8/30/2024 DIAL “M” FOR MURDER Woodstock Arts
CLASSICS JUMP-STARTED
Welcome to the stately London home of Tony and Margot Wendice. Beneath the elegant furnishings and tasteful decor lie the crumbling heart of a failing marriage. Five years ago, Margot fell into affair with a lady writer of thrillers, Maxine Halliday, an affair that, given the British ethos of the 1950’s, would best be kept a secret. Tony happens to be Maxine’s PR rep, and she is in town to promote her newest novel. And, as expected, the spark betwixt the women is throbbing for re-ignition. Tony, for his part, married Margot for her money, and is determined to end the marriage, also for Margot's money.
And with that set-up, a murder plot is hatched and bungled, with the only question remaining, will the villain be exposed "before it's too late?"
Frederick Knott's 1952 popular thriller, Dial 'M' for Murder, has been given a thorough rewrite and jump-start by Jeffrey Hatcher, who was responsible for the brilliant adaptation of Knott’s Wait Until Dark staged last year by Georgia Ensemble Theatre. Once again, Mr. Hatcher has excised a lot of the wordy exposition and crafted major changes to the plot – Tony is no longer a “Tennis Pro” but a working literary publicist, which gives him a direct and personal connection with Max (now Maxine), and a history that deepens the tangled relationships. And, changing Max to Maxine adds a layer of urgency, even desperation, to the murder plot and its aftermath.
This used to be an old and musty play, a three-act foray into character-driven villainy, a relic of an Agatha-obsessed British public who loved nothing more than to sit around on a lovely evening sipping cocktails and wallowing in stories of misbehaving peers. Or better yet, misbehaving nouveau riche wannabes. Since its first staging (not to mention the marvelous 1954 Hitchcock-directed movie version) we have been deluged with clever-er, more entertainingly twisty thrillers, such as Sleuth and Deathtrap, elaborate puzzle-box plots that revel in fooling audiences and investigators alike. As such, modern productions of Knott’s original script tend to be slow slogs with hard-to-swallow contrivances, which I discussed at length after Aurora’s 2008 production, but which (almost) vanished complexly in Stage Door’s more energetic 2017 mounting.
Now, as staged by Woodstock Arts Theatre, Dial “M” for Murder has been turned into a sleek engine of a thriller, making its plotting “track” to a cynical contemporary audience, ratcheting suspense to the stratosphere, and reminding us why Knott’s play is now (and perhaps forever) a classic.
As expected, the production suffers a few Community Theatre shortcomings – a cast displaying a wide range of effectiveness (and too-young-for-the-roles attitudes and appearances), hair and costume choices that are not quite in period, a sound design that (occasionally) distracts rather than enhances, a light design that … well, we see the actors, so it does its job.
Still, director Darian Daly needs to be commended for keeping the pace fast, the plotting clear. With the gender change at its heart, the temptation to update the story from it’s 1952 era was probably tempting, despite the fact that some plot elements required that era – specifically dial telephones, radio interviews, lesbian scandal, and women executed via hanging -- and Ms. Daly wisely chose to keep the 50’s veneer.
Emma Greene (Margot) and Jena Brooks (Maxine) had enough chemistry that it was easy to imagine them as “more than friends,” and Ms. Brooks showed an infectious joy in plotting out the imaginary murders in her books. As Tony, James Kelsey Cogswell proves to be very good at straight-faced dishonesty and fast thinking, when things don’t (quite) go according to his plan. As a potential murderer (perhaps) Taylor Upchurch switches on a dime from casual bonhomie to oozing menace when he becomes enmired in a blackmail plot.
Coming on in Act II, Rial Ellsworth very convincingly gives us a police inspector who continually questions his own conclusions, Columbo-esque and smarter than he wants everyone to believe. As a bias disclaimer, I have been friends with Mr. Ellsworth for more years than either of us care to admit, and always view his work through approval-tinted glasses. Still, here his experience and skill shine like a beacon, especially in juxtaposition to the youth of the rest of the cast.
So, even with all my little nit-picks and eye-rolls, this play was a total delight to watch, satisfying my long-standing pleasure in thriller plots and British crime, not to mention giving me a little wallow in my Hitchcockian fandom – so many MacGuffins here – a letter, a key, a stocking, a raincoat, not to mention that 5,000 pounds which seems to have a mind of its own. If you’ve never seen this story before, I daresay you will find this production as spellbinding as did I.
So, if you find the "magic" drifting out of your marriage, if you find yourself wistfully sighing over the liaison you faithfully ended “for the sake of the marriage,” if you find your net worth significantly higher than that of your spouse, take a lesson from Mr. Knott and Mr. Hatcher and Dial 'M' for Murder -- keep a pair of scissors handy.
-- Brad Rudy (BK Rudy@aol.com #WoodstockArts #DialM)