DIAL M FOR MURDER To 21 November.
Tour.
DIAM M FOR MURDER
by Frederick Knott.
West Yorkshire Playhouse and Fiery Angel. Tour to 21 November 2009.
Runs 2hrs 5mins. One interval.
Review: Rupert Bridgwater 13 October at Theatre Royal Bath.
Cut glass accents to die for.
In a swirl of red curtain we peep into the lost world of 1950s’ middle-class, newly-married life. She does some sewing, pops out to the cinema or has an assignation with an ex-boyfriend, while he goes to work, between swigging port and fiddling with his latch key. It’s enough drudgery to make a chap murder his wife.
Frederick Knott’s well-made, will-he-get-away-with-it play is a brilliantly written window on another era, with everything neat and clever. It makes a good play but a better film, because dastardly villain Tony Wendice (Richard Lintern) has to do so much explaining. That aside, Lucy Bailey’s production is stylish, resounds to the sounds of cut-glass vowels to die for and is palpitation-inducingly frightening with its in-form cast.
We have smooth baddie Tony, creepy Captain Lesgate (Daniel Hill) and nitwit Sheila (Aislin McGuckin) all laying the stockings, keys and love letters around the stage like members of a who-dunnit weekend company, clues picked up by Des McAleer’s inspector, with his Hitchcockian demeanour.
Nick Fletcher as Sheila’s crimewriter boyfriend Max is in pole position to drive the plot. He keeps slipping in conversation-stopping-lines about crime and punishment as they all politely sip sherry and he keeps trying to work out what’s happened. These asides fail to prick the conscience of ex-tennis star Tony who is intent on doing away with his wealthy high-heeled wife to bag her cash. All £29,000 of it. Well, it is the 1950s.
As Sheila teetered about the Maida Vale flat I did a double-take. Wasn’t the sofa over the other side of the room just now? I twigged. Very slowly, almost imperceptibly, the whole room rotates. It’s another subtle, stylish bit of stagecraft from designer Mike Britton who with elegant lighting by Chris Davey evokes a sense of murder, mystery and huge crumpled one pound notes.
It was the sound that sets the seal on this thriller. Subtle or shocking, clicking or crashing, Mic Pool’s soundscapes evoke a frightfully civilised world where murder is as natural as a game or tennis, and or a rubber of bridge. Down the hatch Frederick Knott.
Sheila Wendice: Aislin McGuckin.
Max Halliday: Nick Fletcher.
Tony Wendice: Richard Lintern.
Inspector Hubbard: Des McAleer.
Captain Lesgate: Daniel Hill.
Director: Lucy Bailey.
Associate Director: Patrick Malony.
Designer: Mike Britton.
Lighting: Chris Davey.
Sound: Mic Pool.
2009-10-14 12:17:59