Ardler Community Centre, Dundee
Four stars
The BBC Scotland clock is ticking, the announcer is
primed and the old-school microphones are switched very much on for the opening
of Dundee Rep’s annual community tour. This year, in a spirit of familiarity as
well as a neat twist on nostalgia, the ensemble company under the guidance of
director Irene Macdougall renders Alfred Hitchcock’s cinematic reimagining of John
Buchan’s classic ripping yarn as a 1930s live radio play. So, while Joe Landry’s
ingeniously annotated version of the story focuses on the potentially
world-changing fallout of upper-crust hero Richard Hannay’s flight from his London
des-res after a female spy is murdered in his bedroom, such a novelty opens out
a multitude of narrative layers.
The result in Macdougall’s meticulously observed
production is what Hannay’s accidental nemesis turned love interest and saviour
Pamela Stewart calls a “penny dreadful spy story” is a pukka romp that whisks
the audience along a heady trail of international conspiracy in high places. Five
actors led by Ewan Donald as Hannay and Emily Winter as Pamela move from
high-speed trains to highland intrigue, with a big reveal coming courtesy of a
music hall memory man on Leila Kalbassi’s pocket-sized set. With every line
chiselled into shape to lead a listening audience with a visual reference, being
able to witness the magic behind every door-slam, key-turn and simulated snog
is a deconstructive delight.
While by and large all this is played straight, with
period mannerisms and actorly affectations to the fore, some knowing Mr Cholmondley-Warner
style hamminess proves irresistible at points. Donald, Winter, Barrie Hunter,
Ann Louise Ross and Billy Mack are clearly having a hoot. Crucially, they never
undermine the fast-moving and deceptively complex plot that makes every moment
an adventure.
The Herald, June 14th 2018
ends
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