Members of Taiwan's amateur drama group, Taipei Alien Dramatic Society, or TADS as it is more commonly referred to, will be making a long-overdue return to the stage this weekend, when the group brings Dashiell Hammett's 1932 The Maltese Falcon to Taipei's popular music venue, Peshawar.
For the upcoming performance, and in true TADS fashion, a cast comprising both veteran troupe members and newcomers to the local amateur dramatics scene will be doing their utmost to entertain with the group's unique brand of minimalist English language theatre.
TADS old-hands' Rowan Hunter (Casper Gutman) and Katy Howson (Miss Wonderly), Paul Jackson (Sam Spade), Dean Karalekas (Joel Cairo) and Sara Tarbox (Wilmer), will be teaming up with newcomers Amelie de Mahy, Rob Kernahan, Diane Aretz, Jerome Keating and Hugh Cartwright.
Set in the San Francisco of the late 1920s, the on-stage action revolves around the murder of private investigator Miles Archer, and the frantic search for the perpetrator and the jewel-encrusted Maltese Falcon.
Along the way, the gumshoe Sam Spade runs foul of the law, has dealings with some rather unscrupulous members of the underworld and, of course, gets involved with a glamorous, yet possibly deadly, femme fatale.
Although the production has been adapted from John Houston's award-winning script for the 1941 flick starring Humphrey Bogart, the audience is still set for a nail-biting conclusion.
Instead of using Houston's well-known closing scene, the drama troupe decided to keep the audience on the edge of its seat by replacing it with Hammett's original ending.
Due to the size of the venue seating is somewhat limited and TADS advise people to arrive early. The show runs about 65 minutes with no intermission.
TADS will take to stage at 7:30pm tomorrow night and again on Sunday evening at Peshawar, which is located at 3, Alley 80, Shihta Rd., Taipei (台北市師大路80巷3號). Admission is NT$250 and includes a drink. Theatergoers who miss this weekend's shows can catch TADS' production of the The Maltese Falcon again on Mar. 29 and 30 at 7:30pm also at Peshawar.
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