Several of Alfred Hitchcock’s films have a very theatrical feel to them, confined by claustrophobic settings. Some, like Rope, began life as stage plays, while others such as Rear Window make great use of a static location.
North by Northwest, however, is a very different sort of picture altogether, with the storyline chasing its characters through open fields with an airplane and seeing them scale the face of Mount Rushmore. Hardly an obvious choice for the theatre, until you think of the success of 39 Steps as a stage show.
Emma Rice’s adaptation takes a similarly tongue in cheek approach to that, and other similar stories that have been staged with small casts and big imagination. With the exception of the two leads, all the other performers take on multiple roles.
It is a tale of espionage and mistaken identity, in which hapless advertising executive Roger Thornhill hails a waiter at the wrong moment and is confused with intelligence agent George Kaplan. To further complicate matters, Kaplan does not really exist, and is a fabrication created to cover the activities of the real secret agent Eve Kendall, with whom Thornhill becomes entangled.
Thornhill and Kendall are played here by Ewan Wardrop and Patrycja Kujawska, and regulars at Everyman and Playhouse theatres will recognise the latter from her appearances in Dead Dog in a Suitcase and The Tin Drum. This is great casting, with Kujawska capturing the Mystery of the character performed on screen by Eva Marie Saint, and Wardrop the sardonic wit of Cary Grant.
The play is dominated however by Katy Owen, whose character of The Professor not only propels the plot forward but also acts as a storyteller. Archly delivered chunks of narration, delivered not as asides but as full-on address to the audience, are underlined with the insistence that we repeat parts of it back to demonstrate that we’re keeping up. Added to this are prompt-cards stuck onto a variety of objects, so that we’re never left in any doubt as to where we are meant to be or what a particular prop represents.
It is all stylised almost to the point where the telling becomes more prominent than the story itself, but this is very much in sympathy with the impishness of Hitchcock’s original directorial style.
Rob Howell’s gloriously slick set design is made up of a series of revolving doors, which glide effortlessly (and silently) about the stage, presenting the cast with ample opportunity to keep everything moving, as they switch roles or transport us to the various different locations. It is worth mentioning here that to accommodate the set the Playhouse’s steeply raked stage has been leveled with a substantial anti-rake, which raises its front edge, so the first few rows of the stalls have no view of the stage floor or the actors’ feet.
The movement is more like choreography than drama, with everyone slipping in and out of quasi-dance routines, while occasionally the smooth, jazzy soundrack provides vocals that the actors mime to, supplementing the actual dialogue with witty interludes that help cement the period, while preventing the complex plot from becoming too text-heavy. At times, the presentation brings memories of Matthew Bourne’s ‘Midnight Bell’ (which is set to return to the venue in the autumn).
All in all, North by Northwest is a stylish and hugely entertaining evening, which seemingly slips by a lot faster than its 150 minute running time, always a sign that the direction is well paced and the action engaging.
Emma Rice’s company Wise Children have co-produced the play alongside Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse, York Theatre Royal and HOME Manchester, and after the Playhouse, where it runs until 24th May, it continues its tour with visits to Bath, Cheltenham and London’s Alexandra Palace.
Star rating: 4 stars
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| The cast of North by Northwest - Picture by Steve Tanner |
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Katy Owen and Ewan Wardrop in North by Northwest - Picture by Steve Tanner |
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