The Plot Thickens

Lucille Fletcher made her mark in the early 1940s with “Sorry, Wrong Number.” She was still going strong 30 years later when another of her thrillers about a neurotic woman hit Broadway, with Len Cariou as the wayward husband and Joan Hackett as the presumed victim in “Night Watch.”

Fletcher’s trademark was the unexpected, the shocking and the unusual twist. “Night Watch” is no exception, detailing the assumed emotional disintegration of heiress Elaine Wheeler when she sees, on the same day, the dead bodies of first a man, and later a woman, in windows in a deserted building opposite her Manhattan townhouse. Of course, no one believes her, including her husband, John, and her best friend, Blanche.

The police investigate, but there are no bodies and no clues. They tell Elaine after each of her frantic calls that she’s causing an unnecessary neighborhood crisis and not to bother them again, exactly the script Elaine wants them to believe. It’s a fine, intricate puzzle in Fletcher’s inimitable style, and it provides 10 actors with idiosyncratic and rich roles to dig their teeth into.

Director Terri Miller Schmidt found the right actors for her revival at Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse. Schmidt creates, with few flaws, a mood of intrigue and deception, dropping clues, and inevitable red herrings, along the way to confound and delight the viewer.

The flaws are minor details that barely detract from Fletcher’s detailed plan. Lynn Reinert is wonderful as a tightly wound and erratic Elaine, just as alienated from reality as Elaine wants to appear; her effective neurotic tics could be more subtle, particularly when Elaine is alone, with no one to see her.

The tics are right, but their forcefulness makes them look too much like one of those red herrings and almost gives away the game. Another flaw is the outrageous flamboyance of John Gillies’ gay neighbor. Again, subtlety would increase the humor and sense of danger that is the reason for his unexpected intrusions.

Robert Murphy’s husband neatly balances John’s double-edged personality with reserve and insightful detail, and Patricia Sarmiento, as the supposed best friend, lets just enough hints out of the bag about her real feelings to surround her character with a bit of mystery.

Heide Janssen is the maid Helga, who scatters red herrings like confetti to fine effect, and Daneen Raye is very believable as a psychiatrist specializing in insomnia who is correctly not altogether believable.

In smaller roles, Matthew R. Fuqua and John Phillip Sousa Jr., as dimly lit policemen, and Anthony Yuro as an irate deli owner provide interesting and realistic detail. Detail also is the highlight of the exceptional Manhattan townhouse setting credited to Gothic Moon Productions, the best seen here in a long time.

BE THERE

“Night Watch,” Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse, 661 Hamilton St., Costa Mesa. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday. $10. Ends March 8. (714) 650-5269. Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes.