By TR Robertson Photos by Aaron Rumley
North Coast Rep’s latest stage production is a world-premiere unique adaptation of the classic mystery novel The Maltese Falcon with funny, campy, twists and turns complete with fast paced costume, character and set changes that will leave you guessing who-dun-it. Playwright Matthew Salazar-Thompson is a San Diego based playwright who has written over twenty plays for various theatres throughout the County. He had begun writing this adaptation of the classic novel, The Maltese Falcon, during the pandemic, deciding to liven the play with campy humor rather than keeping the noir mystery as an ominous who-dun-it. Filled with back and forth banter and quick witted barbs like “You lie like a corpse”, “You’re more dangerous than a black cat in a room full of sharp objects”, “You tell some tall tales, stop pulling mine”, and some that make no sense such as “He could put clothes on a school of fish with his gift for gab”.
The original novel, The Maltese Falcon, was written in 1930 by Dashell Hammett, and was made into a movie in 1931 starring Ricardo Cortez and then into a film-noir classic in 1941 starring Humphrey Bogart. In the novel, private detective Sam Spade and Miles Archer work on a case of looking for a woman’s missing sister, only to find this leads to deaths, mysteries, and intrigue all surrounding a 16th-century gold and gem-encrusted falcon statue with an ominous past. Keeping the basic premise of the novel, Salazar-Thompson and the play’s director Todd Nielsen decide to tell the story using two actors that remain the same for the duration of the play and three actors who will play thirty other characters using quick costume and voice changes. These will be characters like a police detective, a policeman, a cab driver, the widow of Miles Archer, a gangster type named Joey Cairo, Spade’s secretary, the shady Kasper Gutman and many more. In keeping with the film-noir atmosphere, Liam Sullivan is brought on board as the Foley Artist, providing appropriate sounds and ominous music throughout the performance. These include liquor pouring out of the bottle, doors opening and closing, any type of background noise you can imagine, and a crow cawing whenever anyone refers to the statue as a black bird rather than a falcon.
Playing San Spade is award winning actor, director and producer Richard Baird. This is Baird’s 34th production at North Coast Repertory Theatre. Baird is the perfect pensive private eye, quick with a response, very visual facial expression and a sleuth-like attitude. As Spade, Richard even tells you the way he speaks is full of “similes and metaphors”. Another funny part of the play is Spade and other characters continually “fake lighting” cigarettes, mimicking the actual cigarette smoking that went on in the movies from the 40’s and 50’s. Playing the mysterious Brigid O’Shaughnessy is Shelley Regner, making her North Coast Rep debut. Spade is continually trying to figure out what and who Brigid really is and what her connection is to the deaths and mysteries that keep popping up. Shelley and Richard have numerous funny and snide remarks back and forth throughout the play and a funny slow motion fight scene. Not sure how he really feels about Brigid, Sam says to her,
“Thinking of you keeps me awake and dreaming of you puts me to sleep”.
Regina Fernandez as Woman, Daniel A. Stevens as Man #1 and Louis Lotorto as Man #2 are amazing as they flow in and out of the crime mystery adapting to whatever role they are portraying for the scene, quickly changing costume and voice. One of Regina’s characters is Spade’s secretary Effie Perine, a fast-talking, bubbly, in everybody’s business individual. One of Louis Lotorto’s characters, Joey Cairo, is close to a Peter Lorre impersonation from the 1941 film. Another aspect of these performers on stage is they also quickly move from scene to scene and make the set changes themselves, using sections of the sets that are on wheels, as well as moving props on and off the stage, multi-tasking at its best. As you watch it is a well-orchestrated part of the performance and helps you focus on the semi-complicated plot of the play. Regina Fernandez and Daniel A. Stevens are making their debut at NC Rep and Louis Lotoro has performed numerous productions on the NC Rep Stage.
The Designers assisting Director Todd Nielsen include Set Designer Marty Burnett, Light Designer Matthew Novotny, Costume Designer Elisa Benzoni, Associate Costume Designer Grace Wong, Sound Designer Ian Scott, Props Designer Rai Feltmann, Projection Designer Matt Fitzgerald, Hair & Wig Designer Peter Herman, Production Stage Manager Evelyn G. Myers and Production Assistant Jeruel Canda. The moving scenery to create different rooms on the set aided in the quick paced change from scene to scene especially since the play runs a little over 2 hours 15 minutes along with an intermission. A mildly complicated tale about the Maltese Falcon is humorously assisted with some shadow stick figure puppets behind one of the movable sets.
This is the perfect play to take your mind off of everything going on in the world and to enjoy for a couple of hours a funny adaptation of a classic novel and film noir. “The Maltese Falcon” is on stage at North Coast Repertory Theatre at 987 Lomas Santa Fe Drive, in Solana Beach. Tickets can be purchased at www.northcoastrep.org or call 858-431-1055. The play will run until April 5th. Next on stage at NC Rep will be “Beau Jest” by James Sherman, directed by Omri Schein beginning April 22nd.
