"Spider's Web" - by Agatha Christie - Arlington Friends of the Drama/AFD Theatre (Arlington, MA.) - REVIEW
(Cover Photo: The CAST of Agatha Christie's "SPIDER'S WEB" now playing at AFD Theatre in Arlington, MA. through December 14, 2025. Photo Credit: Leslie Maiocca)
By Kevin T. Baldwin
METRMAG Reviewer
# 774-242-6724
“One of the saddest things in life, is the things one remembers…"
- ("Clarissa") / Agatha Christie
Arlington Friends of the Drama/AFD Theatre
Presents Agatha Christie's
"SPIDER'S WEB"
Written by Agatha Christie
Directed by John Pease
Cast Includes: Scott Levine as “Sir Rowland Delahaye,” Brian Bermack as “Hugo Birch,” Oscar Schuman as “Jeremy Warrender,” Amy Young as “Clarissa Hailsham-Brown,” Dede Jimenez as “Pippa Hailsham-Brown,” Karen Fanale as “Mildred Peake,” Zakaria Tber as “Oliver Costello,” Hannah Brown as “Inspector Lord,” Jesse Martin as “Elgin,” Kevin Cabrera as “Constable Jones/Henry Hailsham-Brown.”
Additional Creative Team:
Production Manager – Judy Weinberg; Stage Manager – Maryann C. Swift; Fight Coach – Andrew Rhodes; Assistant Stage Manager – Martha Chamberlin; Set Design – John Pease, Rob McRobbie; Set tech – Charlie Carr; Set Crew – Julia Bloom, Julien Buron, Katie Carroll, Tara Christian, Lia Eggleston, Audrey Ellis, Doug Feinburg, Jacob Gendelman, Tasia Gladkova, Scott Heffron, Tom Lemore, Andromeda Lisle, Idony Lisle, Ken Livak, Shayna Loeffler, Juan Perez, Kristen Russell, Ken Theriault, David Warnock, Trip Woodward; Stage Crew – Tara Christian, Julien Buron, Jeanne Callinan; Costume Design – Mandy Rosengren; Costume Assistants – Tara Christian, Shayna Loeffler; Hair – Cheri Fletcher; Hair Assistant – Jeanne Callinan; Make-up – Kristin Fehlau; Lighting Design – David Silber; Lighting Tech – Kristen Russell; Sound Design – Ed Council; Props and Set Dressing – Janice Sophis; Props – Martha Chamberlin.
Performances:
December 5, 2025 through December 14, 2025
(Contact Box Office for Exact Times)
AFD THEATRE, 22 Academy Street, Arlington, MA. 02476
TICKETS:
For more information or tickets, contact AFD THEATRE at www.afdtheatre.org/buy-tickets or by calling the box office at # 781-646-5922 or emailing boxoffice@afdtheatre.org.
BUY TICKETS
COVID 19 PROTOCOLS
Contact Venue for Most Updated COVID-19 Safety Protocols and Information.
(Warning: The following review contains spoilers)
This holiday season, the Arlington Friends of the Drama, aka AFD Theatre, gives us the gift of a good, solid murder mystery with Agatha Christie’s "SPIDER'S WEB," now playing.
Even though the story may not be Christie at her best, the show is still a true treat for fans of suspense and well-written mysteries.
In fact, the three-act play (with two intermissions) made its London West End debut in 1954 to tepid reviews but "SPIDER'S WEB" still became one of Christie’s most successful plays, ultimately faring as well (financially) as other Christie favorites “Mousetrap” and “Witness for the Prosecution.”
Christie’s writing of "SPIDER'S WEB" has a long evolution but, basically, she wrote it for a struggling actress along and included the daughter of the actress in the suspenseful story.
Christie fans will no doubt note how the play reuses plot devices from earlier Christie works but will quickly forgive, so we won’t go into them here.
(Photo: Dede Jimenez as “Pippa Hailsham-Brown” with Amy Young as “Clarissa Hailsham-Brown” in a scene from Agatha Christie's "SPIDER'S WEB" now playing at AFD Theatre in Arlington, MA. through December 14, 2025. Photo Credit: Leslie Maiocca)
Set in the early 1950s, AFD Theatre's "SPIDER'S WEB" takes place within the confines of a drawing room in a lavish Copplestone Court, focusing on diplomat's wife Clarissa Hailsham-Brown (Amy Young) as she deals with an unexpected dead body, leading to a tangled web of secrets (albeit almost all are self-inflicted) and humor.
Clarissa is the second wife of Foreign Office diplomat Henry (Kevin Cabrera, in a dual role later playing a local constable), and stepmother to Henry’s imaginative young daughter, Pippa (Dede Jimenez).
Filled with an antique desk and mysterious passageways, the large countryside house is actually being rented to the Hailsham-Browns for a bargain - and while that may not seem like critical info, it becomes very much so later as the story unfolds.
The estate is managed by the Elgins, a married butler and cook, and the butler (Jesse Martin) informs Clarissa that the couple will be taking the night off and we learn later how his wife, the cook, is not feeling well.
Also on the premises is Mildred Peake (Karen Fanale), a stout, eccentric country woman who lives in a cottage on the estate and tends to it as its gardener.
(Photo: Scott Levine as “Sir Rowland Delahaye” with Amy Young as “Clarissa Hailsham-Brown” in a scene from Agatha Christie's "SPIDER'S WEB" now playing at AFD Theatre in Arlington, MA. through December 14, 2025. Photo Credit: Leslie Maiocca)
Clarissa is entertaining three guests who are currently staying with them:
Sir Rowland Delahaye (Scott Levine), Clarissa's elder guardian; Hugo Birch (Brian Bermack), a friend of Sir Rowland and a local justice of the peace; and Jeremy Warrender (Oscar Schuman), an appealing young man.
