DOUBLE INDEMNITY
(At Stoneham Theatre through Nov. 4th) is based on the 1944 classic
Billy Wilder film starring Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray and Edward G.
Robinson. The Wilder/Raymond Chandler script (from the James M. Cain serial
novels about a real 1927 murder case) has been adapted for the stage by David
Pichette and R. Hamilton Wright.
It’s extremely
difficult to effect noir atmosphere in a theatrical setting (although
director Joe Antoun did it brilliantly this past month at the BCA with Joe
Byers’ THE FAKUS). To achieve noir, the acting has to be stylized, to
fit the stilted dialogue.
Christopher
Ostrom’s grainy B&W projections (onto sliding white panels) dovetail with Nathan
Leigh’s almost subliminal thumping drumbeats to ratchet up the suspense but
director Weylin Symes’ naturalistic tone for the actors shifts us forward at
least ten years to the Actor’s Studio. Gone is the Chandler-esque repartee and
alas, with it the “audacity” (as the insurance investigator brags about his
scheme) of film noir.
