THE LADY VANISHES

Triode Productions at the Civic Theatre

06.03.10



Hitler and Chamberlain in Munich, Hutton and Bradman in the test. 1938, the setting for Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes.
Triode Productions' affectionate re-working for the stage keeps all the humour and the suspense of the original.
This version, with its ingenious Gasthof/train set [Maurice Rubens], began with Jill Freud's company, before Triode snapped it up as a logical successor to their Dick Barton.
Terry Molloy played two contrasting character parts: Salvatore, the comedy hotelier with a silly wig, and the sinister Doktor Harz, the villain of the piece.
His knavish tricks are foiled by the doughty Iris [Penelope Rawlins] and the elephant man in the room above, Gilbert the musicologist [Darrell Brockis]. The two old buffers who find themselves on this transalpine sleeper were played with relish  by Clive Flint and Andrew Bone. And the lady herself, governess and sometime spy Miss Froy, was given a stylish performance by Jane Evers – very much in the Marple mould.




This comfy, old-fashioned mystery melodrama was directed for this tour by Mark Sterling.