Claire van der Boom, Richard Piper, Leon Ford.
Photo by Jeff Busby
MTC presents Double Indemnity
by Tom Holloway adapted from the book by James M Cain
30 May-2 July 2016
Arts Centre Melbourne, Playhouse
Two hours and 30 minutes including a 20-minute interval
Theatre review by Reuben Acciano
Without going full Cultural Studies Bastard™, one tip for enjoying a noir genre piece is suspending the application of contemporary gender politics and diving headlong, credulous, into a world where powerful, scheming women manipulate men to their dooms with seduction alone.
It’s easier than accepting that a thriller about a life insurance scam became probably the most celebrated text of the genre.
James M. Cain’s crime classic was first a hit novel, then brought to the screen in 1944 by Billy Wilder, featuring Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck in career-defining roles for both.
For those unfamiliar, the plot revolves around Walter Huff, an otherwise law-abiding and successful insurance salesman with a knack for reading people, who casts aside all scruples after falling for a customer’s alluring wife, Phyllis. Driven to the point of obsession, he concocts a murder plan they can get away with using an obscure rule of insurance liability: the titular ‘double indemnity’ clause.
If an insurance technicality at the heart of a murder caper sounds boring, it ain’t. There’s a ‘body swap’, a midnight train, a lot of tease-and-chase tension between Neff, Phyllis, and Phyllis’ step-daughter Lola. Plot twists abound.
If an insurance technicality at the heart of a murder caper sounds boring, it ain’t. There’s a ‘body swap’, a midnight train, a lot of tease-and-chase tension between Neff, Phyllis, and Phyllis’ step-daughter Lola. Plot twists abound.
Now, MTC have adapted the screen gem for the stage through director Sam Strong and a small ensemble who do a fine job delivering a very dialogue-heavy piece. ‘Film noir’ poses difficulties with adaptation for the stage; characterised by hard chiaroscuro lighting and the emotive power of screen editing and pacing, Strong and crew had to find ways to replicate or imply the story beats using stagecraft in place of the stock cinematic tools of a hallowed screen genre and perhaps its most loved text.
The obvious film noir shot of ‘harsh lights through venetian blinds’ – whether the motion of a passing car, or the static streetlamp outside the office window of a tough-living private dick keeping crazy hours – is never stooped-to here, however. Paul Jackson’s lighting design is a thoughtful treat. He sticks mostly to low (human height) raking lights from side-stage and very direct, hard lighting from high above, creating the familiar strong shadows we associate with the genre, yet without resorting to cliché.
Andrew Bailey’s staging is simple and seamless: a revolving floor divides into three basic partitions allowing cast – most playing multiple roles – ample space and time to transition between scenes. Esther Marie Hayes’ period costuming is undistracting and elegant.
Claire van der Boom is the archetypal femme fatale, and she and Leon Ford’s Walter Huff share a credible chemistry, an achievement in a genre where women are mostly consigned to roles as catalyst or embodiment of pure id. Ford handles a ton of script admirably and works as a lynchpin around which the entire spectrum of morality plays out via the voices of his suspecting boss, Keyes (Peter Kowitz) and secretary, Nettie (Edwina Samuels) – each frequently stealing scenes with their droll rejoinders. Jessica Tovey’s Lola relishes in her role of covert schemer trying to match her stepmother.
If I were nitpicking, the only mildly jarring aspect of the production is a bent toward US east-coast accents in a story set in Los Angeles? But this is quibbling.
Double Indemnity is a thoroughly enjoyable theatrical take on a screen classic and runs at the Playhouse at the Arts Centre from May 30 to July 2.
MTC Box Office 03 8688 0800 or mtc.com.au
Arts Centre Melbourne 1300 182 183 or artscentremelbourne.com.au
