Check out Acadia Rep’s ‘Web’ and you’ll be caught up in it

SOMESVILLE – Agatha Christie wrote a comedy.

Who knew the grande dame of mystery writers penned a delightful drawing room play that borders on farce?

Acadia Repertory Theatre knows all about “Spider’s Web” and Christie’s comic. The company, located in Somesville in Mount Desert Island, has produced the show three times since 1990.

This year’s incarnation, which runs through Labor Day weekend, is an enchanting concoction – a delightful and satisfying treat that sweetly tops off a day spent soaking up the last and best days of summer.

Christie, who according to the Guinness Book of Records has sold 2 million copies of her books, was prolific. Best known for her Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot mysteries, she wrote more than a dozen plays in a career that spanned more than half a century.

Although both of her detectives had their own amusing moments, she was not known as a comic writer. Her best-known plays, “Ten Little Indians” and “The Mousetrap,” are deadly serious. “Spider’s Web” is decidedly not, despite a dead body that has the irritating habit of disappearing in the rented country home of Clarissa Hailsham-Brown.

Cheryl Willis, who is serving as artistic director this year while its founder, Ken Stack, is on sabbatical, directed the play with a satiric but loving hand. What makes the production so wonderful are the natural little bits of business she gives the actors to do – the inspector digs wax out of his ear when no one’s watching, the cook’s helper chomps gum incessantly, and the lady of the house constantly straightens her clothes, tablecloth and throw pillows as she spins a web of lies for her guests’ amusement.

Willis also portrays Mildred Peake, the gardener of the estate. She’s as dotty as she is wise, but the way the woman wields a pitchfork is downright hysterical. As an actress and director, Willis gives the three-act play a near frenetic pace it desperately needs to keep it from running more than 21/4 hours with two intermissions.

Her performance is matched by David Blais as Inspector Lord, who arrives to investigate a reported murder. Blais is long and lanky. When he sits in a chair onstage, then stretches out his arms and legs, the actor bears a striking resemblance to Christie’s spider. He perfectly captures the dry wit the writer infused into her sleuths.

Sir Rowland Delahaye and Hugo Birch are the guffawing gentlemen who add to the confusion and assist Clarissa in spinning tales. The portrayals by Edwin Strout and Philip Fox turn the twosome into a cheery and charmingly odd couple who know better than to get caught in their hostess’s web, but just can’t resist her alluring nature.

Abby Hayward creates an appealing Clarissa, but her bad English accent distracts from her portrayal. Turning her into an American would have made the actress’s portrayal more convincing. It’s not that Hayward is a bad actress, it’s just that she’s not as consummate a professional as Willis, Blais, Strout and Fox are.

Like a good murder mystery read on a lazy summer day, Acadia Rep’s production of “Spider’s Web” is a wonderful way to while away a few hours before the leaves begin to change colors and the breeze takes on a chill.

“Spider’s Web” will be performed at 8:15 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays, through Saturday, Sept. 1. A matinee will be performed at 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 2. For information, call 244-7260 or visit www.acadiarep.com.