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Home , Dashiell Hammett, Lillian Hellman, Nick and Nora Charles, The Thin Man

STUDY GUIDE IntroductionTABLE OF CONTENTSPg. 3

Pg. 4 Top Ten Things to Know About Going to the Theatre Pg. 5 Cast and Creative Team Credits

The Man Behind Pg. 6

Synopsis and Characters Pg. 9

Inside Vertigo Theatre- An Interview with Playwirght Lucia Frangione Pg. 10

Pre-Show Projects and Discussion Questions Pg. 13

The One Liner Characters From Your Life The Amazing Asta Your Burning Questions

Pre-Show Activities To Get You Up On Your Feet Pg. 15

A Crazy Family Let's Party

Post Show Discussion Questions Pg. 22 The Art of The Theatre Review Pg. 24 Pg. 25 About Vertigo Theatre

Vertigo Teatre is committed to creating a welcoming atmosphere for schools and to assist teachers and parent chaperones with that process. It is our wish to foster and develop our relationship with our student audience members. It is our intention to create positive theatre experiences for young people by providing study guides and post-show talk backs with our actors and theatre personnel, in order to enrich students’ appreciation of theatre as an art form and enhance their enjoyment of our plays. Introduction Welcome to the study guide for Vertigo Theatre's production of 's THE THIN MAN adapted by Lucia Frangione. In this guide you will find information about crime writer Dashiell Hammett, the creative team and performers involved in this production, as well as a variety of activities to do with your class before and after the show. There are topics suitable for a class discussion, individual writing projects, as well as games and exercises that get students moving around and learning on their feet. For this production, you’ll find activities that will get students thinking about creating exciting characters, as well as exercises that will get your class moving through the world of detectives . We are also featuring an interview with writer Lucia Frangione, who talks about adapting a crime fiction classic, the 1930's as seen through our modern eyes, and her recommendation.

Sometimes your students might read an unusual word or term and feel some "vertigo", so we've got some handy-dandy blood splatters that provide definitions or point to topics of interest. Like this:

Vertigo is a medical condition one of the symptoms of which is the sensation of movement in a sufferer who is not moving. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. Vertigo is the most common type of dizziness.

Enjoy! PG. 3 Top 10 Things to Know about

BecauseGoing some of you mayto be frst-time the theatre attendeesTheatre (and some of you more experienced theatregoers may need a little reminder), we’ve compiled a Top 10 list of some of New York Show Tickets Do’s and Don’ts of Broadway Teatre Etiquette as well as a few of our own:

1. Power Down Turn off your cell phone, people. Turn. It. Off. And, no, putting your cell phone on vibrate isn’t good enough - the people next to you can hear that weird buzzing sound, too. Besides which, the use of cameras and recording devices in the theatre is strictly prohibited.

2. Don’t Send Text Messages During the Show You may think you’re being all incognito, but in a darkened theatre, the light from your cell phone screen is incredibly distracting to those around you. And why do you still have your phone on anyway? We just told you to turn it off!

3. Eat Your Lunch Before the Show, NOT during it This isn’t the movies. Eating, drinking or chewing gum is not permitted in the theatre. There is a water fountain out in the lobby for your use during the intermission.

4. Unwrap Cough Drops and Candies in Advance If you anticipate any coughing fits during the show, be sure to unwrap your lozenges before the performance starts and have them at the ready. That crinkling sound is like nails on a chalkboard during a quiet play. And, no, unwrapping it S-L-O-W-L-Y does not help the situation ... it’s much, much worse.

5. Pre-Show When the houselights go down at the beginning of the play, this lets you know that we’re starting. It is at this moment that the actors and technical staff do their final preparation for the opening moment, so please let them do their work by being quiet and respectful.

6. Don’t Be A Disruptive Miss Manners Sure, it’s irritating when someone’s cell phone goes off, but what’s even worse is when it’s followed by a series of annoyed “Tsks,” and“Hmphs”. Hisses, snarls, and shouts of “turn it off!” can be just as distracting as the original disruption.

7. Zip Those Lips A quick whisper to your neighbour, or an audible reaction to something interesting that happens on stage is fine (this is live theatre, not the morgue), but keep conversations to intermission and after the show.

