Summer Chills at the Alley Theatre is all about entertainment. There are no axes to grind; no hidden depths to plumb, which is great, because it's too hot to do much besides sit in air-conditioned comfort and watch other people exert themselves. For the audience all the exercise is cerebral, and for that no one does it better than Agatha Christie, the grand dame of mystery. The current offering, SPIDER'S WEB, provides plenty of that, with more twists than an amusement park ride and some nicely-timed chills along the way.
Clarissa Hailsham-Brown (Josie Guzman) - no proper British mystery is complete without at least one hyphenated heroine - is in her element at her posh country home, surrounded by male admirers in the persons of family friends Sir Rowland Delahaye (Jeffrey Bean) and Hugo Birch (John Tyson), along with their young protégée Jeremy Warrender (Jay Sullivan). It seems that Clarissa's only problem is that no one seems to believe her when she tells the truth. Rounding out the dramatis personae are her rather disturbed step-daughter, Pippa (McKenna Marmolejo); the gardener, Mildred Peake (Margaret Daly); and Elgin, the butler (Todd Waite).
After some rather ponderous exposition involving the lives and backgrounds of all present - you might want to bring a pencil and some scrap paper for this - we get down to cases in the form of one Oliver Costello (Michael Brusasco), whose mysterious visit starts the wheels to turning. It seems that Costello has a past connection with the current occupants of the house that is rather nefarious, and Clarissa's cozy world is threatened.
Developments develop and we ramble along until, finally, a body is discovered. Gasps and hysterics all around.
Now we're getting somewhere. With Christie full stride in her milieu, we come to the where, when, who and why that makes a murder mystery tick.
First Clarissa's adoring husband, Henry Hailsham-Brown (Paul Hope) appears, and then almost immediately goes out again on a hush-hush mission for the Foreign Office. Upper-class British gentlemen of this sort are almost always with the Foreign Office - never, for instance, Inland Revenue. I guess it adds to the mystery. Anyway....
Although Clarissa is determined to spare her husband the shock and embarrassment of coming home to find a dead body in the drawing room and comes up with a cock-eyed scheme to dispose of it, somehow the police get wind of the affair. Enter Inspector Lord (John Feltch) and his brisk cohort Constable Jones (Trace Pool), who proceed to investigate the matter, much to the chagrin of Clarissa and company.
It all ends happily, of course, except for the corpse and the murderer, and there is a satisfying denouement.
The cast is talented and cheery, with Guzman sparking as Clarissa, brightly playing the ever-so-British heroine. Bean and Tyson acquit themselves admirably as the two old friends, both probably in love with Clarissa, who alternately puff and flutter as she pulls them ever deeper into her plans. Tyson is particularly endearing as the faint-hearted Hugo. Sullivan is properly "Tennis, anyone?" as the gay young blade, and Waite does his English butler to a turn, while Marmolejo essays the rather ditzy and constantly hungry step-daughter with all the requisite ticks. Brusasco is properly threatening as the smarmy Costello. Feltch, always a pleasure to see back at the Alley, does a crisp, if somewhat befuddled Inspector Lord, and Pool takes notes. That leaves newcomer Daly as Mrs. Peake, the gardener, whose delightful performance put me in mind of dear Bettye Fitzpatrick with her charm and humor.
The old-fashioned construction of the three-act play with two intermissions creaks a bit here and there, but director Gregory Boyd supplies enough bright spots to keep the audience engaged, and it's a pleasure to watch a top-notch cast go through their paces with aplomb. Add to that the Alley's impeccable production, sets, lighting and costume, and you have a very pleasant way to pass a sultry summer evening.SPIDER'S WEB continues through August 14. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays; 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; and 2:30 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays at the Alley Theatre, 615 Texas. For more information, please call 713-220-5700 or visit alleytheatre.org. $26- $69.
Run time is 2 hours and 40 minutes with two intermissions. Recommended for general audiences.
