Prescription: Murder

Postcard Review by Caroline Russell-King

Show – Prescription Murder

Playwright/s William Link, Richard L. Levinson

Production Company/Theatre space – (community) Workshop Theatre, Joyce Doolittle Theatre, Pumphouse Theatres.

Length – 2 Acts (2 hours, 10 minutes, one intermission.)

Genre– Tragi-drama

Premise – A doctor’s elaborate plan to murder his wife, involving his mistress is successful but he didn’t count on the dogged persistence of homicide detective Columbo.

Why this play? Why now? – While not a mystery per se (we know who did what from the onset), plays like this are often programed with murder mysteries. This is Columbo’s first case and has name recognition. Peter Falk played him in the popular TV series which aired in 1968.

Curiosities – Why two directors and not one director and an assistant? Were they both there discussing what to do in rehearsal or did they direct on alternate nights? Did they divide up the scenes so that one directed one part and one directed the other?

Notable Moment – “One last thing”

Notable writing – This was the first script introducing the now famous detective. The tendency is to think that Columbo is the protagonist, but in this play the doctor is which makes it a tragedy. Because we now know that Columbo always gets his man, there isn’t the tension that the very first productions would have had.

Notable performances – The murderous scheming Dr. Flemming, played by Mark Huolt, is suitably controlling and smarmy. At one point Flemming says to Columbo, “You’re likable,” and Ray Dhaliwal, as Columbo, is. Dhaliwal channels the charm of Falk, who made the detective famous for burying his intelligence under self-deprecation. Dhaliwal at one point chooses anger (or was directed to play anger) departing from the iconic detective, but the rest of his performance is thoroughly enjoyable.

Notable design/Production – Jacquie Goth Brennan’s costumes are lovely. Workshop often has the best period costumes of the community theatres. Who designed the set? Evan Davies sound design tries to rescue the suspense with suitable music during the “brown shuffles”.

Notable direction – Two relatively new to the directors’ chair are Hamish Crawford and Aron Brouwer. Here things go awry. There are little things like characters walking away when they should be getting closer and status not being played, but the big issue is the cumbersome set design with its grueling set changes. Even though three choreographed crew scurry around, this still manages to grind the whole show to a halt losing the dramatic tension.

One reason to see this show – Dhaliwal.