Little Theatre of Norfolk’s recent production of Dial “M” for Murder fell short on the two things every mystery/suspense story needs the most. Namely… mystery and suspense.

Dial “M” tells the mildly convoluted story of a man who wants to kill off his wife for the money he’ll inherit. Now, I’m not giving anything away here because you find this out very early in the play. The mystery/suspense part is supposed to be trying to figure out how he plans to do it and how he plans to get away with it. Even though this 1950s plot is fairly familiar in this day and age, the script leaves plenty of room for character discovery and tense moments.

It's not that the acting in this show was bad, or anything... it's just that the entire show was pretty much one level. This is a British murder mystery, so you know there’s going to be a lot of talking. Ok, fine. But please vary it up a little. Pacing, rhythm, tone and staging were all one level for nearly the entire show. A few bright moments broke the monotony, such as when a couple of random characters came on to talk on the phone, or when the lights went out and everything got quiet for the murder. But that’s about it. 

Lynn Rollins as Margot Wallace did a fairly good job up until we neared the end. When accused she showed us her “Distress” at the situation. I capitalize and quote “Distress” because it wasn't quite... there. Like with Wade Brinkley’s Tony, I think the actor knew the end of the story, so the character did too. Until that point however, she was a perfectly believable normal person. “Normal people” being surprisingly hard to play sometimes (as I know from my daily life), this is not as faint praise as it may sound.

Clifford Hoffman was a believable, and what’s more, likable Max Halliday. Dave Hobbs at Capt. Lesgate and Robin Chapman as inspector Hubbard were also fine in their roles, though Hobbs seemed a bit stiff at times. Again, the smaller roles were the high notes in the monotone: Tazz Kelly as O’Brien was entertaining, and I really rather enjoyed making the the character Jamaican. An odd choice, but it was a fun one. Rebecca-Lauren Wylie was an entertaining, though not always convincing Miss Pendleton, and Bob Cano as Thompson needed more stage time. Though he said little, he was the one I watched whenever he was on stage. I'm a sucker for big, burly guys who aren't afraid to be silly.

As usual for LTN, the set looked lovely. It’s amazing how really nice trim and molding can really bring things up a notch. My only real quibble was the door to a small room in the up-right corner of the stage. That corner jutted into the main room a bit, making a smaller room that I assumed was going to be the WC for the flat. Instead, it was the kitchen. Now, I’m willing to buy that the kitchen extended into the hall area and under the stairs, but it just looked a little odd to me. Other than that I really liked the set.

I’m going to harp on a couple of the costumes now… sorry to get on my soapbox, but here it comes. Margot’s first dress was lovely, but instead of being something appropriate for a fancy dinner, it looked more like she was about to go to her prom. I think that might actually be the dress from my prom. I need to go dig out those pictures sometime. Captain Lesgate’s jacket and pants were both too short for this very tall actor. The poor man’s wrists and ankles were showing in a very unattractive way. The rest of the costumes were fine, if a bit generic. For example, I would've liked Tony to look more dapper toward the end, happy he'd gotten rid of his wife.

LTN and Director Scott Rollins made a couple mistakes on this one. First of all, if they’re trying to draw in a crowd familiar with today’s pop culture, this isn’t the play that’s going to do it. Today’s audience knows pretty much the entire plot with in 15 minutes of the opening curtain. Face it, every theatre-goer in the world has seen at least ten British box set mysteries. What’s more, they certainly aren’t going to need as much dialogue as Frederick Knott’s script uses to explain it all. Did I mention that this script is wordy? Not that the plot is a bad one, we just get it really quickly so you have to put the intrigue elsewhere.

Then there’s the choice to do a show that’s set across the pond. This play doesn’t have a lot of references an American wouldn’t get, which is good. However, when doing a British play, most people feel the need for British accents.

British accents are hard. Not everyone succeeded.

I realize that I’ve written a rather harsh review here. But the plain truth of it is… I was bored. The show didn’t interest me enough to keep my attention off other details like where-does-that-room-go? This production had potential that it failed to meet. To paraphrase one character, “This was almost interesting.”