"Spider's Web" by Agatha Christie performed by Tabs Productions.

Nottingham Theatre Royal

The second play of the Colin McIntyre Classic Thriller Season 2022 is the classic Agatha Christie murder mystery, "Spider's Web", Christie's second longest running play; I'm sure I don't need to tell you the name of the longest running thriller from the Mistress of murder mystery!

Clarissa Hailsham-Brown, the wife of a Foreign Office diplomat, is given to daydreaming and playing a game called "Supposing". "Supposing I were to come down one morning and find a dead body in the library, what should I do?" she muses. Well, many a muse said in jest as Clarissa has her chance to find out when she discovers a body in the drawing-room of Copplestone Court, her house in Kent.

Desperate to dispose of the body before her husband comes home with an important foreign politician, Clarissa persuades her three house guests to become accessories and accomplices. It seems that the murdered man was not unknown to certain members of the house party (but which ones?), and the search begins for the murderer and the motive, while at the same time trying to persuade a police inspector that there has been no murder at all.

Lara Lemon, as Clarissa Hailsham-Brown, gets to use her feminine ways to manipulate the men around her into doing what she wants them to do, but it does not work on all the males in play. Clarissa has motive, as well as the means, and is good at covering her emotions and spinning a few good yarns. Could she really have done the dastardly deed? the play is set in the early 1950s and I love all of the melodrama with Clarissa and she has enough red herrings to open her own fish shop. You can really tell that the lovely Lara Lemon is loving playing this character.

John Lyons plays Sir Roland Delahaye, Clarissa is Delahaye's ward. In the past I've seen John play detectives on stage, and you will recognise him from "A Touch Of Frost" as George Toolan alongside Sir David Jason, but John is not just George, or Father Brown on stage. Here he plays an accomplice to Clarissa's notion of disposing the body. John is the consummate professional and his easy-going charm offstage transcends to the stage, and even when his character starts to show signs of worry over the decision to hide the body, the smoothness is ever present. Christie was a brilliant writer for injecting humour into the most ridiculous of situations, and Sir Roland Delahaye gets to deliver some wonderfully comic lines in the face of absurdity.

Andrew Ryan (Hugo Birch), and in another change of character; so often we see Andrew play the bad guy, this role sees Andrew not in control of the wrong doings and looking decidedly unnerved. Whatever role Andrew plays, he always delivers a quality performance and you feel the nervousness of the character through the performance.

Chris Brookes (Jeremy Warrender) is another name that will be well known to the Colin McIntyre Thriller Season shows. Here Chris plays a likeable young man, who has caught the eye of Clarissa, and he takes much of what Clarissa says as gospel (ish). This is shown by one of the opening scenes where he is speed testing something that Clarissa had told him. Slightly geeky, but in an upper-class way, and a little bit nervy. Both Jeremy and Hugo are in favour of assisting Clarissa's disposal of the body, whereas Roly takes a bit more convincing that this is the right thing to do.

Juliette Strobel (Pippa Hailsham-Brown) actually morphs into a young child in this play. I had to double glance at Juliette because she completely looks the right age for the character. Sometimes make up can give the impression of a younger character but this character looked not to have needed any help at all. This shows what a wonderful, and observant character actor Juliette is, because the physicality of the role also lends itself to that younger appearance. Pippa is afraid that she has murdered someone, but is she just dreaming or could it be witchcraft at play?

Susan Earnshaw (Mildred Peake). Can I say what a massive fan of Susan's I am. Every role Susan plays is, for me, brilliantly executed. This particular role is of a lady gardener, who does not get on with everyone in the house. There seems to be an extra amount of Y chromosomes coursing through those veins, giving her a more masculine, and stronger ability, or could it just be all that fresh air and gardening? Mildred is strong; strong enough to take down anyone who she takes a dislike to, and all that humping great sacks of vegetables may stand her in good stead... if called upon!

