I went to see “North by Northwest” the thriller stage adaption of the Alfred Hitchcock’s 1959 film at Sydney Lyric Theatre earlier this week and it really is a production that needs to be seen large and not on the tablet size screen. The stage production that opened in Sydney certainly delivered on that and especially showing so brilliantly the famous cinematic scene that pits Cary Grant against the crop dusting airplane, with the exception of the modern age Cary Grant is instead David Campbell.
Campbell convincingly plays Roger Thornhill, an adman who is mistaken for an intelligence agent and finds him running for his life for the entire duration of the play. It’s the stage production that depicts the most scenic, exciting and merriest chase of any stage production I’ve seen, done in a brisk and sophisticated style and breezy sense of humour.
The chase is in high gear right from the start where the handsome Roger Thornhill, a New Year advertising executive is mistaken for a spy by foreign agents and forced into a succession of events. It’s not all ‘go-go-go’, with a few pauses for a funny scene here and there, particularly the scene with Mount Rushmore, and the quickly burgeoning romance between Thornhill and Eve Kendall who apparently is assisting the agents in their chase. Their interlude particularly in a train drawing room, for example, is guaranteed to send your temperatures soaring.
North by Northwest is now playing at the Sydney Lyric for an exclusive and limited season until April 3. Led by Director Simon Phillips, David Campbell and the incredible Australian cast have immersed themselves in this gripping production adapted for the stage by Carolyn Burns that combines the magic of film and theatre live on stage, featuring every twist, turn and hairbreadth escape from Hitchcock’s original genius work.
Joining David Campbell on stage is an acclaimed Australian cast including Helpmann Award winners Amber McMahon in the role as femme fatale Eve Kendall, beloved stage and screen actor Bert LaBonté as Vandamm and theatre veteran Genevieve Lemon as Mrs Thornhill. Playing a myriad of characters throughout the production are Nicholas Bell, Berynn Schwerdt, Dorje Swallow, Kaeng Chan, Lachlan Woods, Sharon Millerchip, Tony Llewellyn Jones, Wadih Dona with Caroline Craig, Doug Hansell and Alex Rathgeber.
See.Taste.Do was invited as a guest of Lucky Star Media to the North by Northwest production