If you’ve grown up reading murder mysteries, you’ve probably mulled over the perfect crime. So has Tony Wendice, once a tennis star, who feels the need to bump off his wife for the eternal motive: money. Dial M for Murder, staged by Theatrecian in association with t2, kept the audience on tenterhooks at GD Birla Sabhagar recently.

Dial M for Murder is a play by Frederick Knott that Hitchcock made famous with his star-cast movie. “Our play appreciates but does not replicate the Hitchcock film. It also examines the dynamics of a married couple. These psychological aspects are interesting to explore, ” said play director Tathagata Chowdhury.

Tony Wendice has been hatching a diabolical plot for a year and he has all his pieces in place. Ironically enough, the man his wife Margot has a dalliance with is American crime-fiction writer Mark Halliday, who can plot a perfect murder himself but knows that life nearly always has a trick up its sleeve. How Tony’s perfect murder goes awry is what keeps the audience glued to their seats in this one.

The evening was the result of the endeavours of Theatrecian and the Rotary Club of Calcutta South City Towers. “Dial M for Murder is a well-known play and we thought it would be an excellent opportunity to raise funds for our social causes,” said T. Srinithi, chairman of the Calcutta South City Towers.

There’s no such thing as a perfect murder after all, a lesson t2 learnt that night.

Ramona Sen
Pictures: Chanchal Ghosh