April 15, 2005
THEATER BEAT
Who's the cat, who's the mouse?
By now Anthony Shaffer's 1970 murder-mystery twist-fest
"Sleuth" has become as much a period piece as the quaint English
detective novels it set out to tweak. We're unlikely to be thunderstruck either
by the play's mild class critique or its mountingly elaborate fake-outs.
In a handsome revival at the Falcon Theatre, director Michael
Michetti raises the bar ever so slightly, heightening the play's virtual clash of
civilizations and making a lively spectacle of the sparks that fly, even when
the turns of the plot grind their gears.
In the champion's corner is successful author Andrew Wyke (Mark
Capri), who sits alone in an overstuffed country house (a perfectly overstated
set by Tom Buderwitz) and types formulaic gentlemen's mysteries while wearing
tuxedo pants and a smoking jacket while nursing a glass of Scotch.
Enter the challenger, Milo Tindle (Elijah Alexander), the
half-Italian, half-Jewish cockney upstart who's been shagging Wyke's estranged
wife, in a powder-blue suit of a mystery material, its legs cut only slightly
wider than the lapels (the dead-on costumes are by Scott A. Lane). For all his
attempts to be polite and drawing room-ready, Tindle has the sort of
slicked-back, hirsute Mediterranean manhood that makes him look like he'll need
another shave by play's end. No wonder he provokes the Noel Coward-ly Wyke to
distraction.
The self-consciously preposterous cat-and-mouse game that ensues
can still delight those who know the play or its crackling 1972 film version.
Michetti's intent, straight-faced production and his prodigious performers
provide enough human contoursÑenough mystery, evenÑto keep us smiling, if not
quite guessing.
Rob
Kendt
"Sleuth," the
Falcon Theatre, 4252 Riverside Drive, Burbank. 8 p.m. Wednesdays through
Saturdays, 4 p.m. Sundays. Ends April 24. $25 to $37.50. (818) 955-8101.
Running time: 2 hours.