Terence Davies' voice itself is a revelation, as mellifluous as an old-school Shakespearean, sharp as a whip, with fruity top notes of camp, a little like a more contemplative Uncle Monty or a highbrow Kenneth Williams (whose sly, queeny dialogue from Round the Horne is one of many madeleines which launch Davies back into the past).
The play's construction is sturdy and occasionally sly, but the dialogue lacks wit or drive.
Ms. Sullivan pairs several numbers ("Oh, but I Do" and "Confession"; "Two-Faced Woman" and "On the Other Hand") for sly music comedy dialogues.
Dickie's riffs are Bob Dylan possessed by Ayn Rand, laced with quoted song lyrics and classic film dialogue -- sly little Easter eggs for the reader to uncover.
The dialogue possesses a sly wit, perhaps not enough to equal Austen, but clever enough to do her proud.
(Sample dialogue: "Ventris is sly and cruel. It's only time and chance before you feel his blade!") They talk all fancy on Game of Thrones, too, but those writers are better at balancing the drama with a mordant, rapier wit to balance out all the guts and gore.
Roy's characterisation – "an Englishman by birth, swimming in compromise, awkwardness and embarrassment" – is convincingly done and the dialogue wittily gives him a sly habit of underlining his reliability to potential victims by falsely proclaiming his moral scruples.
Prebble's dialogue is cutting and saturated in sly humor, delivered acutely by Susannah Flood and Carter Hudson as their flirtation sparks.
It seems impossible that the sly boots behind "Thank You for Smoking" could write dialogue like "Helen Keller could connect those dots" or "They're more nervous about China than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs".
King works the double motifs deftly and guides the narrative to a satisfyingly cathartic climax — after which he supplies a nifty denouement in the form of a dialogue between poor shattered Darcy and a sly old retired cop.
