North by Northwest
Theatre Royal, Brighton
I have written before that Emma Rice is the theatrical equivalent of David Bowie. She literally throws so much at one of her productions that inevitably not everything works however enough of what is thrown sticks and this is what makes Wise Children (her production company) the most innovative and exciting in the country. Rice takes risks and ultimately that is what all great theatre should do. There is so much adequate theatre in the provinces and also in London’s West End, a great number of today’s directors could improve their productions by being influenced by the greatest living theatre director in the UK (in my opinion).
Rice never disappoints. I have seen her previous productions of Brief Encounter, Wuthering Heights and Blue Beard – all stunning and even when she is very slightly below par – The Buddha of Suburbia and Rebecca – she is still head and shoulders above anyone else currently working in British theatre.
Wise Children’s latest adaptation is Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest, a 1959 spy thriller starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason. It is a tale of mistaken identity: an innocent man is pursued across the United States by agents of a mysterious organisation that aims to prevent him from blocking their plan to smuggle microfilm containing government secrets out of the country.
So is Rice’s latest venture in the former or the latter category? Definitely, the former. On an exquisite set designed by Rob Howell and beautifully lit by Malcolm Rippeth, the six hugely talented performers are absolutely terrific with Katy Owen, a Ricean stalwart, once again stealing the show as head of the CIA who also narrates. Owen is simply irrepressible and reminds me of a mash-up of Jane Horrocks, Victoria Wood and Julie Walters. She was underused in The Buddha of Suburbia but here is central to the action and is very, very funny – she is the sort of actor you would love to invite to a dinner party.
Elsewhere, Ewan Wardrop takes on the role of the handsome and self assured New York businessman Roger Thornhill with effortless charm. Wardop stole the show in Buddha as theatre director, Matthew Pyke and he is equally as good here as a kind of tongue in cheek fusion of James Bond and Ethan Hunt.
The rest of the cast excel at physical comedy and I particularly loved the frequent lip-syncing to period jazz numbers by Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald and Cole Porter amongst others – risky but highly effective and very Dennis Potter. Unusually for Rice, there is no live music, but composer Simon Baker has designed a stunning 1950s soundtrack and the production doesn’t suffer for the lack of on stage orchestrations.
It’s very silly, very Brechtian, very meta and indulgently theatrical but that’s the point and very few directors can achieve this with such aplomb. North by Northwest doesn’t spoof a Hitchcock classic in the way The 39 Steps does, it pays homage to it, cleverly, inventively and exhilaratingly.
The only disappointing thing about the evening is that I am unlikely to see anything better at the theatre this year.
Reviewer: Patric Kearns
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