PENDLETON — Richard Cowan didn’t want watered-down Grace Kelly or second hand Gwyneth Paltrow. So Cowan, who is directing a Clemson Little Theatre production of “Dial ‘M’ for Murder,” asked his cast to refrain from watching film adaptations of the play.

“That way their performance is not a hand-me-down,” Cowan said. “New actors have a tendency to imitate what they see on-screen.”

Kelly starred as Margot in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 big-screen version of “Dial ‘M’ for Murder.” Forty-four years later, Paltrow filled those stockings in another celluloid update, “A Perfect Murder.” (The character’s name was changed to Emily.)

In the CLT reprisal, Mary Katherine Sosebee handles the role. Margot has the misfortunate of being hitched to Tom Wendice, a former professional tennis player who married her for her family’s money. To please Margot, Tom, played by Matt Jordan, has given up tennis to sell sporting goods. Going from center court to hawking jockstraps sounds like a drag — but within the context of the play, it’s not the career crash it would be today.

“Dial ‘M’ for Murder” is set in the early-50s, before tennis stars commanded sizable tournament winnings, let alone million dollar shoe contracts. It’s also set in London. Cowan decided to keep playwright Frederick Knott’s details intact.

“The benefit is we didn’t have to try to clean up references so they would make sense in this day in age,” Cowan said. “The challenge was in costuming.”

There was one major deviation from the original: the CLT production re-splices the play into two acts instead of the scripted three. The change was made because “audiences today don’t like two intermissions,” Cowan said.

Luckily, the spectacle of Tony’s spiral is not lost in translation. Tony decides to kill Margot for a big insurance payoff, and he devises a meticulous plot to do so. Over a year’s time, he gradually pilfers 1,000 pounds (we’re in England, remember?) of his wife’s money. After constructing an airtight alibi for himself, Tony blackmails an old schoolmate turned small-time crook, C.A. Swann (Ted Gosnell) — who now calls himself Captain Lesgate — into offing Margot.

As a director, Cowan finds Tony to be a fascinating heel.

“He can’t just walk onstage and be instantly evil. He has to have a charm about him or Margot would have never married him,” Cowan said.

Adding to the bramble: Margot’s extramarital dalliance with Mark Halliday (Caleb Durham). A wannabe playwright and novelist, Halliday pays the bills writing for crime shows on American TV, a fledging media at the time. However, Margot broke off the tryst after Mark went to the States for a year.

Tony is aware of the affair. After stealing some love letters Mark sent Margot, Tony even makes a few extra pounds bribing his wife — anonymously, of course. Upon discovering Halliday is returning to the UK, Tony weaves him into the scheme as well.

Cowan lauded his cast for their malleability.

“When you’re an actor, it’s a journey of discovery; it cannot be a destination,” he said. “And everyone has a role to play whether you’re onstage or backstage. You can’t have actors fighting with the technicians, or the designer fighting with the designers. It just doesn’t work.”

Drama can be a slippery genre to present via community theatre, an outlet known for enthusiasm but not subtlety. To sell the “Dial ‘M’ for Murder” story, Cowan strove for smaller, almost cinematic performances. No bold gestures. No poses as pedestals for lines.

Instead, Cowan encouraged pauses in delivery and other cagy techniques.

Much of the “Dial ‘M’…” cast is relatively young. While youth offers electricity, it does not always bring life experiences needed for certain roles and emotions.

To correct any misinterpretations, Cowan will reference a more familiar scenario. For example, during rehearsals, Sosebee was reading a set of Margot lines with inflections of anger. However, the director thought the feel was off.

“I told her, ‘Margot not angry, she’s appalled.’ (Sosebee) put herself in that position and the next reading was there,” Cowan said.

Experience is not an issue for Cowan. The technical director for Clemson University’s Department of Performing Arts, the Pendleton resident is a veteran of more than 150 productions. His theatrical influences include Shakespeare, Neil Simon, Tom Stoppard and Sam Shepard. From Gerald Freedman, director of the original production of “Hair,” Cowan cribbed a fondness for table readings early in rehearsals.

“The actors don’t have to worry about where they’re supposed to be standing,” Cowan said. “They’re studying characters on the page…getting comfortable with the characters and the lines before they worry about where they have to be when they deliver them.”