Noir In Blue

THEATrePUBLIC—John Hirsch Theatre at the MTC Mainstage

A classic mistake in theatre is thinking that you can make a great production by getting just the right props and set. Noir in Blue proves just how wrong that idea is. Laura Olafson, Cory Schmidt, and Kenneth Brown create a gritty film noir experience with nothing more that a few hats and trench coats (and a great script). You see, audiences have this great thing called an imagination, although it is a bit stunted from lack of use in some of us.

To paraphrase Peter Brook, if an actor carries a loaf of bread as if it were a baby, the audience sees a baby, and vice versa. Of course, to pull that off, you need to have real actors who are willing to work very hard to fine-tune their performances, and this case was all of that in spades, if you will forgive a film noir metaphor.

Kevin Longfield