REVIEW - North By Northwest is brilliant - a perfect theatre experience!

On Wednesday, we were invited to North By Northwest at the HOME in Manchester. Read what our reviewer Abi Holden had to say about Emma Rice's latest production..

I was very intrigued to see how they would bring Alfred Hitchcock's classic North By Northwest to the stage. A very nice touch, before we had even entered the theatre, was that we were treated to a pianist and saxophonist playing jazzy music that fit the era of the play. It really helped to set the mood and tone for what we were about to see.

A case of mistaken identity and a cold war waging beneath the surface of everyday New York, finds Roger Thornhill (Ewan Wardrop; The Buddha of Suburbia, A Monster Calls) caught up in treachery and espionage beyond his means as a simple New York businessman. Narrated by The Professor (Katy Owen; Blue Beard, Wuthering Heights) we are taken on a rollercoaster ride of car crashes, train rides, plane crashes, sordid love affairs and cliff-top terrors. This is all whilst Roger is trying to stay alive and evade capture from the illustrious Phillip Vandamm (Karl Queensborough; Hamilton, Sylvia) and his married cronies Anna (Mirabelle Gremaud; Malory Towers, Swan Lake) and Valerian (Simon Oskarsson; Hadestown, The Book Thief). And whilst falling in love with double-agent Eve (Patrycja Kujawska; Cyrano, The Red Shoes).  

The play was so brilliantly adapted by Emma Rice. The set was so clever, with four revolving doors, set up as bars, being used to create different spaces for the action to take place in. They used different suitcases to indicate where the action was taking place as well as who the actors were playing when they weren’t playing their main characters. The whole cast was just phenomenal. It felt as though you were watching a cast of twenty when there were simply six people on the stage. One thing I adored about the play was the audience participation and how they broke the fourth wall. Each cast member, apart from Ewan Wardrop played multiple characters, from maids, to police, to bell boys and even Roger’s mother. The absolute standout moments for me was with the use of lip-syncing to show how the characters were feeling. This allowed for some absolutely hilarious moments, especially in the moment of a drunk Roger dancing around with a policeman who is just trying to get him to go to sleep.

Ewan Wardrop as Roger was fantastic. He was funny, energetic, and, in the slapstick fighting moments, really was wonderful. I loved his New York accent. The way he played Roger really helped the audience see the slightly boring mummy’s boy rise from zero to hero. A particular favourite moment from him was his interactions with his mother and how she gets dragged along in his investigating. Katy Owen kept this piece going, as narrator, as well as the cameos as people such as a auctioneer. I cannot get out of my head the way she said Roger in a posh crisp English accent as a fake wife of a fake man. I can’t explain how much I loved her performance. She was beyond funny, having the audience in stitches with her performance as the Professor, and I loved the little moments, such as her pretending to be crops, as Roger is chased by a plane. It seems like she never leaves the stage and you immediately miss her the moment she does.

Karl Queensborough as Phillip Vandamm was the perfect amount of sinister and dramatic as the crook, especially towards the end when Vandamm becomes desperate. However, one of my favourite characters that he played was Roger’s mother. He was absolutely hysterical! The way he chased after Roger, hitting him with a glove. I think it was just so good. Mirabelle Gremaud as Anna was wonderful. She showed the pain of hating how her husband was ignoring her perfectly. In the moments when she flipped about the stage and bent backwards really far, as though it was nothing, was just awesome. I really loved the way she flipped between characters with ease, often with some quick changes. Simon Oskarsson as Valerian was brilliant. He portrayed jealousy wonderfully, with the subtext of Valerian wanting more between him and Phillip. I absolutely loved his moment as the cop, when Roger is first arrested, and the dance and lip-sync they performed. I can’t explain how funny it was. It made me belly laugh. That, compared to the desperation he poured into the audience as Valerian, at the end, was a marvel to witness. Patrycja Kujawska as Eve was simply fantastic. She played the audience as she played the characters on the stage, double-crossing and triple crossing as a spy and Roger’s lover. I loved her in the movement sections as she always threw her all into it. I loved the elegance and poise that poured from her. She was perfect as Eve.

Another stand out moment, for me, was the way that they created Mount Rushmore with suitcases, to create the illusion of them hanging off a precipice, and with large strips of cloth hanging from the back of the stage, showing the different faces from the mountain. It helped to create the air of fear, as the tale came to a close. 

I cannot recommend this show enough. In fact, I will be telling anyone who will listen to me to go and watch it. It is some of the best comedy theatre I’ve ever seen. The staging, the lighting, the character changes and the story all tie together to make the perfect theatre experience. I absolutely loved every second of this show.

WE SCORE OF NORTH BY NORTHWEST...



North By Northwest is on at HOME, Manchester until Saturday 10th May 2025


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