UNLV’s play “Dead Men Don’t Carry Handbags” minor but choice

No one will mistake “Dead Men Don’t Carry Handbags,” a bare-bones production by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas College of Fine Arts, for great theater, but it’s a lovely, low-key bit of whimsy. Allison Williams calls her script a radio drama, but in the hands of Master of Fine Arts candidate director Todd Espeland, it’s visually intriguing and surprisingly well-acted.

Williams puts us in Dashiell Hammett/Raymond Chandler territory with a twist. Steve Powell (Kenn McLeod) is an actor playing a seemingly hard-boiled detective on the trail of an apparently cold-blooded killer. But Powell has a peculiar habit of sometimes narrating his own adventures, even when he’s off mic. He’s a man/boy neurotic who has to work hard to live up to his no-nonsense image.

There’s the usual assortment of femme fatales and curvy suspects. The plot and characters keep deepening as events unravel. And Williams has provided the mandatory quota of clever repartee. (“The blonde had plenty of this and that and those, and she wasn’t shy about sharing the wealth.”)

Lighting designer Kurt Jung gives the radio station an unusually strong film noir look, with the characters often bathed in shadow. It goes a long way in allowing us to get involved in the action, despite the three huge 1940s microphones that dominate the downstage area.

And the acting is far more accomplished than you’d expect in such a simply conceived enterprise. McLeod has the Sam Spade attitude down pat, but he’s also able to show us the frightened kid beneath the facade. Melody Wilson projects an appropriately stuffy society-lady aura but also seems genuinely vulnerable when her role in the deadly doings is revealed.

There’s a major problem in both the script and direction in that the clever gimmick of having the lives of the actor and detective intertwine doesn’t pay off. We rarely understand which life is being led when; the dramatic events contradict the premise. And the show runs only 45 minutes. No live show should run only 45 minutes.

But these minutes are choice. Espeland’s a major directing talent. He brings style, unforced humor and a strong vision to a minor but effortlessly pleasing production.

Anthony Del Valle can be reached at vegastheaterchat @aol.com. You can write him c/o Las Vegas Review-Journal, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125.