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written by Jane Moffat & Cheryl McNamara, directed by Sue Miner

Femme Fatale Productions, Tim Sims Playhouse, Toronto

May 15-31, 2003

Yowza, The Dick's a Dame is a riot.  There's more imagination, energy and wit packed into the show's 50 minutes than in many plays twice as long.  A big hit at the 2001 Toronto Fringe Festival, it returns for an all-too-short commercial run.  The show is a hilarious spoof of film noir with a twist.  Our title gumshoe is Addie Clark (the very funny Jane Moffat) on the tail of murder and multiple cover-ups involving Commies, Nazis and a gambling ring in 1940s Toronto.  No matter that our dick's a dame, when she locks eyes with femme fatale Beverly Boswell (the sultry Cheryl McNamara) her heart skips a beat, especially when it seems Beverly's might skip along.

So many spoofs today make a few token gestures towards the genre they're aping, then look for laughs in deliberate anachronisms.  Not this show.  Authors Moffat and McNamara are so inside the noir genre, the show is as much an homage as a send-up.  Virtually every noir plot has been rolled into one with so many twists that sip a beer too long and you'll miss something.  The authors revel in the period lingo, the hard-boiled attitude, the machine-gun delivery.  Transforming the tiny bare stage, Nina Okens gives the show the right look, Kimberly Purtell the right light, Sue Miner the right style.  Miner has minutely choreographed the action so the miming and switches of location and character are crystal clear.  Laughter comes from how well the show nails every noir cliché going.  The fast pace never lets up.  Moffat often seems she's trying for the record in speed-talking.

You'd hardly guess only three men play the 13 male roles.  Mark Brownell is memorably slimy as Beverly's guardian, Dave Fraser has the typical noir police detective down pat and Stephen Reich is suitably suspicious as Beverly's weirdo brother.

©Christopher Hoile

Note: A version of this review appeared in Eye Weekly 2003-11-27.

Photo: Jane Moffat as Addie. ©2003 Pamila Matharu.