The 39 Steps
April 8, 2008
The 39 Steps
Venue: Theatre Royal, Newcastle
Date Reviewed: 7th April 2008
Depending on your age, the John Buchan story The 39 Steps will bring back memories of the either the 1935 or 1978 film versions, where the hero Richard Hannay was played by Robert Donat and Robert Powell respectively. Although neither version actually stuck to the original novel, Buchan himself thought the Alfred Hitchcock version was a better story than the one he had originally written. There is another 1959 version starring Kenneth More which was not well received and seems to have slipped from everyone’s minds.
Now we have an award winning stage version that is still running in London, while embarking on an extensive tour as well as preparing to open on Broadway. The London production won not only a Laurence Olivier Award for best comedy, but our own Whatsonstage.com Award as well.
With a running time of under two hours, including the interval, the story moves at a cracking pace from the off and the cast of four deserve all the rapturous applause they received at the curtain call.
Our hero is determined to find the secret of the 39 Steps, even though he is placed in extreme danger when doing so. Through a mixture of map cap humour, brilliantly timed sound effects, mist and excellent comedy timing we travel from Hannays flat to the highlands of Scotland and back to the London Palladium. The scene where Hannay climbs along the train roof is a delight to behold, as it is so simple yet comes across as very funny.
The cast of four led by David Michaels as Richard Hannay work extremely hard, with the only female being Clare Swinburne. But Colin Mace and Alan Perrin, who play the majority of characters, are masters of their craft, swapping roles in mid scene and even once playing the same character at different times in a scene.
This adaptation by Patrick Barlow (from an original concept by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon) was originally directed by Maria Aitken. But credit must also go to designer Peter McKintosh and Sound Designer Mic Pool, as their contribution adds so much to the comedy.
Set on a bare stage the cast utilise props and special effects to bring the story to life and this touring version justifiably shows why this production has won so many awards so far.
The 39 Steps is great fun, clever, mad, sends up the film versions and, best of, is just plain daft and therefore highly recommended
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