Decades before “Columbo” put the formula on prime time, playwright Frederick Knott’s “Dial M for Murder” put an ingenious new spin on the murder-mystery genre: The murderer in “Dial M” is revealed early. The suspense lies not in figuring out whodunnit, but in watching an extraordinarily proficient, often underestimated sleuth uncover the villain amid a stage filled with intriguing suspects and tangled motives. Running through Dec. 31 at Skokie’s Northlight Theatre, Jeffrey Hatcher’s 2021 adaptation of Knott’s 1952 “Dial M for Murder” isn’t entirely hair-raising. But it’s a satisfying thriller that breathes new life into a potentially musty script.
Director Georgette Verdin has her work cut out for her: “Dial M” unfolds entirely in a single room. It relies on frequent, lengthy swaths of exposition to do most of the plot’s heavy lifting. A wordy play in a largely static environment, “Dial M” requires that the audience lean in, not sit back.
