There’s zero thematic ambition here. Still, you’ve got to admire craft, and there’s plenty of that in director Jillian Keiley’s production of Dial M for Murder.
The script is, nominally, a thriller as opposed to a murder mystery: in a thriller, we know who the villain is, the question is whether they’ll get away with it. But, in Dial M for Murder, the outcome isn’t really much of a question: the broad outlines of the resolution are clear from square one.
What Dial M for Murder does offer is plot puzzles, and playwright Jeffrey Hatcher’s adaptation of Frederick Knott’s 1952 script includes a welcome queer spin. Wealthy London heiress Margot Wendice is being blackmailed by somebody who has found a letter written to her by her lover Maxine Hadley. What if Margot’s husband Tony were to find out? It’s 1952. Margot pays up, but then the blackmailer uses that £50,000 to hire a hit man to murder Margot.
Director Keiley’s production is stylized — with varying degrees of success. Right off the top, Anton Lipovetsky’s threatening sound design and Itai Erdal’s explosive lighting are appropriately anxiety provoking. And, throughout, Erdal employs an excellent convention: in the blackness of scene breaks, he highlights physical clues in pinpoint spotlights. Later, when a suspect is (mistakenly) being booked, we see their mug shots in bright flashes: side, front, side.
Jolane Houle’s period costume designs are also rewarding — and they come in very deliberate palettes, Act 1 dominated by chocolatey burgundies and Act 2 by greens. This degree of deliberateness is not realistic, but it is aesthetically pleasing and a clever acknowledgement of the script’s artifice.
Anton de Groot’s set, on the other hand, did not work for me. I didn’t buy that that the wealthy Margot and her husband were living in such awkwardly proportioned and drably appointed rooms. And, although I appreciate that putting the set on a revolve that shifts a couple of times speaks to the unsettled power dynamics of the plot, the physical shifts also create spatial nonsense. In Act 1, characters access the apartment’s bedroom through a clearly visible door, but that door disappears in Act 2, so they’re suddenly coming and going from the bedroom via a ramp stage left.
In the performances, stylization is applied fruitfully, though somewhat inconsistently.
Without fanfare and without fail, Emily Dallas, who’s playing Margot, captures the emotional reality that informs the melodrama, making her performance the standout of the evening. Tyrell Crews, who’s playing Tony, also negotiates a range of believable responses — albeit with greater stylization. His finest moment comes when his character finds himself in a very tight spot in Act 2. With its extravagant physical gestures, Olivia Hutt’s performance as Maxine is the most stylized of the core trio, but, like the others’, Hutt’s work is always fundamentally grounded and essentially satisfying.
Especially in Act 2, the puzzles in Dial M for Murder are explored through a lot of talky exposition. And, as I said, the script, has no thematic ambition. But this production does provide a showcase for a lot of skill, which yields its own satisfactions.
DIAL M FOR MURDER adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher from the original by Frederick Knott. Directed Jillian Keiley. Co-produced by the Arts Club Theatre and Theatre Calgary. At the Stanley BFL Canada Stage until March 8. Tickets and information.
PHOTO CREDIT: Yes, dresses! (Actors Emily Dallas and Olivia Hutt. Costumes by Jolane Houle. Photo by Trudie Lee.)
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