Every October in Charleston, you can rest assured that a few local theater companies will make hay from Halloween, mounting shows with a chill twist throughout the month. This year is no exception, with a slew of whodunits and other plays, some contemporary and others old chestnuts on offer.
Take Dial M for Murder, Charleston Stage’s new production directed by Henry Clay Middleton that is currently upping the intrigue at Dock Street Theatre, running through Nov. 2.
A throwback, to be sure, one that stirred up memories of my own youth decades ago when I trod the Dock Street boards, as the theatrical like to say. Then, such classics were standard fare, and it was in high Halloween spirit that the ghosts of those former days enthralled a new crowd at a recent performance.
In many ways, Jeffrey Archer’s 2021 stage adaptation of Hitchcock’s 1954 classic, which features a script by Frederick Knott based on the screenwriter’s 1952 play. There are a few new twists, and in this production swaps out the film’s philandering heterosexual twosome for a same-sex romance.
The play involves a canny crime novelist named Maxine Hadley (Syl Farrell) and her married paramour Margot Wendice (Susannah Bailin), a wealthy urbanite. True to the Hitchcock hit, Margot’s husband Tony (Don Brandenburg) has hatched a murderous plan to part with his adulterous wife, while maintaining his lavish lifestyle.
At Charleston Stage, the show gets a solid go, pacing us through the intricate plot as Tony attempts to scheme, with apartment keys and stockings holding particular agency in his plot. More of a mind-twister than a nerve-wrecker, it succeeded in engaging the audience throughout.
Brandenburg’s deliciously oily portrayal of the perniciously plotting is a triumph. And the switch to a same-sex love affair was sound, offering even more impetus for a mid-century woman, played with affecting appeal by Bailin, who is trapped in a traditional marriage to find solace elsewhere when it proved loveless. As her whipsmart love interest Maxine, Farrell wears the role with ease and aplomb, adding new feminine agency in Hitchcockian aims to catch a killer.
Pure evil
Over at Pure Theatre through Oct. 25, triangles made for devilish hijinks as well, though of an altogether different stripe. Covenant, the TK by York Walker that made its Southeastern premiere this month.
It centers on a fellow by the name of Johnny “Honeycomb” James (Dexter Mitchell), a blues guitarist and prodigal son who comes home to make a bride out of his childhood friend Avery (Zania Cummings). He’s met with temptations by a young woman named Ruthie \, the besotted friend of Avery’s younger sister Violet (Brandi Smalls), not to mention Avery’s deeply religious mother and a slew of murmurs about Johnny’s suspected deal with the devil, or covenant.
On Richard Heffner’s Deep South-inflected set of arching oak trees framing a central door bearing a simple cross, with eerie mood established masterful theatrical lighting. There, characters delve deeper into the sins of a small town, present and past, where guilt and innocence are as intertwined as the Spanish moss shrouding the set.
All in all, the play benefited from fine performances across the cast. Mitchell as Johnny and Cummings as Avery evoke palpable sympathy in the lead roles throughout, crucial as their fates take unexpected, sinister turns.. As Violet, Smalls is a searing flame of aching emotion. As her friend Ruthie, Trinity Griffin is deceptively winsome.
Then there is Mama, portrayed by Tonya Nicole on a pitch-perfect razor’s edge between the righteous and the damned, exacting piety from all in her presence as she skirts her own flawed soul.
Fear not, theater lovers: If you miss this Pure production, which wraps up this weekend, the company has another on its heels. Jonathan Spector’s Eureka Day runs Nov. 6 through Dec. 6.
IF YOU WANT TO GO: Dial M for Murder runs through Nov. 2 at Dock Street Theatre, 135 Church St. More: charlestonstage.com. Covenant runs through Oct. 25 at Cannon Street Arts Center, 134 Cannon St. More: puretheatre.org
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