photo by: Theatre Lawrence

From left, Havok Kizer, as Lesgate, and Brenden Oliver, as Tony, rehearse a scene from "Dial M for Murder" at Theatre Lawrence.

Alfred Hitchcock, the Master of Suspense, had cuts, close-ups and all the other tools of cinema to build the tension in his “Dial M for Murder.” But how do you translate that kind of tension to the stage at Theatre Lawrence?

For director Sean Kenealy, the answer is this: Just make the audience “keep leaning in closer and closer and closer.”

“This isn’t a whodunit,” Kenealy says of the classic thriller about a jealous husband, Tony, who wants his cheating wife dead. “The audience is actively engaged, they know who the murderer is, they know what the plan is. We’re really trying to have the audience lean in and really be part of the unraveling of Tony’s plan.”

“Dial M” has had many different retellings throughout the years, including the original 1952 stage play and Hitchcock’s 1954 film. This version is a recent adaptation, where the dialogue has been streamlined for a more modern audience and a few other changes have been made.

But it’s still set in 1950s London – in a show where one of the most important scenes involves a landline phone call, “cellphones ruin everything,” Kenealy said. And it’s still a story about trying and failing to pull off “the perfect murder.”

photo by: Theatre Lawrence

Sierra Wilson rehearses a scene from “Dial M for Murder” at Theatre Lawrence.

“I think that’s part of the reason this show feels so timeless,” Kenealy said. “It’s had many different lives. It’s been a film. It’s been different TV shows. It’s been different stage adaptations. And I think the idea of the perfect murder unraveling just makes people lean in no matter what.”

At the center of the drama is the man planning that murder, Tony, played by Brenden Oliver. And Kenealy wants the audience to be both “horrified” and “hypnotized” by him.

“Tony has a lot of different personalities,” Kenealy said. “I think in this play, he often is acting the part of the perfect husband, but the audience knows.” There’s a scene near the beginning where he’s talking to an acquaintance about discovering his wife’s infidelity and then his ideas of killing her, and Kenealy said they approached the scene as if Tony were in therapy and we were a “fly on the wall” to his psychological struggles.

“He’s an actor, acting a part, and the character is acting a part, so there’s a lot of different layers there for sure,” Kenealy said.

All the more impressive given that this will be Oliver’s first performance on stage.

“I’m almost tearing up just thinking about it, watching him lean into how sinister this character is and also how funny they are,” Kenealy said.

In fact, this is the first main-stage show at Theatre Lawrence for four of the five cast members. Some of them have previous acting experience, but the only one who’s performed with Theatre Lawrence before is Tom Emerson Jr., who plays the detective trying to piece together what happened. Sierra Wilson, Natania Manning and Havok Kiser are all making their Theatre Lawrence debuts, Kenealy said.

“I’m so proud of all these actors,” he said. “They’ve been a dream to work with.”

photo by: Theatre Lawrence

From left, Sierra Wilson as Margot, Natania Manning as Maxine and Brenden Oliver as Tony rehearse a scene from “Dial M for Murder” at Theatre Lawrence.

To ramp up the tension in the play, Kenealy said, he worked with the set designers and crew to fine-tune the sound, the lighting, the foreshadowing that a character is coming back on stage. He wanted “to feel the shark approaching the boat” – letting the atmosphere gradually get as intense as possible and then finally releasing it.

“I think everyone has an idea that Tony is a mastermind and is doing something inherently evil here, but no one can quite put their finger on it until the last minute of the show,” he said. “It all adds up to that big release, and that’s when the shark comes on.”

Even if you already know the twists, this version of “Dial M” still has some tweaks that might surprise you.

Kenealy said the biggest change is the character of the wife’s lover, a mystery writer. In the classic versions, this character is male, but this version makes the lover female instead and gives her a bit more to do in the story.

What Kenealy particularly likes about this twist is how it makes the villain look.

“I think there’s a lot of resentment … the fact that his wife is now cheating on him with a woman,” Kenealy said. “There’s a lot more layers behind his jealousy and rage, and honestly just making him more of a disgusting character.”

The dramatic murder scene (not really a spoiler!) will look different, too. It’s not just one scene – there’s a whole other scene that isn’t present in the Hitchcock film that runs parallel to it and reflects it to build the tension.

Though it’s the only intense action scene in the story, Kenealy and the cast brought in a fight coordinator to get it exactly right. “Don’t worry, we’re not going to throw blood on the audience,” Kenealy said, but he thinks the “physicality” that goes into that scene will be fun to watch.

And even if mystery isn’t your thing, Kenealy said, there’s still a lot to like about “Dial M.”

“I would go on a limb and I would call this story a love story. I would call it a thriller. I would call it a mystery. I would call it suspense,” Kenealy said. “I feel like you could give so many different genres to this, but I think at the end of the day it really is just a story that speaks to generation after generation.”

“Dial M for Murder” opens Friday, April 17, and runs through April 26 at Theatre Lawrence, 4660 Bauer Farm Drive. For show times and ticket information, visit theatrelawrence.com.

photo by: Sylas May/Journal-World

Director Sean Kenealy is pictured Thursday, April 16, 2026, at Theatre Lawrence.