Two of Perth’s theatrical giants, whom this writer has chosen to call The Two Davids, are collaborating to bring The Maltese Falcon to the stage at Studio Theatre Perth. David Bird is in the director’s chair and David Jacklin is the playwright of The Maltese Falcon, which opens on April 30. The Two Davids have a long history together. In 1994 both were on stage in Perth Community Choir’s musical Oklahoma, taking on the roles of Will Parker and Jud. Soon after that musical closed, Jacklin’s Barn Door Productions (BDP) came into being, and since then Bird has been involved (as actor, director and more) in nearly half of BDP’s 141 productions. Bird has been a stellar actor on the Studio Theatre Perth stage for decades and is currently serving on its Board. Ever the renaissance man, most recently Bird directed Elf for Perth Community Choir. Look for Bird, directed by Jacklin, reprising his role of Sir Toby Belch in a BDP production of Twelfth Night in Perth’s Crystal Palace this summer. Perth is indeed a cornucopia of community theatre activity!
You may have read the 1930 novel The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett, or seen one of the big screen adaptations, including the classic 1941 version directed by John Huston starring Humphrey Bogart, Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre. It is the opinion of Jacklin that the film version featuring Bogart is the closest interpretation of the novel. The premiere production of Jacklin’s play of the same name took place at Full Circle Theatre in February of 2019. An interesting and fun piece of trivia is that Christine Erdos O’Malley took on the roles of both the Narrator and Casper Gutman in the premiere at Full Circle Theatre, and is now in the cast of this production as Effie Perrin, Sam Spade’s long-suffering secretary.
The character of Sam Spade, as created by Hammett, became the prototype for the American “private eye” for generations. In Studio Theatre’s production this role, made famous by Bogart, is played by Michael Couchman — who will be giving Bogart a run for his money. The role of Casper Gutman is taken on by Joe Nieforth and rivals Sydney Greenstreet’s interpretation. Joe told me that he was so keen to get this role that he came to auditions in full Gutman attire and presented the director with his Gutman business card. Now that’s the way to hustle! Mark Laferriere will be challenging Peter Lorre’s performance as Joel Cairo with gusto. Two of the other characters are taken on by Alan Humphreys. Humphreys shared with me that although the roles are small, he is excited to be playing Captain Jacobi, who appears at Spade’s door, utters four words and drops dead, thus dropping the parcel he is carrying which contains the actual Maltese Falcon statuette. Humphreys says: “none of the good captain’s words are memorable, but I shall endeavour my best death each night.”
Jacklin’s initial challenge was taking a 70,000-word novel and turning it into a 20,000-word stage script. The first draft began to take shape in 2017, as soon as the novel came into the public domain. Since its final version in 2020, Jacklin’s play has been performed on stage twice in New Zealand, twice in Australia, four times in Canada, and close to a dozen times in the US.
Show dates here in Perth are April 30 and May 1, 7 and 8 at 7pm, with 2pm matinees on May 2, 3 and 10, and one special 3pm matinee on Saturday, May 9. Tickets are available at Tickets Please (TicketsPlease.ca, 485–6434), and you can visit studiotheatreperth.com for more details. The Maltese Falcon is sponsored by Riverwood Pizza Co.