Alfred Hitchcock’s
North by Northwest
is one of those films which dwells in the collective cultural consciousness as
a series of memorable images or sequences – the crop-duster chase, the Mount Rushmore finale. Described
as “the
Hitchcock picture to end all Hitchcock pictures,” the film has now become a stage
production under the guidance of Simon Phillips for the Melbourne Theatre Company. And it is every
bit as thrilling and audacious as you would expect.
Adapted by Carolyn Burns from
the screenplay by Ernest Lehman, MTC’s North
by Northwest remains almost entirely faithful to the film. But whereas
in other productions this could be seen as a disservice, whereby it slavishly
seeks to replicate its filmic predecessor, here Burns, Phillips, the cast and
crew all approach their task with relish and glee, and the results, while
serious, never take themselves too seriously, giving us a magical new version
of Hitchcock and Lehman’s thrilling tale of mistaken identity.
