Walk the rain-soaked streets of grey Melbourne over to a corner where dark desire and corrupt fallibility are set out for you in a passion play. When people referred to 1930s Hollywood creative James Cain as a crime writer, he set them straight: ‘I write love stories’. MTC’s latest film noir genre piece, ‘Double Indemnity‘, delights by taking us down the back alleys of the human psyche as the plot unravels itself and its characters.
A two-act show lasting just over two hours, Tasmanian Tom Holloway neatly adapts James M. Cain’s 1936 novel about a travelling insurance salesman’s entanglement in domestic homicide in shadowy California. The author of famed Hollywood film adaptations like The Postman Always Rings Twice explores key themes of desire and danger, and the primal drives hidden behind the veils of social propriety. The play will delight lovers of all things film noir.
The show is nostalgia incarnate. Rich and detailed, the cast is finely tuned in accent, script, and delivery — not to mention the darkly lush 1930s revolving set, costumes, and music. The play seduces us through all the usual setups and plot devices towards an inevitable denouement where the bad take the good down. The tawdry and corrupt underside of lover’s bonds is set large, purportedly based on the true life Snyder-Gray Case. The 1927 American trial involved a travelling salesman who killed for his housewife lover. The phrase ‘double indemnity’ refers to the life insurance policy taken out for accidental death.
The team behind this production are some of theatre’s best. Claire van der Boom looks every part a 1930s femme fatale. Winsome and smoldering, she sports her glamourous costumes with a cool beauty, delivering her carefully-planned stories for her paramour without smudging a mark of lipstick. Lead narrator Leon Ford carries his rugged matinee idol looks and plaid suits and hats, with laconic ease. He narrates the story of entrapment for us, minute by minute, setup frame by setup frame. The supporting cast include some of theatre’s best, and the mis en scene will delight.
Sit down out of the rain and escape to another place and time, to 1930s Hollywood and its love of crime drama and femme fatales. To an era of tight scripts, where reading between the lines is essential. Lines that reveal there is no greater folly than trusting the one who says they love you.
– Sarah
Sarah W. is a dance-trained theatre lover with a flair for the bold, and non-traditional performance. On the street or in the box seat, she is always looking for quality works that challenge.
‘Double Indemnity’ runs from 30 May- 2 July 2016 at Arts Centre Melbourne. Contains adult themes. Book tickets now.
This venue is accessible. Auslan-interpreted 18 June (4pm).
Disclosure: The Plus Ones were invited guests of the Melbourne Theatre Company.
Photo credit: Jeff Busby.