Jeremy Lloyd-Thomas (Elgin, The Butler), and while this is not a major role, it provides another possibility to consider as the murderer. Why did he and his wife really return home from the cinema? There could be a simple explanation, another red herring maybe? A classy performance from Mr Lloyd-Thomas.

John Goodrum (Oliver Costello), now here is an interesting character. He is now married to Clarissa's husband's ex-wife and so straight away there is a feeling of ill will, especially as there seems to be possible blackmail afoot, or is that just hearsay from listening at keyholes from someone else? Pippa certainly does not like him, and neither does Clarissa. Henry, Clarissa's now husband is not aware of his visit to the home, but why is he really there at all? John is a very agile actor, proven by the several stage falls he has to perform in this play. There are several people who do not like Oliver, but enough to kill him?

David Osmond (Henry Hailsham-Brown), and we don't see an awful lot of David in this play as Henry has to pop off to pick up the important foreign politician from the airport, so is off stage for a while, but as we don't actually see the murder, or the murderer, could this be explained away by the absence of stage time? Loved the upper-class accent and poise of this well-heeled Foreign Office Diplomat, which was well brought out by Mr Osmond.

George Telfer (Inspector Lord) makes an excellent policeman. He is commanding and likes to get down to the nitty gritty of solving the murder, all the while seemingly playing both bad cop, as well as good cop to try and work out why the man was murdered and by whom. While on stage, George stamped his authority as the man of the law, efficiently making sure that the suspects were directed to where he wanted them to be, and you could see him working the clues out in his head, all the while giving nothing away.

Ed Telfer (Constable Jones) gets to join his Dad (in real life) on stage as a Welsh, young "bobby". What I found really interesting about this character, and ed, was that, while the character is a secondary character, you need to watch his mannerisms because Ed has a very visual way of acting, even when he is not the main focus. His physicality is a comical masterclass for a secondary character; his stride across the stage, his facial nuances, his stance, his almost accidental outbursts of emotional recognition are all perfected. Many people will always focus on what is right in front of their eyes, but watching background characters can be so rewarding where comedy creeps in, and can so easily be missed. These tiny observations for an actor is testament to an intuitive actor as well as the Director who will also recognise this.

Directed by Karen Henson, well everything Karen touches is golden whether she directs or acts, and I love how Karen pays attention to the small things as well as the major things, and that is why Karen, in my mind, is one of the best directors for thrillers as well as comedy theatre. She knows what's what!

The set design is by Sarah Wynne-Kordass, assisted by Matt Sykes-Hooban and Duncan Hands. I acknowledged to Karen that this set was beautifully grand, and that the back projection, through the stately glass doors looked as if you could just go strolling out and wander to the golf course just past the green lawns visible through the windows; it was that realistic. Detail is another thing that Sarah pays close attention to, another reason why the Classic Thriller Season sets are always a delight to drink in.

Sound Design by David Gilbrook and Lighting Design by Michael Donoghue. I was commenting in the bar afterwards that if you have no comments on the sound or light, that everything has gone according to plan, especially when there is no need to draw attention to anything as part of the play. David and Michael always create realistic lighting and sound designs which have no need to be loud or flashy, and in that sense, they did everything that was needed to create a natural aural and visual setting. Top marks as always.

Agatha Christie writes some wordy pieces, there are several sections in this play. She also writes with great humour and Tabs casts bring out the farce in this thriller, as well as creating sufficient amount of tension in the build-up to revealing who the actual murderer was, and their motive, and when the reveal comes, it really did come as a surprise. It will keep you guessing right to the end.

Christie fans and thriller lovers, in fact fans of well executed theatre are going to love this production, and here's a fact for you; "Spider's Web" was first debuted at the Nottingham Theatre Royal in 1954. It's been back since but it's so good to have Tabs produce this classy interpretation for your thrilling delectation. 

"Spider's Web" is at the Nottingham Theatre Royal until Saturday 6 August.