MTC faced a few awkward challenges before adapting Alfred Hitchcock’s 1959 comedy spy thriller into theatre. Somehow capture the magnitude and terror of the iconic cropduster and Mount Rushmore scenes onstage. Don’t try emulating Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint – you can’t. But also don’t stray from them. You get the picture. It’s little wonder negotiations with Warners Bros. to bring this to life reportedly lasted four years.
So how could director Simon Phillips offer audiences any originality? Simple – you get creative with elements unique to theatre. To achieve this, Phillips channelled the genius of a renowned film director – and no, it’s not Hitchcock. Rather, French film director Michel Gondry’s inventive use of models and film trickery inspires the play’s intelligent stage design. The stage is bookended by two video cameras on each side. Crewmembers manipulate miniature models (everything from toy cars to furniture) in front of the cameras, with the video then projected onto a massive background screen.
For the audience, anticipating how the upcoming famous scenes are going to be created onstage makes this revisit to a beloved film refreshing. Your attention is diverted towards the sides of the stage at every scene change. You’re constantly amazed by the ingenuity of it all. Each new clever use of miniature sets drew gasps and chuckles from the audience – perfectly complementing the comedic tone of the production. Balancing comedy, sexual tension and Hitchcock-ian tension is a difficult task, but Phillips and writer Carolyn Burns nail it.
Matt Day plays our protagonist, Roger Thornhill, with a drawl reminiscent of Norm Macdonald. Day deftly fuses the charm of a Madison Avenue executive with the incredulity and confusion of a man fraught with mistaken identity. Amber McMahon catapults the lasciviousness of Eve Kendall into comedic territory but never to the point of ridiculousness. The cast of eight turn themselves into the “faceless” hipster monk from Game of Thrones, masterfully performing a handful of roles each.
Fans of Hitchcock’s oeuvre will enjoy the little winks to him throughout. And the dialogue is just as sharp today – “I’ve got a job, a secretary, a mother, two ex-wives and several bartenders that depend upon me” – with the witty exchanges between Thornhill and Phillip Vandamm (played by Matt Hetherington) perfectly executed. Other times, the dialogue struggles: Eve: “I’m a big girl.” – Roger: “In all the right places, too.”
I guess if there’s one message in North by Northwest, it’s that the difference between sleaziness and charm often comes down to wearing a suit (and living in the ‘50s). Thornhill is sucked into a world of espionage, mistaken identity, murder and romance. You should join him.
BY NICK TARAS
