Closing out ACT’s 2011 mainstage season, the world premiere of “Double Indemnity” takes to the stage in a swirl of primary colors and passions. The original adaptation by longtime Seattle actors David Pichette and R. Hamilton Wright sticks more closely to the spare dialogue of James M. Cain’s 1935 novella than does the1944 film noir with its modified ending and campy patter between stars Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck. Cain’s novel contrasts the dark pathology of the characters to the bright sunlight of its Los Angeles setting. Similarly ACT’s production clothes black-hearted Phyllis Nirlinger (Carrie Paff) in vivid greens and reds against the backdrop of Thomas Lynch’s spectacular turquoise set reminiscent of vintage Formica.
Under ACT Artistic Director Kurt Beattie’s direction, the economical cast of five actors portrays ten characters, played straight and without a hint of camp. John Bogar is chilling as insurance agent Walter Huff whose glad-handing exterior cloaks a talent for plotting cold-blooded murder. But like most femme fatales, it’s Paff who steals the show with her multi-layered performance, evolving from sweet to victimized to alluring to predatory, as she expertly seduces Walter into a plot to murder her husband. Richard Ziman excels as both curmudgeonly insurance investigator Keyes and murder victim Nirlinger. Jessica Martin is cuter than a bug’s ear as Phyllis’s stepdaughter Lola, although her perkiness is a little over the top at times. Mark Anderson Phillips dispatches three characters with chameleon-like ability and is especially outstanding as Lola’s nasty boyfriend Nino.
Augmenting the pleasures of “Double Indemnity” is Lynch’s clever staging. A turntable whirls furnishings and props, and sometimes even actors, on and off stage. Rick Paulsen’s spectacular lighting and Brendan Patrick Hogan’s sound design combine with the minimal furnishings to provide just enough clues to place us in a specific location, whether it be the train tracks, the oil fields or the deck of an ocean liner. Not to give too much away, but in one particularly effective scene, director Beattie conveys Walter’s state of mind through the set; as Walter and Phyllis drive away from the murder scene, the bed where they consummated their affair and Nirlinger’s corpse creepily whirl around and around.
Those looking for a live re-enactment of the film or a positive view of humanity may not be happy with ACT’s “Double Indemnity”. But for fans of the Cain novel, the production remains faithful to the original work while adding its own visual and theatrical punch.
“Double Indemnity” plays at ACT through November 20.
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