Photo by Michael Brosilow
Georgette Verdin, director of Raven Theatre’s Night Watch, clearly understands misdirection. Starting with Lucille Fletcher’s well-written script (a variation on Rear Window), Verdin doesn’t miss any opportunity to amp up the mystery. Early on, for instance, she has one actor make a silent and spooky entrance that elicits laughter from the audience, itself a kind of misdirection in this psychological thriller about a woman who may or may not be going crazy.
Elaine (in a dynamite performance by Aila Ayilam Peck) is the woman at the show’s center, an heiress married to a humorless and controlling man who believes that she sees, from her (yes) rear window, a dead body. From our first meeting with her, it seems obvious that Elaine is a fragile person: she is extremely nervous, she scares easily, she is clearly controlled by her domineering husband, and she appears to have no faith at all in herself. Despite all of her riches, Elaine is not in charge of her own life.
That husband, John, is played by Kroydell Galima, who seems to have been given a standing character order to be menacing and demanding; even when John is being overtly comforting toward his possibly unstable wife, there is something about himself that he is holding back. Fletcher and Verdin do a spectacular job of making him one of the several candidates for the show’s perpetrator, though fans of mysteries might be wary of someone who seems this obvious.
Two other people live in this beautiful home (scenic designer Mara Ishihara Zinky has done a lovely job): Elaine’s friend (and, currently, her nurse for her nervous condition) Blanche (Jodi Gage); and a German housekeeper, Helga (Kathy Scambiatterra). It’s Helga whose disembodied hand dances along the doorway in that early scene like Thing from The Addams Family. Blanche, meanwhile, glides into each scene as a sweet, conscientious caretaker.
This is the main cast, and suspicions obviously begin with them. But other characters played by Christopher Meister and Matthew Martinez Hannon also invite skepticism, to the point that, at one point, I had reasons to suspect practically all of them. (Maybe this is one of those plays in which everyone has a part in the guilt?) My own suspicions moved around a lot; this one is hard to guess.
Verdin has a clear grasp of what this play needs to succeed. Each character is well-defined with at least one characteristic that immediately stands out, making it easy to distinguish them even if they don’t appear for awhile. A gay journalist neighbor (Hannon) who worms his way into this art-filled abode is fun though a bit creepy. An exasperated cop (Meister) is sick and tired of being called here for what seem to be Elaine’s hallucinations. And could a friendly visiting psychiatrist (yes, they are that rich) played by Scambiatterra have ulterior motives?
Set designer Zinky gives us a room that wouldn’t be out of place in at least a dozen Agatha Christie novels, but one of her key decisions really sets up the mystery: the windows through which Elaine glimpses the body are angled in such a way that the audience cannot see what she sees, making it just as possible that there never was a body as that there was. Maybe Blanche is right about her friend’s mental state. Maybe John needs to treat her this way, needs to kid-glove her a bit even though it exasperates him. Christopher Kriz’s sound design and Lee Fiskness’ lights add undertones to the mysterious mood, and costume designer Steph Taylor has tons of fun here, especially with Peck’s wardrobe.
This unpredictable, well-acted thriller is a great choice for the Halloween season. Even if you can’t guess whodunnit—I sure didn’t—you’re bound to have a good time.
Night Watch is a Raven Theatre production and is playing at 6157 N. Clark, Chicago through Nov 12. Performance times vary; check Raven’s website. Find more information about current plays on our Current Shows page and at theatreinchicago.com.