8. Stay put, watch and enjoy the play. If you absolutely must use the washroom during the performance, please exit the theatre quickly and quietly. You will be readmitted to the theatre at the discretion of the House Manager.

9. You’re not in your Living Room Please do not stand up, walk around or put your feet on the seat or stage in front of you. Everyone around you, including the actors, will appreciate it.

10. Enjoy Yourself! Come to the theatre to get swept away into another world. Be sure to thank all of the artists for their hard work by applauding during the curtain call.

PG. 4 CAST AND CREW CREDITS The Cast In Order of Appearance

CURT MCKINSTRY Nick Charles NADIEN CHU Nora Charles KATHERINE FADUM Mimi Jorgensen ANNA MAZURIK Dorothy Wynant CHRIS DUTHIE Gilbert Wynant AARON HURSH Shep Morelli/Christien KENT ALLEN Lieutenant Guild/ Studsy GRAHAM PERCY Mac/ Sparrow

Creative Team

LUCIA FRANGIONE Playwright COURTENAY DOBBIE Director AMANDA CUTTING Assistant Director SCOTT REID Set Designer DEITRA KALYN Costume Designer ANTON DE GROOT Lighting Designer ZAKK MACDONALD Fight Director SARA TURNER Stage Manager KENNEDY GREENE Assistant Stage Manager KATE PALLESEN Apprentice Stage Manager JANE MACFARLANE Voice/Dialect Consultant ELIZABETH WELLWOOD Assistant Costume Designer TECHART CUSTOM CREATIONS Set Construction KEVIN COREY Head of Props LEAH MACRAE Head of Wardrobe WENDY EAKINS Stitcher REBECCA TOON Hairstylist DAWNA MARK Head Scenic Painter The video and/or audio recording of this performance by any PG. 5 means whatsoever is strictly prohibited THE MAN Behind THE Thin Man

DASHIELL HAMMETT

Dashiell Hammett is ranked among the very best writers of the hard-boiled genre of crime fiction. It was a world that he knew well because he lived it. He was a man of action in his youth, and a hard-drinking, but principled man later in life. A mirror image of many of his fictional characters.

Hard-boiled Fiction: A tough, unsentimental style of American crime writing that brought a new tone of earthly realism or naturalism to the field of .

PG. 6 When he was 21 years old, he joined the famous Pinkerton National Detective Agency, where he would work for the next seven years. During that period, he took time off to enlist in the army and serve in . It was during that period that he contracted tuberculosis, an affliction that would cause complications that would lead to his eventual demise.

His writing career began in 1922 with the publication of his first short story. Over the next 30 years, he published dozens of stories, novels, and screenplays. He created perhaps the most iconic character in crime fiction: the infamous , who was brought to life in The Maltese Falcon. Hammett pulled his characters from the world he saw around him and ushered in a new era of gritty, naturalistic writing. , in his essay , states “Hammett gave murder back to the kind of people that commit it for reasons, not just to provide a corpse; and with the means at hand, not with hand-wrought duelling pistols, curare, and tropical fish. He put these people down on paper as they are, and he made them talk and think in the language they customarily used for these purposes.”

But it wasn’t the mean streets and rough underworld that inspired Hammett to create his famous duo, Nick and Nora Charles. For The Thin Man, Hammett looked to the woman he shared his life with: .

HELLMAN and THE THIN MAN

PG. 7 Lillian Hellman met Dashiell Hammett while working as a script reader for MGM Studios in the early . She divorced her then husband, , and lived with Hammett for the next 30 years.

A successful playwright and screenwriter, Hellman is known for The Children’s Hour, which premiered in 1934, the same year that The Thin Man was published as a novel (it originally appeared in the magazine in 1933). Hammett had written the novel while sequestering himself in a run down hotel with Hellman. She said:

“I was given half the manuscript to read and was told that I was Nora. It was nice to be Nora, married to Nick Charles: maybe one of the few marriages in modern literature where the man and woman like each other and have a fine time together. But I was soon put back in place — Hammett said I was also the silly girl in the book and the villainess.”

