YELLOWKNIFE - Every film noir needs a few key elements to work: moody lighting, tough guys, classy dames, some fisticuffs and a mystery solved somewhere at the bottom of a bottle.

Mickey Sibbeston, P.I. brought all of these elements to bear last week at the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre, but it added an extra touch: radio.

The piece was billed as a "radio play within a play" and lived up to the moniker. CJCD's Tim Durkin hosted the affair from the safety of the control booth, while our players took the stage at their microphones and Crash the sound tech (Sean O'Connell) provided the auditory ambience with beer glasses, shoes and miniature doors.

The play quickly shifts into the "real world" as it follows Sibbeston around the seedy land of mystery and intrigue that was mid-1950s Fort Simpson.

Written by Yellowknifer Ron Kent, the piece is split into three separate episodes, featuring a memorable cast of (mostly) reprised regulars taking on three separate mysteries.

The first follows a mystery tied to the beheadings of the McLeod brothers on the Nahanni, while the other two take looks at slightly less high-profile parts of Northern history, tackling sled-dog stealing and a dire typhoid outbreak.

While the play's length sees its energy sag towards the end, the production was buoyed by strong performances from Paul McKee as Sibbeston, and Ian Johnston as eager "Simpson Sentinel" reporter Rodger Hardisty, and a strong supporting cast.

Many of the characters become familiar friends by the end of the play, as their quirks show up again and again in the three episodes. Nadine (Sibbeston's assistant, played by Patty Hogg) makes bad coffee known the North over, feisty elder Elsie Norwegian (Rosanna Strong) is always ready with an off-colour remark, and Sibbeston even has a catch phrase: "I've got fish to fry."

Perhaps we'll see more of them in the future.

Mickey Sibbeston, P.I., continues its second run at 8 p.m. tonight and tomorrow at the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre.