Calgary’s Workshop Theatre spotlights little known Agatha Christie gem

If you think you’ve seen every Agatha Christie mystery, Spider’s Web may surprise you. The play, directed by longtime Calgary theatre figure Louis B. Hobson, is lesser known.

“This is her only real comedy,” Hobson says. “When it was done, it was extremely popular. In fact, second only to The Mousetrap for attendance, but people don’t know the title. They know Witness for the Prosecution and And Then There Were None, but they don’t know Spider’s Web, and it’s so much fun. It really is.” 

Originally written in the 1950s the play was Christie’s answer to a friend’s unusual request.

“A friend of Agatha’s, an actress Margaret Lockwood, who came to Agatha and said, ‘I want to go back on the stage …but I don’t want it to be really heavy. I want there to be a good whodunit, but I also want it to be funny and light.’ And that’s what Agatha wrote for her,” Hobson explains. “People after the show do not know whodunit… She has kept that a secret right till she lets you know who the killer is.” 

At its centre is Clarissa, a diplomat’s wife whose daydream –“Supposing I were to come down one morning and find a dead body in the library” suddenly becomes real. Caught between etiquette and panic, she and her houseguests must conceal the corpse before a dinner meeting and a police inspector arrive.

While Christie’s intrigue drives the laughs, the production’s home carries its own legacy. Workshop Theatre, performing this run at the Pumphouse, has been part of Calgary’s cultural backbone since 1969.

“It’s the oldest community theatre in Calgary,” Hobson says. “I’ve known Workshop Theatre since day one.” 

He adds voluntary productions are what keeps Calgary’s arts ecosystem thriving.

“They are the breeding ground for the professional theatre. These are very dedicated people … They give up eight weeks of their lives for rehearsals and then two weeks for the run. That’s real dedication. And it’s that excitement in community theatre that feeds professional theatre,” Hobson says.

Hobson believes the secret to keeping audiences engaged — professional or community — is balancing familiar titles with a few risks.

“You’ve got to know what people want to see,” he says. “Plays that are absolutely brand new are the ones that are difficult to get audiences out for. You’ve got to do plays that people know, and then you can sneak in one or two brand new plays and give people something new. We can’t just do the old plays. We have to do new plays as well.” 

He attributes the lesser known title of Spider’s Web to a lower than expected turnout so far, but is still delighted by the audience reaction.

“It’s such a fun evening. The audiences we’ve had have been very receptive… They’re really enjoying it, that it’s very much fun and a good whodunit. But it’s also funny. Agatha is a genius. She knows what’s funny, and that’s what she has incorporated into Spider’s Web,” Hobson adds.

Spider’s Web runs at the Pumphouse Theatre Until October 25.

More information can be found here.