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July 21 – August 28, 2022
(Opening night: Thursday, July 28, 2022)
Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre
Conrad Prebys Theatre Center
Globe-commissioned world-premiere adaptation
By Frederick Knott
Adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher
Directed by Stafford Arima
A new version of the celebrated murder mystery that inspired Hitchcock’s masterpiece! Tony is convinced that his wife Margot has been cheating on him. Now it seems that the affair is over, but in his jealousy Tony spins a web of suspicion and deception that will tighten around them and ensnare them both in danger, recrimination, and murder. The New York Times calls Dial M for Murder “a cat-and-mouse waiting game, with enough twists and sudden hitches to keep the chills and thrills running.” Acclaimed playwright Jeffrey Hatcher (Scotland Road, Wait Until Dark) brings us an edge-of-your-seat, world-premiere adaptation of this modern classic, directed in high style by Globe veteran Stafford Arima (Allegiance, Red Velvet) in our most intimate performance space.
Content warning: This production contains moments of violence, electronic and herbal cigarette smoke, strobe lighting, and haze.
Dial M for Murder is supported by production sponsors Karen and Donald Cohn, Peter Cooper and Erik Matwijkow, Silvija and Brian Devine, Pamela Farr and Buford Alexander, Hal and Pam Fuson, Joan and Irwin Jacobs, Lolly & Duck, Evelyn Mack Truitt, Debra Turner, and Anonymous.
Running time: Two hours and 10 minutes. There is one intermission.
Frederick Knott (Playwright) 1916–2002, was born in China to an English missionary family. Mr. Knott earned a law degree from University of Cambridge after attending Oundle School, and he served in the British Army from 1939 to 1946, achieving the rank of major. Mr. Knott only wrote three plays during his lifetime, yet his spine-tingling thrillers ran successfully on Broadway in the 1950s and ‘60s and have been standards in regional theatre and touring companies throughout the world. His most famous script, Dial M for Murder, was rejected several times before playing successfully on British television in the early ‘50s. It then hit the London stage to rave reviews. In 1952 the play opened on Broadway, and in 1954 was adapted by Mr. Knott into a film, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Grace Kelly and Ray Milland. His second-most-popular play, Wait Until Dark, ran for 374 performances on Broadway in 1966 and earned actress Lee Remick a Tony Award nomination for her portrayal of a blind woman terrorized by thugs. In 1967 the play was made into a popular film of the same name starring Alan Arkin and Audrey Hepburn. It was revived on Broadway in 1998 in a production starring Marisa Tomei and Quentin Tarantino. Mr. Knott’s third play, Write Me a Murder, opened on Broadway in 1961 and ran for 25 weeks.
Jeffrey Hatcher (Adaptor) wrote the book for Broadway’s Never Gonna Dance. His Off Broadway credits include Three Viewings and A Picasso (Manhattan Theatre Club), The Government Inspector (Red Bull Theater), Scotland Road and The Turn of the Screw (Primary Stages), Lucky Duck (as book writer with Bill Russell; The New Victory Theater), Tuesdays with Morrie (with Mitch Albom; Minetta Lane Theatre), Ten Chimneys (The Peccadillo Theater Company), Neddy (The American Place Theatre), and Fellow Travelers (Manhattan Punch Line Theatre). His other theatre credits include Key Largo, Compleat Female Stage Beauty, Mrs. Mannerly, Murderers, Cousin Bette, Smash, A Confederacy of Dunces, and others, appearing at The Old Globe, Geffen Playhouse, Guthrie Theater, Yale Repertory Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Huntington Theatre Company, South Coast Repertory, Arizona Theatre Company, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Children’s Theatre Company, Illusion Theater, Denver Center for the Performing Arts Theatre Company, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and dozens more in the U.S. and abroad. Mr. Hatcher’s films include Stage Beauty, Casanova, The Duchess, Mr. Holmes, and The Good Liar. He also wrote episodes of “Columbo” and “The Mentalist.” His grants and awards include National Endowment for the Arts, Theatre Communications Group, Lila Wallace Fund, Rosenthal New Play Prize, Charles Frankel Prize, MacArthur Fellowship, McKnight Foundation, Jerome Foundation, Barrymore Award for Best New Play, and 2013 Ivey Award for Lifetime Achievement. He is a member and/or alumnus of Playwrights’ Center and Dramatists Guild.
Stafford Arima (Director) is Artistic Director of Theatre Calgary in Canada. In 2015, he became the first Asian Canadian to direct a musical on Broadway when Allegiance opened at the Longacre Theatre, starring George Takei and Lea Salonga. His credits at The Old Globe include the world premiere of Allegiance, Ace, and Red Velvet. His other productions include Ragtime (West End; Olivier Award nomination), the original production of Altar Boyz(Off Broadway),Carrie (Off Broadway at MCC Theater), The Tin Pan Alley Rag (Roundabout Theatre Company), Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris (Stratford Festival), bare (Off Broadway), The Secret Garden(TOHO Productions in Tokyo), Two Class Acts (Off Broadway at The Flea Theater), and Mary and Max – A New Musical, A Christmas Carol, and Billy Elliot: The Musical (Theatre Calgary). Arima is a graduate of York University, where he was the recipient of the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Creativity. He is a founding board member of the Canadian Guild of Stage Directors & Choreographers (CGDC) and is a proud member of SDC and Canadian Actors’ Equity Association. staffordarima.com.
