Cheryl Willis as Margot Wendice. Photo: Michal Daniel
Welcome back to the days of civilized murder and mayhem, done with style by people who wear dinner jackets and sip brandy in an elegant gold-toned living room. This is the world recreated at the Jungle Theater for Frederick Knott’s 1952 Broadway hit, Dial M for Murder, a classy production and wonderfully satisfying evening of theater.
Tennis star, Tony Wendice (Michael Booth) married his wife Margot (Cheryl Willis) strictly for her money. He arranges to have her murdered (for the same reason), but his perfectly planned crime and alibi goes awry. There’s no mystery, in this case, about the murder itself; the question is whether or not the murderer will get caught. In an age when action at a blinding pace is the rule, and gratuitous violence is all but required to satisfy in a film, it is all the more arresting that a play with characters conversing in polite airs can make the heart beat a little faster with creeping dread.
Director Bain Boehlke has the class to not mess with this virtually flawless script for the genre. Yes, there were a few soft chuckles from the audience over period dialogue, but there’s nothing dated about a well-crafted piece, produced with finesse and polish. Boehlke just refused to hurry things along, even into the third act (Yes, there are three acts) where the restrained tempo of it was everything.
Casting was beautifully balanced: Cheryl Willis as Margot might have let on too much, or “played the victim,†but there was none of that. In spite of the sinister truth we knew and she didn’t, her in-the-moment performance always returned us to her innocent reality, helplessly watching her fall into her husband’s trap.
Terry Hempleman was just awkward enough as Max, Margot’s illicit love interest, to be believably strung along for the duration of the play before he finally figures it out – even given his profession as a mystery writer. There’s a touch of the comic in Hempleman’s performance as the genuine nice guy—just the right foil for Michael Booth’s casual  detachment as Margot’s husband, Tony, The difference between a murder in a script and a real murder is that the real murder rarely goes according to plan, Max tells him. Even Tony, a master manipulator, proves this theory—just one of the tasty scenes coated with irony. As handsome and charming a villain as you’ll see on a stage, Tony is so clever and attractive that you may find yourself admiring him.
What British murder mystery would be complete without a visit from Scotland Yard’s chief inspector? If ever there was a preconceived idea about this iconic character, it would have to be Gary Briggle as Inspector Hubbard. Making an appearance later in the story, Hubbard methodically dismantles the collection of details-turned-clues assembled over the first half of the play, without giving up the game until the final coup.
Aha. Now, for a glass of wine in the lobby and the fun of kicking around just who knew what, and when. The show, which opens the Jungle Theaters 22nd season, runs through March 18.