The marvelous chemistry conveyed between the above actors is both immediate and apparent as the play begins and is maintained throughout, a tribute to the fine attention paid by AFD Theatre director John Pease.
Young Pippa is reading an old "recipe book" (which again factors in greatly later in the story) just as Oliver Costello (Zakaria Tber) - a drug dealer and new husband of Henry's ex-wife and Pippa’s mother - appears at the house and threatens Clarissa that he plans to get custody of Pippa in an attempt at extortion.
Clarissa stands up to Costello and has Miss Peake “escort” Costello off the premises.
However, Pippa, now hysterical after seeing Costello, is upset and Clarissa sends her upstairs.
Jimenez does an extremely impressive job as the young child whose torment is clear, so much so that Clarissa seeks now only to protect Henry's daughter.
Yet, as Henry arrives, he is of virtually zero help to Clarissa’s situation as he is distracted by the arrival of an important foreign diplomat to which he must tend.
Therefore, Clarissa does not seek to compound her husband's own "serious situation" any further by bothering or distracting him with matters of a drug dealer seeking to extort the couple and threatening his daughter.
Different times, folks. Different times.
(Photo: Karen Fanale as “Mildred Peake” in a scene from Agatha Christie's "SPIDER'S WEB" now playing at AFD Theatre in Arlington, MA. through December 14, 2025. Photo Credit: Leslie Maiocca)
In the darkened drawing room, Costello returns, sneaking in and searching an antique desk and (spoiler alert) is murdered.
Clarissa re-enters the room and finds Costello’s body with Pippa entering and confessing to the murder.
But did the child actually commit this heinous act?
Clarissa can neither confirm nor refute the child’s admission of guilt but is determined to protect her nonetheless.
Clarissa enlists the aid of her three guests to help her dispose of Costello's body and hopes they will also help her create an alibi for Pippa, for whom they are unaware may have committed the murder.
Young dominates the story as Clarissa, who feels herself completely in charge of the situation, even though Clarissa's attempts at protecting young Pippa seem to make matters worse, not better.
Levine as Sir Rowland provides a superior performance as Clarissa informs him that Pippa admitted to the murder and he, against his better judgment and quite reluctantly, agrees to help.
However, before anything else happens, the police suddenly arrive at the door and they hide the body in a hidden passageway in the drawing room.
Police Inspector Lord (Hannah Brown) advises how an “anonymous caller” reported a murder at the house.
Brown does a terrific job as the inquisitive inspector, who, once a dead body is discovered, must contend with the elaborate web of lies Clarissa creates in effort to protect her stepchild, whose guilt or innocence she still does not yet know herself.
(Photo: The CAST of Agatha Christie's "SPIDER'S WEB" now playing at AFD Theatre in Arlington, MA. through December 14, 2025. Photo Credit: Leslie Maiocca)
Many additional plot twists and turns occur, as in any good Christie mystery - and while three acts running at approximately three hours may seem like an eternity, the show flows quite expeditiously with the story keeping us totally engaged throughout.
The set design for the AFD Theatre production is both exquisitely detailed and simply gorgeous as is the use of meticulously placed lighting cues throughout.
Even with the re-used plot devices by Christie, the play is still filled with great mystery, clandestine moments, intelligent dialogue and a lot of unexpected humor.
"SPIDER'S WEB" continues in Arlington, MA. until December 14th, 2025 and if you are a fan of complex mysteries, this is one entangled web that you will thoroughly enjoy watch as it tries to unweave itself.
Coming up in 2026 for AFD Theatre will be the Lynn Ahrens-Stephen Flaherty musical “ONCE ON THIS ISLAND” beginning March 6th and continuing through March 22nd, 2026.
For more information or tickets, contact AFD THEATRE at www.afdtheatre.org/buy-tickets or by calling the box office at # 781-646-5922 or emailing boxoffice@afdtheatre.org.
BUY TICKETS
Approximately three hours with two intermissions.
Kevin T. Baldwin is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA)
@MetrmagReviews
@Theatre_Critics
ABOUT THE SHOW
In Agatha Christie's "SPIDER'S WEB," Clarissa, wife of a diplomat, is adept at spinning tales of adventure, but when a murder takes place in her drawing room, she finds live drama much harder to cope with.
Desperate to dispose of the body before her husband arrives with an important politician, she enlists the help of her guests.
Humorous complications ensue when they are interrupted by the unexpected arrival of wry detective Inspector Lord.
ABOUT ARLINGTON FRIENDS OF THE DRAMA/AFD THEATRE
ARLINGTON FRIENDS OF THE DRAMA, now known as AFD THEATRE, was founded in 1923 and is one of the ten oldest continually operating community theatre groups in the country. Now located in the former St. John's Episcopal Church, which has been extensively updated and made handicap-accessible. AFD THEATRE is among the finest area playhouses for actors, directors, production designers and audiences to produce and enjoy live theatre. About AFD THEATRE Seasons: AFD THEATRE puts on four productions: two musicals and two straight plays. AFD THEATRE holds auditions months ahead, and rehearse evenings and weekends. AFD THEATRE welcomes you to join the fun: help build sets, make costumes, do lights. Usher or sell concessions. AFD THEATRE is a community endeavor that seeks to engage all ages in the fun and exciting act of putting on a play!
22 Academy Street
Arlington, MA. 02476
# 781-646-5922
