Double Indemnity (MTC) – theatre review

Hitchcock’s North by Northwest set the benchmark as an intoxicating thriller on stage with innovative and creative staging. Now Tom Holloway has adapted James M. Cain’s 1943 novella Double Indemnity, which was inspired by a 1927 murder that Cain covered as a New York journalist.  It originally appeared as an eight-part serial in Liberty magazine in 1936. The story was also turned into a seven-time Oscar nominated movie, co-written by Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler and directed by the former.

Released in 1944 in the film noir genre, it starred Fred MacMurray as an insurance salesman and Barbara Stanwyck as a provocative housewife who wanted her husband dead. Edward G. Robinson played a claims adjuster whose job was to find phony claims. The term “double indemnity” refers to a clause in certain life insurance policies that doubles the payout in rare cases when death is caused accidentally, such as while riding a train.  In this MTC production, a world premiere, direction is from Sam Strong and set design by Andrew Bailey.

Insurance agent Walter Huff (Leon Ford) has nosed around the business long enough to smell a scam. When he meets Phyllis Nirdlinger (Claire van der Boom) to talk about her husband’s (Richard Piper) insurance coverage, he gets a perfumed whiff of trouble. Can’t a wife fix a little security for herself? After all, a beloved husband can suffer a fatal accident just as easily as an honest guy can fall hard for a dame who’s no good. Huff is destined to take over from his immediate superior Keyes (Peter Kowitz), but he doesn’t fancy a life of that kind of servitude and when he meets Nirdlinger he sees a quick way out with riches aplenty. Mind you, Nirdlinger is quite a piece of work and her stepdaughter Lola (Jessica Tovey) has her suspicions about Nirdlinger long before Huff hatches his plan.

The opening scene sees Ford take to the stage with just a light blue curtain behind him and address the audience directly, informing us that each of us has the propensity to commit murder. Despite tackling such a dark subject, he does so with a measure of mirth before stepping into character and coming face to face with femme fatale Nirdlinger. It is a most attractive and compelling start to proceedings. Thereafter the story unfolds at pace – the crisp, often brusque, dialogue a feature – although it doesn’t have the same pull or breathtakingly original focus on effects that made North by Northwest such a crowd favourite.

That skulduggery is afoot is not in question, but my involvement in and engagement with the first act was limited by comparison to the earlier work. The principal characters – Walter Huff, Phyllis Nirdlinger and Keyes – are full on, forward, bold and brassy. Others among the seven strong cast are Edwina Samuels and Lachlan Woods.

A rotating set through which the characters walk has been cleverly conceived and executed. Within the set, minimal props establish the Nirdlinger home, Huff and Keyes’ office, the former’s home and, later on, even a hospital room. It is a simple but effective device that maintains MTC’s extremely high standard of staging. More cleverness follows as darkness, lighting and set design help create everything from a pair driving in a car, to a train and carriages, and even a ship’s railing.

The second act was where most of the action took place. By that I mean the twists and turns. I found it far more exciting and enriching than what appeared before interval. My interest peaked and I was no longer just a passive observer as my pulse rate quickened. Dirty deeds indeed! Can crime pay or will it inevitably find you out.

Double Indemnity, with a running time of 2½ hours including interval, is at the Playhouse at Arts Centre Melbourne until 2nd July. It brings to life carnal desires and characters lacking in moral fibre. While the world may have moved on since (in terms of the era in which the play is set), man’s propensity for scheming and crimes of passion and greed most certainly haven’t.

Alex First