Hellman carried on writing alongside Hammett, and weathered the rough times as he suffered through alcoholism and his worsening health. She stayed with him until he died of lung cancer in 1961.

THE FILM and BEYOND

Due to its huge success as a novel, The Thin Man was made into a film in 1934, starring and . It spawned a number of sequels—though only in film—and Hammett didn’t write any more Nick and Nora Charles stories himself. The characters would go on to feature in a television series, as well as inspiring many other characters in popular culture, such as Nicky Flippers in the animated film Hoodwinked! (2005).

Fun fact: the titular “Thin Man” is usually assumed to refer to hero Nick Charles, though as readers or viewers of the original work know, the title refers not to Nick, but to Clyde Wynant. The Thin Man was a catchy title, however, so it became the name of the series. PG. 8 Raymond Chandler and the “” Genre SYNOPSIS & CHARACTERS SYNOPSIS

Retired detective Nick Charles had the perfect Christmas planned with his heiress wife Nora, their pet terrier Asta, and a case of good Scotch. But a missing inventor and a bullet-riddled secretary jump-start Nick and Nora's quiet holiday into a madcap mystery filled with intrigue, outrageous characters and murder. Lucia Frangione's adaptation of The Thin Man offers up a new take on Dashiell Hammett's most famous characters in this unabashedly romantic romp. CHARACTERS

Nick Charles A ex-detective, sexy, smart, charming.

Nora Charles A witty, elegant San Franciscan heiress of Chinese heritage.

Mimi Jorgenson A lusty carnivore in jewels.

Dorothy Wynant A fair, bruised beauty, naively experimenting with her sexual power.

Marion A brash torch singer, who never learned to dance.

Gilbert Wynant A bespectacled genius, boyish and tall.

Arthur Nunheim A nervy heroin user.

Shep Morelli A bruiser drug lord, who prides himself on his loyalty.

Christien An extremely handsome gigolo who speaks French.

Lieutanant Guild A long suffering jaded copper with a bad cold.

Studsy A friendly, but physically intimidating ex-con.

Mac An honest face in a good suit, reliable and quick.

Sparrow An obese drunkard with a high thin voice.

PG. 9 inside Vertigo Theatre

We talk to playwright Lucia Frangione about adapting a classic, the 1930s, and her crime fiction favourites.

How did you find your way to adapting The Thin Man? Were you a Hammett fan? What do you love about the story? The Thin Man adaptation was entirely Craig Hall's idea. He wanted to commission a female writer because the mystery genre is dominated by male writers and he felt that The Thin Man's wit and the saucy husband/wife team would be a good fit for my writing style.

As soon as I read the novel, I felt at home and knew I could put a version of this story on stage. Dashiell Hammett was the lover of Lillian Hellman and that's how I knew of him first. Hellman is an inspiration for the character of Nora in many ways, a "lanky brunette with wicked jaws" as Nick says. She was a successful writer for both film and theatre, having had many Broadway hits including: and . Hammett was a popular mystery writer. They were very much the literary "it" couple of their time.

However, they eventually were blacklisted and ostracized, largely for their political leanings towards . Adding to their social isolation was the fact that she experienced racism for her Jewish heritage and he was a raging alcoholic who drank himself to death.

For me, this is the interesting aspect to The Thin Man. Though on the surface it is a witty sexy comedy with outrageous characters, it is also very much about being the outsider. Each character in The Thin Man feels isolated and alone. I think this dark underbelly is what gives this novel/tv show/play lasting appeal. Nick and Nora are ostracized from society despite their elegance and wit. If you notice: they are celebrating Christmas with strangers, they have no family about, they have no children. Nick laments that being a detective means he is faced with the ugly side of humanity all the time, he distrusts everyone. When he is thrown back into sleuthing, he starts to feel alone in it. Nora reminds him that she knows more about his experience than he thinks and he is not alone. It is the fact that they find each other and keep each other in the midst of it all that is so appealing to us. I think we all hope to find our "partner in crime" or rather "partner in crime solving".

PG. 10 Can you tell us about your process for adapting the story?

