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Regional Reviews: St. Louis Double Indemnity Also see Richard's review of Passion
The dark, Depression-era style is the disguise but, under the direction of Michael Evan Haney, this famous book-turned-movie-turned-play still wears it well. Actors get away with some pretty fancy footwork, clothed in smoggy grays or indistinguishable whites, or inevitable blacks, until the moment before their demise: when a perfectly understandable red kicks in, like the color of dried blood in the suit of Kevin Cutts, as the blustery husband in need of a good insurance policy. There are a surprisingly large number of reversals along the way, including one that produces a huge collective gasp from the audience which, obviously, I can't tell you anything about. But everyone's got an angle, and everyone's one step ahead of the game, which produces an entirely new game, itself. It's all splendidly tawdry. Joy Farmer-Clary is excellent as the helpless younger lady, expressing huge things with small gestures, and making the invisible perfectly-seen with a lump in her throat and a nervousness in her manner. There's so much you forget about a great mystery, and then you see another one, and realize there's almost always a naïve young person in the mix, right alongside with the people who should know better. And it's that second cohort that really thinks they do know better, though they're often the ones left dangling at the end: where virtue is the greatest absurdity of them all. Michael Sean McGuinness is not to be taken for granted as the boss of the insurance salesman, and he and Eddie Boroevich, as another insurance agent, conduct a very memorable "trial scene," with our anti-hero caught in the middle, though only he (and we) are aware of it. And just when you think everything's under control and put away nicely, well, watch out brother. It's not quite the same as the famous movie with Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck. Don't hold your breath waiting for her to hand him a speeding ticket for flirting, because that's just not going to happen here. Instead, they're each trying to stay way out there in front, though they're both way in over their heads, and trying hard just to keep up. There are a few other things I could go on about, but suffice it to say there's a bit of a post-feminist mood at work here, where we get some good laughs at the scheming wife's expense. Then again, with hard-boiled mysteries like those of James M. Cain being what they are, the laugh's on us for ever thinking we can really escape our darker selves: like the shadows and smog and iron bars that loom over nearly everyone on stage in this really superior production. Adapted for the stage by David Pichette and R. Hamilton Wright. Through April 7, 2013, on the main-stage at the Loretto-Hilton Center, 130 N. Edgar, on the campus of Webster University. For more information visit www.repstl.org or call (314) 968-4925. Cast Crew
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