North by Northwest at Alexandra Palace Theatre
A hilarious spectacle of a thriller, Emma Rice’s North by Northwest successfully transports Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece of the same name to the stage. Infusing the story with irony, impish comedy and plenty of 1950s nostalgia, the play ends up being an excellent mixture of being entertaining while still capturing some of the excitement from the movie.
This isn’t surprising, given the thrilling plot, which features Ewan Wardrop as Roger Thornhill, the charming advertising executive who finds himself inadvertently part of a massive conspiracy when he is mistaken for the spy Kaplan. He manages to escape his pursuers, Vandamm (Karl Queensborough), Valerian (Simon Oskarsson), and Anna (Mirabelle Gremaud) with the help of femme fatale Eve (Patrycja Kujawska), but that just leads to more difficulties as he realises her involvement with the plot.
Rice’s production is delightfully self–aware; she doesn’t shy from the fact that it is a rather absurd story on the surface, and so she leans into it. Wardrop’s Thornhill has echoes of Cary Grant, but he plays him more like a parody of the character as he’s chased from one place to the next. His pairing with the intoxicating Kujawska is spot on.
But it is Katy Owen’s highly energetic, idiosyncratic performance that carries much of the show. Functioning as the enigmatic professor, narrator, and many other characters, she seamlessly relates the action, sentimental moments, or thrilling events while maintaining that necessary ironic distance. At times, this can feel overbearing – a lot of the action is perfectly visible without narration – but as the show goes on and the absurdities pile up, her insights become part and parcel of the show.
Rice’s production features a stunning set by Rob Howell involving four old-fashioned revolving doors that are flexibly used to represent various rooms or simply doors, which lends itself well to the chase scenes. Suitcases with cheap labels represent some more complicated items, such as a plane, a bus, etc. It’s all tongue-in-cheek but matches the setting, as do the costumes that ooze the 50s spy thriller look the show is going for.
Given the magnitude of the original, it’s unsurprising that not everything functions in this production, but Rice always attempts to make it work, and at worst, those moments succeed in being endearing. As such, it’s a genuinely delightful undertaking that shows its appreciation for Hitchcock’s original.
Michael Higgs
Photos: Steve Tanner
North By Northwest is at Alexandra Palace Theatre until 22nd June 2025. For further information or to book, visit the theatre’s website here.
Watch the trailer for North By Northwest at Alexandra Palace Theatre here:
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