Redial: Pioneer Theatre Company revives classic murder mystery

Most folks are familiar with a whodunit — a murder mystery where the identity of the criminal isn't revealed until the end.

But sometimes a how-catch 'em — like an episode of the television show "Columbo" — can make for a more mysterious tale.

A how-catch 'em is written upside down, so to speak, showing the crime early and devoting the rest of the production to how the detective solves the mystery.

"It becomes a question of, 'Will they get away with it?'" said Gavin Cameron-Webb, who is in town with Pioneer Theatre Company to direct the classic how-catch 'em "Dial 'M' for Murder." A stage play first, and later adapted into the 1954 Hitchcock classic of the same name, "Dial 'M' for Murder" opens Friday and runs through April 4.

"The suspense is terrific right up until the final curtain," said Cameron-Webb, who has directed and produced the play numerous times. "It's about laying in the clues for the audience, and watching to see which they pick up."

Having no way to know that until an audience is in the house, "in many cases, the rehearsals around the preview performances are the most productive," Cameron-Webb said, noting that many tweaks and adjustments can happen in those last few rehearsals. "The audience is amazing."

Almost identical to the Hitchcock classic, "Dial 'M'," written by Frederick Knott, who also wrote the screenplay, has one setting — the living room of the Wendices' flat in London, 1952.

A former tennis player accustomed to a lavish lifestyle, Tony Wendice, (played by Fletcher McTaggart) marries wealthy Margot (Amy Tribbey). After finding out about an affair his wife had years ago, and with their wills in order, Wendice begins plotting the perfect murder. But his wife turns out not to be such a willing victim.

"It was written in 1952; I'm not sure how many people still know the plot," Cameron-Webb said. "But it's perhaps the best-structured mystery that's ever been written for the stage. It's notoriously difficult to write a good mystery. But it's a genre that captures the audience's imagination."

Cameron-Webb, originally from England but now living in Denver, thinks that being born British makes a difference when directing the piece,

"It's helpful that I'm from there, but there are differences from '52 to now, of course," he said. "We're trying to anchor the play in 1952 — it was structured for that. If you change the date, you run into all sorts of logistical problems."