Brian Blessed to direct Agatha Christie's Spider's Web

Brian Blessed is to direct a production of Agatha Christie's 1954 play Spider's Web.

Spider's Web is a comedy thriller about a murder which takes place in the drawing room of the wife of a diplomat. She enlists the help of her guests to dispose of the body before her husband arrives home with an important politician.

The play was written at the request of Margaret Lockwood, the play's leading lady, who had only appeared in one West End show. Her agent spoke to Christie's producer, and the author wrote the play, with Lockwood taking on the role of Clarissa when it opened the Theatre Royal, Nottingham.

Blessed will direct a cast which includes Nick Barclay, Luke Barton, Joanna Brooke; Eric Carte, Tim Faulkner, Melanie Gutteridge, Alexander Neal, Esme Seber, George Telfer and Noel White when the play opens at The Mill at Sonning in July.

Blessed made his directional debut at the theatre last year, directing another Christie play, The Hollow, which WhatsOnStage described as a "perfectly serviceable and enjoyable whodunit with a generous smattering of laughs and a successfully pulled off switcheroo".

Spider's Webb runs at The Mill at Sonning from 12 July to 9 September, with previews from 6 July.