A.C.T.’s North by Northwest (playing at Toni Rembe Theater, San Francisco) feels like a production whose theatrical ingenuity outpaces its storytelling: an accomplished cast, inventive stagecraft, and considerable comic energy, but an uneven relationship with Hitchcock’s suspense. Whether that sounds entertaining or frustrating depends on how much you enjoy seeing a familiar thriller turned into playful physical theater.
Plot and ending spoilers follow. Emma Rice adapted and directed the production, which runs at the Toni Rembe Theater through October 18, 2026, and runs about two and a half hours, including intermission. A.C.T. production information
The plot
Roger Thornhill, a New York advertising executive, is mistaken for George Kaplan, a supposed government operative. Foreign agents abduct him, interrogate him, and attempt to kill him by staging a drunken-driving accident. He survives, but neither the authorities nor his mother believes his explanation.
His effort to investigate leads to the United Nations, where a diplomat is murdered, and Thornhill appears to be responsible. Fleeing toward Chicago, he meets the alluring Eve Kendall on a train. She helps him evade the police, but subsequently sends him to a remote rendezvous where a crop-duster attacks him.
The central revelation is that Kaplan doesn't exist: American intelligence invented him to conceal its real agent, Eve. The villain, Phillip Vandamm, eventually discovers her deception. Thornhill attempts to rescue her, leading to the escape across Mount Rushmore. Beneath the elaborate espionage machinery lies a simple emotional story: a man deprived of his identity must decide whom he can trust. A.C.T. educator guide
Rice retains the famous situations but changes their dramatic temperature. Dance, lip-syncing, narration, and visible theatrical tricks repeatedly invite the audience to enjoy the performance. That can be delightful; it can also distract from what happens next.
The actors and their performances
The official cast involves extensive doubling. Opening-night reviews principally discuss the following performers: Sam Archer replaced Simon Oskarsson as Valerian and others for October 10–18. Official program
Danny Collins — Roger Thornhill. Collins receives some of the strongest notices. BroadwayWorld praises his physical comedy, while Stage and Cinema finds him a convincing, charming successor to Cary Grant. His challenge is substantial: Thornhill must be funny while remaining someone whose peril matters. Collins’s movement skills suit Rice’s conception, although this more demonstrative version of the character inevitably changes the appeal of Grant’s restrained screen performance. BroadwayWorld review, Stage and Cinema review
Patrycja Kujawska — Eve Kendall and others. Stage and Cinema praises her poise, mystery, and coolness. Those qualities are crucial: Eve’s attractiveness must coexist with uncertainty about her loyalties. The romantic partnership is more disputed. KQED finds insufficient chemistry between Kujawska and Collins, suggesting that the production’s constant activity can overwhelm the quieter exchanges on which the romance depends. Stage and Cinema, KQED review
Katy Owen — the Professor and others, including the narrating figure. Owen appears to be the production’s most distinctive comic presence. BroadwayWorld celebrates her flexible physical performance; even KQED’s strongly negative review acknowledges her vitality. The disagreement centers on the material: a gifted narrator can enliven an evening, but constant explanation can weaken the audience’s pleasure in discovering the story on their own. BroadwayWorld, KQED
Karl Queensborough — Phillip Vandamm and others, including Roger’s mother, Clara Thornhill. Stage and Cinema singles him out as the strongest supporting performer. Moving between the principal villain and the protagonist’s skeptical mother gives him unusually broad comic territory. My reading is that the doubling also embodies the show’s central tension: an actor’s transformation can be wonderfully entertaining while making the surrounding danger feel less substantial. Stage and Cinema
Simon Oskarsson — Valerian and others, through October 9. Stage and Cinema describes him as an effective threatening presence. His contribution supplies some of the menace needed to balance the comedy. He is also credited as associate choreographer. Sam Archer, now performing these roles, should be assessed separately; the opening-night reviews don't indicate how his performance compares. Stage and Cinema, Official program
Bryony Pennington — Anna and others. KQED identifies Pennington as a standout even while rejecting the production overall. That is a meaningful distinction: the ensemble’s execution can succeed independently of the adaptation’s choices. Her multiple roles contribute to the rapid changes of character and situation that underpin the staging. KQED
Evangeline Dickson — Mrs. Townsend and understudy. Dickson is part of the officially credited company, but the San Francisco reviews I found offer little individual assessment. It would be unfair to invent one. Her supporting role serves the machinery of deception surrounding Thornhill’s abduction; her understudy duties also help sustain a demanding ensemble production. Official program
What works
The most persuasive positive case is the ensemble’s physical precision. Jean Schiffman’s review describes remarkably agile performers whose stylized movement becomes an attraction in itself. Their ability to turn ordinary transitions into choreography helps explain why audiences stay engaged even when the plot gets confusing. Bay City News review, republished by Piedmont Exedra
Rob Howell’s scenic and costume design, Malcolm Rippeth’s lighting, and Etta Murfitt’s choreography give the adaptation a coherent visual vocabulary. Revolving doors, clothing, and portable objects let the action shift locations without trying to literally reproduce cinema. BroadwayWorld’s enthusiastic assessment treats that inventiveness as a major achievement. BroadwayWorld
The crop-duster sequence is particularly promising. Richard Wolinsky’s KPFA review praises it while finding the later Mount Rushmore conclusion less successful. A miniature airplane and a performer’s reactions can make an impossible cinematic scene into a satisfying theatrical event. KPFA review transcript, syndicated on Amazon Music
What does not work as well?
The recurring concern is interrupted momentum. Suspense needs sustained attention: danger grows because an audience cannot escape the character’s predicament. Frequent musical diversions and comic commentary create opportunities to step outside it. Wolinsky finds the songs and choreography less effective as the second act proceeds; Schiffman also considers the production overlong. KPFA, Bay City News
The theater’s scale may compound the problem. The Chronicle argues that intimate prop effects—including a suitcase containing a miniature Mount Rushmore—lose impact in the large Toni Rembe auditorium. Its critic also objects to an added ending in which Eve becomes New York’s first woman senator. San Francisco Chronicle review
My concern with that coda is structural. A political future for Eve could be an interesting reinterpretation, but an ending needs preparation. Appending a declaration of empowerment after an evening of comic pursuit risks making a character serve a message rather than completing her dramatic journey.
The oddities
The lip-synced numbers strike an unusual balance between play and musical: recorded singers provide the voices while the actors provide the bodies. Schiffman finds the juxtaposition funny and sometimes affecting. KQED questions the soundtrack’s chronology, noting that some selections come from the 1960s and 1970s despite the 1959 setting. That is not automatically a flaw, but it makes the period atmosphere selective rather than historically consistent. Bay City News, KQED
Another peculiarity is the coexistence of elaborate explanation and reported confusion. A narrator can clarify names and locations without resolving the deeper problem of tone: are we meant to fear these villains, laugh at them, or admire the performers playing them?
My overall opinion
I would call this an impressive ensemble showcase inside a less convincing adaptation. The actors seem to deserve considerable credit, and Rice’s willingness to invent stage solutions is valuable. Fidelity to Hitchcock shouldn't be the sole criterion; theater has every right to take a different approach.
The more useful question is whether the new approach sustains its own emotional logic. Here, repeated concerns about pacing, romance, clarity, and the ending suggest the production delivers memorable moments more reliably than a satisfying whole.
I would recommend it most readily to someone who enjoys physical comedy, theatrical artifice, and Emma Rice’s exuberance. For someone seeking Hitchcock’s elegance, romantic tension, and accumulating dread, I would be more cautious. The attraction is watching a talented company reinvent the chase; the reservation is whether the chase still matters once the reinvention takes center stage.
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