The quirky but down-to-earth residents of a small town are faced with the discovery of Harry Worp inconveniently appearing on the hillside above the town. Each person has a different idea of what needs to be done with Harry and whom is responsible. The trouble with Harry is that he’s dead.
Alfred Hitchcock is the acknowledged Master of Suspense. He could simply say “Good Evening” and send a suspenseful thrill through the listener. “Indeed, the willful perversity of Hitchcock’s films is what makes them so effective. Even the most ordinary details become the source of nameless dread: a shower, a staircase, a window, a flock of birds, an innocuous door that just can’t seem to stay closed. And it’s always ordinary, everyday people who become entrapped and entangled in this web of Hitchcockian intrigue,” wrote Judge Gary Militzer.
BEAT (quality youth theatre) has taken on the challenge of presenting Alfred Hitchcock’s The Trouble with Harry on stage. Leila Smith-Daines is directing the cast and is delighted to see the actors’ reactions to 1954, specifically to no cell phones and test patterns shown on TV, but also to the witty banter. Even the six year old character, Arnie Rogers (LioDitta), is caught up in the uniqueness of being able to run free in the woods unaccompanied, living the dream.
The film, The Trouble with Harry was experimental, an odd black comedy which perfectly combined many of the elements of obsession, suspense, witty observation and human psychology that Hitchcock doted. The play’s small cast is crucial to the success of The Trouble with Harry.
It is built upon peculiar non-responses to the death. It is as if the audience is taken into a slightly eerie dream formula. Hitchcock wryly called this film an “expensive self-indulgence” but he continued with, “the humor is quite rich.”
Peter Bradshaw wrote, “Bernard Herrmann composed the music for The Trouble with Harry; it was his first score for Hitchcock. This rhythmic musical soundtrack and the rollicking tongue-in-cheek attitude taken by Hitchcock . . . are two of the chief reasons that it works so well.” Smith-Daines loves the depth Herrmann’s scores bring to the scenes.
The character Sam Monroe (Riley Kenna), is a misjudged artist whose paintings are sold by the local shopkeeper. She hangs one the wrong way up. With a tolerant snicker, Sam turns it around – but isn’t the least bit annoyed. When the film was released, no one knew which way up to hang The Trouble with Harry. It’s time to take another look! Alfred Hitchcock’s brilliant and comedic whodunit is fun for the entire family.
Alfred Hitchcock’s The Trouble with Harry, screenplay by John M. Hayes, based on the novel by Jack Trevor Story, stage adaptation by Daniel Estes.
2nd Street Theater Performances
September 26, 27, October 3, 4 at 7pm, September 27, 28, October 4, 5 at 2pm
beattickets.org, 541-419-5558
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