year... She’s enchanting and beguiling; watching Clarissa is like indulging in a generous helping of summer pudding – a sweet delight with a satisfyingly tart edge.
Each character is performed with perfect comic timing. The dialogue is delivered faultlessly and the plot jumps and twists and turns merrily – a skilful fusing of farce with all the delicious tension of a good murder mystery.
Back to Duffy: Shipton plays Mildred Peake, the ‘gardener’, a larger than life character with uproarious gestures and postures – a far cry from the meek nurse that used to grace our scenes every Saturday night. Likewise, the character of Hugo Birch, played by Robert Duncan who I adored as Gus in Channel Four’s comedy Drop the Dead Donkey, is an overstated buffoon, but utterly hilarious nonetheless.
It is these gregarious, rich characters that lift Christie’s work out of the ordinary and make them thoroughly scrumptious. The English love to laugh at themselves, and Spider’s Web is a charming, cleverly weaved yarn delivering not only the thrill of an unspeakable crime but also a great celebration of English eccentricity and first-class self-deprecating wit. Brilliant.
Spider’s Web is set in a country house in 1952, depicted exquisitely by the play’s set, and centres on Clarissa, an engaging young woman married to an older gentleman in the foreign office. As a new-found step mother to Pippa, and away from London, Clarissa adjusts to her new situation well, though confesses to spicing up her life with the odd tall tale and playing an ongoing game of “supposing...” – such as, “supposing I wake up one morning to find a dead body in the hallway.” Of course this is a Christie classic so Clarissa’s supposing becomes fact and consequently she is torn between working with truths (no one ever believes her when she’s telling the truth, she complains) and using her superlative story-telling skills to keep everyone out of trouble.
Clarissa is played by Melanie Gutteridge who is best known as The Bill’s PC Emma Keane who was blown up earlier this year... She’s enchanting and beguiling; watching Clarissa is like indulging in a generous helping of summer pudding – a sweet delight with a satisfyingly tart edge.
Each character is performed with perfect comic timing. The dialogue is delivered faultlessly and the plot jumps and twists and turns merrily – a skilful fusing of farce with all the delicious tension of a good murder mystery.
Back to Duffy: Shipton plays Mildred Peake, the ‘gardener’, a larger than life character with uproarious gestures and postures – a far cry from the meek nurse that used to grace our scenes every Saturday night. Likewise, the character of Hugo Birch, played by Robert Duncan who I adored as Gus in Channel Four’s comedy Drop the Dead Donkey, is an overstated buffoon, but utterly hilarious nonetheless.
It is these gregarious, rich characters that lift Christie’s work out of the ordinary and make them thoroughly scrumptious. The English love to laugh at themselves, and Spider’s Web is a charming, cleverly weaved yarn delivering not only the thrill of an unspeakable crime but also a great celebration of English eccentricity and first-class self-deprecating wit. Brilliant.