Spider's Web

(Cambridge Arts Theatre, 11 June 2009)

Much of the enjoyment of this mystery story is derived from suspense. Indeed, most kinds of enjoyment are rooted in suspense. One can listen to an ocean for hours, but not to a clock, because one never knows when the next ocean wave breaks, whereas the timing of the ticking clock is no mystery. Similarly, the enjoyment of memories is the enjoyment of the unexpected during sequential recall.

The company have attained the ultimate goal of most human endeavour: creating order, for which intelligence and good manners are indispensable. Clarissa Hailsham-Brown (Melanie Gutteridge)--- cheerful, not hysterical, happy, not content out of ignorance, kind out of wisdom, not out of duty or fear---would have met even Alfred Hitchcock's standards of understated glamour, perhaps.