Review: Catch Me If You Can, Theatre Royal Bath – ‘A solid production’

Catch Me If You Can (not the one about the fake airline pilot) was a Broadway success in the mid-1960s, adapted by Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert from a much loved French thriller of the period.

It has all the trappings of a proper old-fashioned stage thriller. A wooden lodge in the Catskills, lots of doors, a landline phone, an exasperated detective, a thunderstorm and a protagonist being driven to distraction. But it’s billed as a comedy thriller – and it wasn’t always clear where the laughs should have been, although there were plenty.

Daniel Corban has reported his wife missing, only two weeks into their marriage. Inspector Levine is trying to solve two cases at once – the missing Mrs Corban, and a stolen bracelet somewhere downtown. He’s whip smart, world-weary and prepared to do anything to catch criminals.

Patrick Duffy as Daniel Corban – photo: Jack Merriman

When a woman purporting to be Corban’s wife turns up – clearly familiar with the place but possibly not who she says she is, we’re invited to question everyone’s state of mind, and what their motive might be for maintaining their story.

We’re then treated to a tortuous trip with a genuine twist and a play which does pretty much what it says on the tin. There are even car headlights pulling up outside and a phone which sounds as though it’s ringing next door. So far, so satisfying.

Sadly, the performances are a motley collection of quirks and mannerisms, as though the cast had workshopped a series of character clichés, and been allowed to keep all of them in. Patrick Duffy whispers his way through his increasing paranoia – thanks to a ramped up radio mic. He moves monotonally from anxiety to defeat, via an hour and a half of despair.

Gray O’Brien as Inspector Levine and Patrick Duffy as Daniel Corban – photo: Jack Merriman

Linda Purl, as the ‘is she, isn’t she’ wife, displays a bizarre range of bodily movements and stage positioning. I have literally never seen a performer more obsessed with their own legs – it was human dressage.

We then get comic turns from a local shopkeeper, a brash advertising exec and a vicar whose improbable, over the top demeanour is eventually justified.

Only Gray O’Brien, as the coffee-swilling wannabe bachelor maverick cop, plays consistently in the style of the genre – making sure he only got laughs when he wanted them.

This is a solid production directed by Bob Thompson, with a substantial set by Julie Godfrey. By solid, I mean interchangeable with any number of ‘weekend’ thrillers. But leaving the theatre, I heard a few too many people trying to explain the plot to each other. It’s all very well to make your audience wonder, but it isn’t good to leave them baffled.

Catch Me If You Can is at Theatre Royal Bath on May 16-21 at 7.30pm, with 2.30pm matinee shows on Wednesday and Saturday. Tickets are available at www.theatreroyal.org.uk.

Main photo: Jack Merriman

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