SPIDERS WEB. SIGNED BY AGATHA CHRISTIE (COA INCLUDED) MARGARET LOCKWOOD, FELIX AYLMER, HAROLD SCOTT. AGATHA CHRISTIE. SIGNED PROGRAMME.

A very early program of this Agatha Christie play from 1954 . Performed at the Opera House Manchester from the 1st November 1954.The Samuel French edition was only published in 1956. NOW for the bonuses A signed Agatha Christie autograph pasted in on the first page. This autograph comes with a C O A. A signature of Margaret Lockwood directly onto the program page. A signed photo of Felix Aylmer pasted in on the page opposite the title page. A signed page taken from an autograph book by Harold Scott pasted in on the tittle page. Program in excellent condition throughout. Well preserved for over 70 years old. SPIDER'S WEB Spider's Web was written at the request of its star, Margaret Lockwood, whose main body of work was in films and who had never appeared in a West End production aside from Peter Pan. In 1953, Lockwood asked her agent, Herbert de Leon, to speak with Peter Saunders, who was the main producer of Christie's work on the stage after the successes of The Hollow and The Mousetrap, and see if Christie would be interested in writing a play for her. Saunders arranged a meeting between Christie and Lockwood at the Mirabelle restaurant. During the conversation, Lockwood requested that she didn't play a sinister or wicked part again for which she was well known but a role in a "comedy thriller". She also requested a part for Wilfrid Hyde-White who she wanted to act with and who was also on the books of de Leon. In the event, although the part was written, Hyde-White declined the role and Felix Aylmer was cast instead. Christie wrote the play during the period of the final rehearsals for Witness for the Prosecution which opened to rave reviews in London on 28 October 1953. Lockwood's character was given the name of Clarissa, the name of Christie's beloved mother who had died back in 1926. Unasked, Christie also wrote a role which would be suitable for Lockwood's fourteen-year-old daughter, Julia, although Margaret Barton played the part in the finished production. The play opened at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham on September 27, 1954, followed by a short national tour and then had its West End opening on December 14, 1954 at the Savoy Theatre, where it ran for 774 performances