This is my first adaptation! I love it. It's a puzzle. The play is hiding in the excesses that a novel can afford. It's about cutting away and finding the essentials and the essentials for a play are dialogue and physical action.

I read the novel a number of times and highlighted all the dialogue and location changes and characters and physical moments (stockings slide up a bare leg, a punch to the head, a dog bite, filling a glass with scotch) Then I watched some of the TV show and I watched the movie several times. Both of these had different characters and different lines. I wanted to be aware of what the audience may have seen and may have remembered as their favourite moment or their favourite line. I tried to take the best of all the worlds.

For instance, the movie had some fun physical shtick but the novel was much more risqué, i.e.: in the novel Dorothy drank a lot and slept around with a married man. In the movie she was a virginal innocent with a protective fiancée. My Dorothy splits the difference. Part of why mystery novels tend to have meandering plots is to throw the reader off the scent of the killer. A play can never meander. It was a challenge to pare the plot down and limit the characters without giving away the "". I capitalized on Hammett's outrageous characters and their complex and heated personal lives to throw off the scent. All hell breaks loose when Mimi and her children arrive on the scene: the plot is still in play but it is upstaged by the Wynant family.

There were some things about the novel that I found repugnant: sexism, homophobia, racism, the bravura of an alcoholic being able to magically solve crimes single-handedly while absolutely soused. How was I to maintain the reality of the times and the source of the original humour while also maintaining my own integrity? If I politically correct it all, I lose the gritty reality of what life was like in the 1930s...so I left all the nastiness in. However, I allow us to have one character who likely shares our modern sensibilities: Nora.

While I was researching, I found it curious that Nora was played by an actress named Myrna Loy in the movie version of The Thin Man. The film studio changed her name from Williams to Loy to make her sound exotic. "Orientalism" was all the rage in the thirties, and Anna Mae Wong was a huge fashion icon and film star. But Anna Mae Wong was a Chinese American. Leading men were always white, even when they were playing an Asian man, they'd do it in yellow face. It was illegal for Wong to kiss a caucasian man on or off screen despite her skill and notoriety, so leading ladies were always white actresses in yellow face, like Myrna Loy in The Mask of Fu Manchu. PG. 11 All of this history lead me to create a Nora that was of Chinese heritage. Nick is an outsider because he is a detective, Nora is an outsider because of her heritage. As the audience, we experience the world they live in through her eyes, revealing the ugliness for what it is. It makes sense that Nick and Nora understand each other and are drawn to each other. The bonus is, this adaptation provides a great role for an Asian actor, something also rarely found in this genre. I try to do my bit to provide opportunities for all my brothers and sisters in the theatre, not just the white ones.

What is your job once the play goes into rehearsal?

I will be around for the first four days of rehearsal and on the 20th! Opening! The play has had two readings and a full week's workshop so it's in great shape. I will be around to answer questions and do the inevitable small tweaks to the script.

You’re an accomplished playwright, and you’re also a playwriting teacher. How did you get started? Did you study playwriting specifically, or is it something that grew out of your career as an actor?

I studied playwriting at Rosebud School of the Arts. I was the first and last graduate of their four year playwright apprenticeship program! Their four year programs now focus on acting and general theatre studies, but they do have a playwriting class and I teach it.

I got started at Rosebud as a playwright, they produced my first play in my first year of study at the age of 18. I created a mentorship with Pacific Theatre at the age of 20 and I also helped found Chemainus Theatre when I was 21. From that point I started to self produce plays and eventually caught the attention of national and international producers. I have had thirty plays produced now and three more are in the works.

Playwriting and acting have always gone hand in hand for me. I often perform in my own work but I also work across the country as an actor. But I cannot dance to save my soul.

PG. 11 Can you share a piece of advice for aspiring writers?

You must write the story you are compelled to write, even if it seems nerdy or too personal or just plain weird and impossible to sell. If you try to write for someone else, if you try to be "cool" or "sellable" or try to catch the kite tail of the Zeitgeist, you're hooped. The thing that makes you a moron is likely also the thing that makes you magnificent. Mine it. Get the ego out of the way and write what you must.

