U.K. theatre company Wise Children has announced the cast and creative team for its stage version of Alfred Hitchcock's 1959 thriller North by Northwest. The production will make a world premiere at York's Theatre Royal (which is co-producing the project along with HOME Manchester and Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse) March 18-April 5 with opening night set for March 26.
Runs at HOME Manchester (April 29-May 10), Liverpool Playhouse (May 20-24), Bath Theatre Royal, Everyman Theatre Cheltenham, and Alexandra Palace Theatre will follow, with performances concluding June 22. Additional venues and dates are to be announced.
The cast will include Mirabelle Gremaud as Anna, Patrycja Kujawska as Eva Kendall, Simon Oskarsson as Valerian, Katy Owen as The Professor, Karl Queensborough as Philip Vandamm, and Ewan Wardrop as Roger Thornhill.
As adapted and directed by Emma Rice, the project seems to be taking a cue from Patrick Barlow's campy take on The 39 Steps, another Hitchcock thriller. As in that 2005 play (which later played London's West End and Broadway, the latter earning a 2008 Tony nomination for Best Play), Rice's North by Northwest will feature a small cast taking on a myriad of roles to comedic effect.
The original film, released in 1959 and starring Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint, is regarded as one of Hitchcock's finest, following an innocent man as he's pursued cross-country in a case of mistaken identity that threatens to become deadly at any moment. The film is perhaps most famous for its Bernard Hermann score, and for scenes of Grant being chased by a small airplane in a cornfield and a climax that has the characters scurrying down the faces of Mount Rushmore, both of which have proved to be some of the most iconic visuals in cinematic history.
Joining Rice on the creative team will be set and costume designer Rob Howell, sound designer Simon Baker, lighting designer Malcolm Rippeth, choreographer and movement director Etta Murfitt, and creative consultant Mark Kaufman.
The stage adaptation is being produced by special arrangement with Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures and Kay & McLean Productions.
Also in Wise Children's upcoming schedule is an international tour of Wuthering Heights, now prepping to visit Australia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China.
Visit WiseChildren.co.uk.