Dial M for Murder

★★★★☆  Engaging

King’s Theatre: Mon 24 – Sat 29 Feb
Review by Martin Gray

Classic British play Dial M For Murder is at the King’s all this week before going to Glasgow’s Theatre Royal next, and no one is phoning it in.

He’s a dashing former tennis star. She’s a gorgeous heiress. And they’re so very much in love.

At least to the outside world. In fact, Tony Wendice is plotting to have wife Margot murdered. It’s not like he loves her, he married for money – and learning that she had an affair with crime writer Max Halliday has sent him over the edge.

Tom Chambers. Pic: Manuel Harlan

Fast-talking Tony has been planning her death for a year, and tonight’s the night. He’s blackmailed a blackguard to off Margot, using Max – back on the scene after a sojourn in the States – as his alibi. Tony has everything planned to the last second. What could possibly go wrong?

And if you’ve never seen this stage play, Alfred Hitchcock’s 3D big screen version or the original BBC drama, I won’t spoil it, because there’s a real treat in store as Frederick Knott’s twisty-turny tale unfolds.

Casualty alumnus Tom Chambers employs his killer charm to fine effect as Tony, along with the elegance Strictly fans came to know. When Tony is with others, he’s the affable, perfect husband, but once alone, the Hamlet TV ad theme on the gramophone, he’s just a half-step away from giving us the full Astaire as he dreams of a future as the wealthy widower. Constantly flicking dust off curtains and rearranging cushions, he’s the suburban psycho supreme.

having a ball

Sally Bretton, Lee Mack’s comedy partner in superb sitcom Not Going Out, looks to be having a ball getting her teeth into a dramatic part as Margot, her flair for timing crucial in the central murder scene.

Michael Salami and Sally-Bretton Pic Manuel Harlan

Michael Salami’s Max is so sassy and demonstrative that it’s easy to imagine Margot falling for him – he’s very different from her perfectly distant hubby, and while he’s no longer the Other Man, he yet wants Margot to come clean with Tony.

Salami has a terrific stage partnership with Christopher Harper, who plays Hubbard, the inspector who calls in during the second act to investigate a death. Hubbard is constantly offhand with Max, eliciting enjoyably underplayed reactions from Salami.

Harper as Hubbard is a delight, the policeman who steals the show. Columbo by way of Manchester, he’s not impressed by swanky London types, verbally poking and prodding them as he inches towards the truth.

Sixties suave

Harper also plays Tony’s reluctant hitman, Captain Lesgate, ensuring he has something to do in both acts. The two characters are physically very different, with Hubbard a natty young fella, while the manspreading Lesgate is reminiscent of Boycie from Only Fools and Horses, but Sixties suave.

The cast of Dial M for Murder on David Woodhead’s “cleverly angled set”. Pic Manuel Harlan

Yes, director Anthony Banks’s production updates the original script from the austere Fifties to the starting-to-swing Sixties, with top tunes setting the scene before Act One opens, and clever use of music throughout by sound designers Ben and Max Rincham. At one point in between scenes, the Wendices’ flat becomes a character in itself as a groovy organ number blasts out and blocks of colour flash wildly in a sound and light show.

The only time the sound design gets it wrong is when rising incidental music is employed to evoke tension; it falls flat – usually, it’s best to trust the script and the actors.

highlight

While the characters’ verbal sparring is terrific, a real highlight of the show is a dialogue-free sequence in which Tony, Margot and Max prepare for their Saturday night – the boys are off to a stag do, while Margot readies herself for a trip to the cinema. Once more, lighting and sound is to the fore as they race around David Woodhead’s cleverly angled set, in a splendidly theatrical scene that reflects the passions of the characters.

The climax to the story sees Hubbard pull off his own coup de theatre, setting a trap which the production springs perfectly. The rapturous applause of the audience was utterly deserved.

Running time: Two hours 25 minutes (including one interval)
King’s Theatre, 2 Leven Street EH3 9LQ.
Mon 24 – Sat 29 February 2020
Evenings 7.30pm, Matinees Wed & Sat 2.30pm
Tickets and details: Book here.

Glasgow Theatre Royal, 282 Hope Street, Glasgow G2 3QA
Tue 3 – Sat 7 Mar 2020
Tue – Sat: 7.30pm; Wed/Thurs, Sat: 2.30pm.
Tickets and details: Book here.

ENDS

Tags: Anthony Banks, Ben and Max Rincham, Christopher Harper, Dial M for Murder, Frederick Knott, King's Theatre, Martin Gray, Michael Salami, Review, Sally Bretton, Theatre, Tom Chambers