I do believe that if you are compelled to write something it means that someone out there desperately needs to hear it. Maybe it's only one person. Good writing is an act of service to others. Also, be funny for God's sake. People are sitting there for two hours, give them a laugh.

What’s a must-read or must-watch from the mystery genre?

I am quite fond of Misery by Stephen King and actually just had a pleasure of playing Annie Wilkes this year on stage. That was a gas, Mister Mister, let me tell you. Cockadoodle that was fun.

PG. 12 Pre-show Projects and Discussion Questions

THE ONE-LINER

A large part of what makes The Thin Man is the relationship between Nick and Nora. Their keen eyes for detection, loving relationship, and their witty banter. The play is full of sharp one-liners that make us laugh and also comment-as humour often does-on uncomfortable situations or emotions. Here's an example:

NICK: No worries, she's not my type.

NORA: You got types?

NICK: Only you darling. Lanky brunettes with wicked jaws.

NORA: And here I thought you married me for my money.

NICK: Does it have to be one or the other?

The dialogue is fast, with short sentences. It was inspired by the rhythms of vaudeville comedians. As we watch them, we dream of making up our own one-liners off the cuff and becoming the life of the party. It’s not easy to improvise a great one-liner, but why not try creating a fast-paced scene and trying to incorporate some one-liners?

One-Liner A funny remark or a joke told in one sentence. Vaudeville-A theatrical genre of variety entertainment, typically made up of seperate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill.Types of acts include: music, singers, dancers, comedians, trained animals, magicians, strongmen, acrobats, jugglers, one-act plays, athletes,lectures movies, and more.

PG. 13 Start by deciding on a couple of characters that you’d like to see. Maybe it’s a pair of cops on a stake-out, two talking cats, or workers at a perfume counter. Use your imagination. Next, write a dialogue between them that incorporates one-liners. Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Keep the lines short and fast • A good punchline is important, but you’ll need to set it up (in the example above, “Does it have to be one or the other?” only works because of setting up that Nick has a type and Nora joking about him marrying her for her money) • Google a list of great one-liners to help you out. If you can come up with your own, that’s fantastic, but don’t be afraid to borrow some of the best as you’re figuring it out. Or, take the structure of one you like and make it your own. Comedians have been re-using jokes for centuries.

CHARACTERS FROM YOUR LIFE

Dashiell Hammett said, "All my characters are based on people I've known personally or known about." The details in the story make the characters unforgettable. The police officer nursing a cold, Gilbert Wynant's obsession with true crime, or Studsy the charming ex-con.

PG. 14 You don’t have to have lived the crazy life that Hammett lived to make use of his technique. You already have a wealth of interesting people around you right now. Try this exercise:

1. In one minute, write down as many people as you can think of that you know personally.

2. With this list, choose someone that you’re going to base your character on.

3. Make a list of things that are interesting to you about your acquaintance. Maybe it’s the way he/she talks or moves, catch phrases, or an unusual interest.

4. Write about this person, but give him/her a fictional name and change some key details about their job or situation in life. Remember, this isn’t about just describing that person as is. It’s about using him/her as a springboard to create an interesting character. 5. You could write a description of your character doing some sort of activity, a monologue, or a dialogue with another character. See if you can capture the qualities that make the person interesting in life.

THE AMAZING ASTA

Nick and Nora Charles are known as a famous duo, but that’s not quite accurate. There’s a third member of the team: their dog, Asta!

Asta is one of the great pet characters in fiction (also a frequent crossword answer because of the useful combination of vowels and consonants) and Nick and Nora wouldn’t be the same without him. He growls, hides, sniffs, and accompanies the pair as they go on their adventures. He can be the comic relief, a helping hand, or simply a cute little reminder that even great detectives have normal aspects to their lives.

PG. 15 Try creating a pet for a famous character in fiction who doesn’t currently have one. Start by asking what sort of pet might be helpful (like Hedwig for Harry Potter) or might be a funny hinderance (like Scooby-Doo for Shaggy).

