Amy Brown Wallpaper

Intricate Agatha Christie's "Spider's Web" at Theatre 40

 An Intricate Agatha Christie Mystery Thriller, “Spiders Web” at Theatre 40

At The Theatre with Audrey Linden

Director Bruce Gray spins a wonderful web of mystery with his fine ensemble cast of ten performers at Theatre 40.  This “whodunit” will keep you guessing right up to the end.  It is a delightful, “veddy propah” British drawing room mystery with strong comedic elements. I was kept guessing, and did not get it, even with all the clues.  Gray moves this thriller along at a fast clip and keeps us entertained as the drama unfolds. 

Set designer, Jeff G. Rack has designed the perfect British drawing room with green walls, wainscoting, antlers and paintings on the walls. He has French doors with lace curtains that lead to the garden, a secret passage behind the bookcase, and a hallway with dark floral wallpaper.  His attention to detail gives the actors a wonderful and realistic space for a murder to happen.   

Most of the actors maintain their British accents, and all the actors are very good, but two women stand out.   Julie Lancaster’s Clarissa Halisham-Brown is outstanding, and she carries the play.  She brings a light, dingy quality to her character. Her British accent is flawless.   Clarissa has a bad habit.  She tells tales and spins webs out of her imagination with her “supposing” games and casts suspicion on herself as she gets caught in a web of her own making.  She is aided and abetted by her guardian, Sir Roland, well played with a touch of stuffinesss, by David Hunt-Stafford and his co-horts, Hugo Birch (Philip Persons) and Jeremy Warrender (Grinnell Morris). Morris was utterly convincing as a Brit.  The other stand out is Amy Tolsky, whose wonderfully, wacky Mildred  Peake, the gardener, gives us a Columbo element.   Tolsky’s Peake is a bombastic old gal, and provides much of the comedic relief.  She excels in physical comedy and her facial expressions are priceless.  These two gals steal the show.   LizAnne Kiegley as the starchy, Ms. Elgin, the housekeeper also is excellent. 

Richard Hoyt Miller’s Inspector Lord has to unravel the mystery and find who was murdered and why, find the body, and solve the crime.  It falls to this central character to solve the mystery.  He solves it with the help of Sir Roland and Ms. Peake.   Miller drops his accent quite a bit, which was noticeable.  I didn’t believe Umberto Pecorino’s Oliver Costello was really Italian.  There is something strange about this man, and you will find out…. or maybe not.

Jewlery for Your Home « Decorating Resource Studio Blog

One of the biggest mistakes home owners make when renovating or giving a space a face lift is skipping out on the finishing touches. Most people simply don’t know what they need to pull the room together. “Why doesn’t my room look like one on T.V. or the magazine?” Quite frankly by the time the project has reached the finishing touch phase most people are either overwhelmed, burnt out or simply have no idea what look it is they are trying to achieve. Some are trying to keep their marriages together…

Here are a few do’s and don’ts for selecting finishing touches:

DO: ALWAYS (and we cannot emphasize this enough) put in a kitchen back splash. Whether it be tile or stainless or mirror, your kitchen will look unfinished without a back splash.

DON’T: Leave purchasing your light fixtures to the end of your budget. When you have installed fabulous lighting people notice! Would you not prefer to walk into a room everyday and covet your lighting choice? When selecting light fixtures go for over scaled. They will have a much greater impact.

DO: Dress your windows. If you really want that custom designed magazine look hang draperies. Select an up to date fabric that works with other upholstery pieces in the room. Hang them close to the ceiling and let them puddle…unless you have cats…(wink)

DON’T: Use too many toss cushions. We love love love toss cushions. Especially the large 24″x24″ ones that are hot right now. However if you are constantly throwing them on the floor every time you sit down, you may have too many. They may look great, but end up being a pain in the butt. No pun intended.

DO: Wallpaper. Yep. Sorry folks, but it’s back and it’s fabulous! Totally overscaled patterns, subtle colours, wild colours, modern, traditional, for kids rooms, you name it! You don’t have to wallpaper every wall. If you are still removing that country blue wallpaper with the geese wearing hats then you may want to start with just one wall.

DON’T: Buy the paint first. Paint comes in virtually millions of colours. Purchase your big budget items first or something that inspires you to decorate the room around like an area rug or even a fabulous toss cushion. The paint colour should be selected last.

DO: Build in a decorating allowance as part of your budget. As an example let’s say you are renovating your kitchen. It’s relatively simple to work out how much your cabinetry and counter top will be as the kitchen cabinet company is happy to provide you with this information. Your contractor will also provide you a number for the very basic in finishes and the labour. Are you going to be happy with a $4 a SF tile budget?

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