Jeffrey Hatcher’s adaptation of the classic work of suspense is a dialed-in night of suspense at the Two River Theater
RED BANK – Here’s the thing about great theater: It can take you on an entire journey without ever leaving a single room.
Such is the case with the riveting new production of “Dial M For Murder,” on stage through March 9 in the Joan and Robert Rechnitz Theater at the Two River Theater in Red Bank.
Mixing edge-of-your-set suspense with wicked wit, this adaptation of Frederick Knott’s 1952 play, previously turned into a classic film by director Alfred Hitchcock in 1954, has plenty of potent ingredients for a wonderful night of theater. There’s a secret love affair, some shocking violence, plenty of cocktails and a fair bit of dark humor. What more could one theatergoer ask from two hours and 15 minutes, including intermission?
And what’s possibly most striking about this experience is that the story, adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher and directed by Drama Desk Award nominee Jenn Thompson, never leaves the confines of a cosmopolitan London apartment. With a cast of five actors, a single set and the power of tight-as-a-drum delivery, it builds a rich world of wounded personal history and dark intrigue that maintains a consistent grip on its audience throughout the evening.
The play stars Olivia Gilliatt as Margot Wendice, a well-to-do woman caught between her past with her former lover, the author Maxine Hadley (played by Jasmin Walker), and her humdrum present with her publishing house publicist husband, Tony (played by Tony Roach). What follows is the unfurling of plans and schemes, punctuated by conversational revelations that elicit gasps from a rapt audience and thrills and chills that commence on a literal dark and stormy night – and that’s just in the first act.
Add in a scene-stealing Act Two turn from Triney Sandoval as a police inspector, and by the end of the show, the audience is hanging on every word, paying close attention to each ring of the phone and knock at the door and trying their darndest to follow the movement of various props of interest in a life-and-death stakes shell game.
In addition to fantastic scenic design by Wilson Chin, the show is bolstered on the technical side by eye-catching costumes designed by Jess Goldstein, effective and clever lighting by Phillip Rosenberg and sound design by Jane Shaw which combines her atmospheric score with the near-ever-present sound of a ticking clock, constantly ratcheting up the tension in classic Hitchcockian fashion.
What Hatcher, Thompson and company have achieved here is a model for how to properly adapt a classic for a current audience. They have retained what worked so well about Knott and Hitchcock’s work in the first place – the cat-and-mouse intrigue, the genuine shocks and the gallows humor – and smartly updated the proceedings to suit modern sensibilities. The addition of LGBTQ elements gives an added layer of tension to the dynamic between Margot, Maxine and Tony, and the plotting of violence against Margot can’t help but feel contemporarily resonant at a time when reports of crimes against members of the LGBTQ community are all too easy to find.
Put simply, “Dial M For Murder” needs to be seen. It’s a sharply executed piece of business that demands audiences’ attention; a classic thriller dialed into the modern age in a way that must be experienced.
“Dial M For Murder” runs through March 9 in the Joan and Robert Rechnitz Theater at the Two River Theater, 21 Bridge Ave., Red Bank. For tickets, $50 to $80, and more information on the production, including a calendar of events being hosted by the theater in conjunction with the show, visit tworivertheater.org.
The article originally appeared in the February 27 – March 5, 2025 print edition of The Two River Times.