Find a picture of the animal and make a list of its characteristics. Give it a suitable name. Come up with a story about how the character acquired the pet. And lastly, take a scene with your chosen character and re-imagine it with the character’s new pet! What would Lord of the Rings be like if Frodo had poodle with him? What would The Hunger Games be like if Katniss had a trained hawk?

YOUR BURNING QUESTIONS

There will be a question and answer session after the show.

What questions do you have about putting on the play?

What have you always wanted to know about theatre?

What do you want to know about being an actor?

PG. 16 Pre-show ACTIVITIES

A CRAZY FAMILY

In The Thin Man, the Wynant family is deeply troubled. An absentee father, a reckless mother, and two kids who are acting out more than the average young person. The Wynants are at the enter of the mystery, and the portrait of their home-life is a frightening one. “ Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” This is how Tolstoy began his novel Anna Karenina. It’s also a starting point for us to think about bringing a family to life.

A SLICE OF FAMILY LIFE In this exercise, groups of students will come up with a few minutes in the life of a troubled family and present it to the rest of the group. The focus is on creating characters, action, and an atmosphere that’s believable.

PG. 17 INSTRUCTIONS

1. Split the class into groups of five or six.

2. The groups must each create a “family” with each person playing a family member. These families could be made up of parents, children, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, or whomever could be considered a family member.

3. Choose a location for the scene. Probably it’s a place in a house where all the members could reasonably have access to like a kitchen or living room, but a bedroom is possible, too.

4. Discuss some of the quirks that you notice with your own family. Do any members of your family have odd habits? For example: clipping toenails anywhere at anytime. Does one person’s actions particularly bother another person? For example: chewing chips loudly. What times of the day causes the most stress for everyone? For example: leaving for work/school in the morning.

5. Create an activity for each character. Each person must be involved in something that they can carry out for a few minutes. Does that activity involve someone else? Does one person’s activity conflict with another’s? Is it loud or quiet? Contained or expansive?

6. Now try improvising this situation and see how it plays out. Characters can talk to each other as need be, but they must still be involved in their own activity. When you’ve tried it once, discuss how it went. Are there ways to heighten the tension or conflicts? Were you able to show everyone in some way or did some characters dominate? 7. Try the improvisation again. This time have a member of the group shout “ding-dong” after a few minutes when things are chaotic. This indicates a doorbell and someone arriving. How does each member react? Does it change his behaviour for better or worse? Do he try to present himself well or does he not care about a new arrival? 8. Present each scene to the class. PG. 18 • Were the scenes realistic or over the top? Should the group go further or do less to make the scene more effective?

• Could the audience deduce who each character was and understand what was going on in that person's life? If you were confused, were you bothered by that?

• Did the doorbell come at the right time in the scene? That is, did it come at the "worst time"?

LET'S PARTY

The play begins with Nick and Nora Charles hosting a Christmas party in a large hotel room. We get to see show snippets of the party from time to time, as it bleeds from the living room space into the bedroom. We see and hear several characters and we don't really know who they are or what's going on. It's like a camera cuts to them for a few seconds before moving on. This exercise will show how this can be brought to life.

PG. 19 INSTRUCTIONS

1. Have a large group (ideally 15-20) go into the space. The space should be set up with some set pieces and props to look like a place where a party could happen. The group should split into duos and trios.

2. Each group privately comes up with a subject for their group’s conversation. Here are some examples:

• One person is telling another about a recent break-up. • One person is regaling two others with an unbelievable story. • One person is flirting with another. • Two people who haven’t seen each other in a long time are reunited. It could be happy or it could be awkward. • Two people are gossiping about someone. • The host of the party is solving someone’s problem

3. Once those situations are established, put on some loud music and have each group improvise their chosen scene with only theur scene partners. For now, they don't need to worry about being heard by anyone, but their partners. It should all happen simultaneously so it looks and sounds like a real party.

PG. 20 4. Once everyone has a feel for the atmosphere, the leader will stop the music and point to one of the groups. That group will carry on improvising their scene.

5. After a short time, the leader will point to another group. The first group freezes and the next group starts their scene. This repeats until each group has had a chance to perform.

6. Next, the leader will point to groups randomly, sometimes staying with a group for awhile and sometimes only for a few seconds.

