At first I was afraid, I was petrified.

Kept thinking I could never love an adapted stage version of one of my favourite films, by one of my favourite film makers, starring one of my favourite Hollywood leading men.

And after spending 125 minutes (plus 20 minute interval) watching how Wise Children productions took this project on, I grew strong and I learned how to get along (I just went with the original lyrics for the last line because..tired).

It would be strange, would it not, if, in a city of seven million people, one man were never mistaken for another…

But that is exactly what happens to Roger Thornhill, reluctant hero of North by Northwest, when a mistimed phone call to his mother lands him smack bang in the middle of a Cold War conspiracy.

Now he’s on the run, dodging spies, airplanes and a femme fatale who might not be all she seems.

Yep, so far, so the 1959 original film and premise. And indeed Emma Rice’s adaptation is fully faithful to this.

But flamin’ ‘eck. It was one of the best screen to theatre adaptations I’ve ever seen. You should and can never compare different art forms, with a like-for-like approach. But my spine still experiences a shiver down it when anticipating any production or, indeed, art form, that comes with a promise of being a new take.

This new take was glorious. Mostly because it was faithful in all the right ways and funny and fresh in all the others. I mean I should have known, given previous Emma Rice/Wise Children productions seen: Wuthering Heights

Cary Grant.

And remember I love him.

Cary Grant carries an air of the camp, the extra, and the tongue in cheek in much of his acting, and his role in North By Northwest is no exception.

And so it wasn’t a hard sell to see this extend to this manifestation of the story, in script, in execution and in all characters. And then some.

Presided over, narrated by and responsible for much of the laugh-out-loud moments from the audience (over which there were many), is Katy Owen (the Professor), whose stage presence is beyond.

Along with Mirabelle Gremaud (Anna), Patrycja Kujawska (Eve), Simon Oskarsson (Valerian), Karl Queensborough (Phillip Vandamm) and our dashing hero and dare I say worthy contender to Cary in terms of facial expressions and flamboyance, Madison Avenue Advertising Executive, Ewan Wardrop (Roger Thornhill), this was a hard-working cast who, for the main part, took on multiple roles throughout. All top drawer.

And so much to enjoy and talk about in this production, I’m going to take the coward’s way out and provide you with a list of five of my favourite things (in no particular order)…

• The set. Revolving units adorned with beautiful looking bottles of decadent, erm, booze, doubled as bar shelves, doors, prison cells, court docks…you name it. And the grace with which they were manipulated by the cast, gliding across the stage as required was a joy.
• The suitcases. The suitcases were the ultimate prop, working hard as location setters, telephone boxes, shower heads (stay with me), character identifiers and even Mount Rushmore at one point.As a collective, they formed the seventh cast member.
• The music, the glorious music. Toe-tapping, percussion-heavy jazz, permeated through the show, throwing us straight into a world of hotel lobbies, martini glasses, espionage, New York and Chicago.
• The lip syncing. That cast lip synced for its life in over the top, glorious moments that provided the most perfect, most over-the-top bridging moments between scenes (and sometimes jam-packed straight into the middle of dialogue) that I didn’t know I needed. But I did.
• And the choreography. The synchronicity between cast members, as they moved, shuffled, shimmied and at times full on danced across that stage was some.thing.else.

But really, to describe it all in a way that brings it fully to life is something that I’m not going to attempt to do, for fear that injustice is done.

The phrase ‘to see it is to believe it’, is wholly appropriate, as is the best of art.

If you like North By Northwest – go and see it.

If you’ve never seen or even heard of North By Northwest – go and see it.

If you want to be charmed, amused, astonished, entertained and enveloped into a world of film noir, mistaken identity, bluffs, double bluffs, style, espionage and cornfields – go and see it.

North By Northwest, is at HOME Mcr until Saturday 10 May. For more details, tickets and times visit HOMEMCR – NORTHBYNORTHWEST

Production image credits: Steve Tanner.