7. Each group is responsible for playing the scene when pointed to. They should pick up the scene as though some time has passed and not just where they left off previously. Has a bad situation improved or worsened? Is a character who was dominating the conversation now listening?

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

• Was the group able to make the scene look and sound like a real party? If not, what could they do differently? • What were we able to deduce about each group based on hearing only their conversation? Could we tell what was happening?

PG. 21 PosT-SHow Discussion QUestions

1. Why do you think Hammett chose The Thin Man as his title? Is it simply a reference to one character or are their other interpretations?

2. How would you characterize Nick and Nora's relationship? What is working well and where is the tension?

3. How does the time period that the play is set in (1933) compare and contrast with today? What are some of the differences you noticed about socially acceptable behavious, drug/alcohol use, sexism and racism?

4. Did you find the mystery satisfying? Were you fooled or did you guess the killer's identity before the big reveal?

5. What are the differences between investigations in the 1930s and investigations in our modern world? Did a detective in the 1930s need a different set of skills?

6. Nora is initially very excited about the prospect of her husband returning to detective work. Does this change as the story goes along?

PG. 22 The Art of the Theatre Review Now that you’ve seen the production, it’s time to write a review. But how do you do it? Where do you start? The Guardian Theatre critic Lyn Gardner suggests: A traditional theatre review often begins by giving the reader some background about a production, a brief outline of plot and themes, a sense of what the staging looks (and sounds) like; it offers an evaluation of the writing, the production and the performances and concludes with a summing up.

But, most importantly, she says that: The frst rule is that there are no rules – you’re writing a review to express your thoughts and feelings about a theatre show, not taking an exam. There are as many ways to write a review as there are personal responses to any production. There is no right or wrong. Allow yourself to develop your own distinctive voice, and be honest about what you really think about a production: convey your enthusiasm for it or explain why you disliked it. Don’t worry about going out on a limb. A timid theatre review is often a dull read. The hardest reviews to write are not about the shows you passionately loved or hated, but about ones that were just so-so.

To begin, jot down what stuck with you in the production. • What do you remember the most? • Which performances did you love and why? • What did you think of the costumes, the set, the lighting, the sound? • Did you like the story? • Did the production make you feel something? Tis last question is perhaps the most important. Kenneth Tynan, one of the most celebrated critics of all time said the following about that very topic: If a play does anything—either tragically or comically, satirically or farcically—to explain to me why I am alive, it is a good play. If it seems unaware that such questions exist, I tend to suspect that it’s a bad one.

By “explain to me why I am alive”, Tynan is suggesting that a play should speak to you about some aspect of your life. Some other questions you could address are: • If you lost interest, where did the production go wrong? • Was there a part of the story that you had difculty accepting? A performance you didn’t believe? A twist in the story that didn’t make sense? • Would you recommend this play to others? Was it worth your time?

Bonus Activity! Can you summarize your review in the length of a tweet? You get 140 characters. Tis includes spaces! If you’re on Twitter, tag Vertigo with @vertigotheatre, so we can know what you thought!

PG. 24 ABOUT VERTIGO THEATRE

We are a professional, not-for-profit charitable organization with a dual artistic mandate.

Our mission is to thrill, entertain and challenge by creating theatre that ignites the curiosity of our community. We are dedicated to the revitalization of the Mystery Theatre genre and to inspiring and mentoring the next generation of arts leaders.

Our vision is to be a premiere cultural institution in Calgary. Vertigo Theatre occupies a unique place in Calgary’s cultural landscape as:

• The only professional theatre in Canada producing a series of professional plays based in the mystery genre • Providing a performance home for other arts and arts education organizations • Committed to mentorship and training in all areas – artistic, production and administration

Vertigo Theatre is a member of the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres and engages under the terms of The Canadian Theatre Agreement professional artists who are members of the Canadian Actor's Equity Association.

EDUCATION & OUTREACH

PROGRAM STUDENT MATINEES BD&P Mystery Theatre Series Vertigo is the only professional theatre company in Canada that produces a full season of plays based in the mystery genre, encompassing classical and contemporary work that stimulates, entertains and engages the audience.

PG. 25