The 39 Steps (Tour - Manchester)

This witty tongue-in-cheek adaptation of John Buchan’s classic novel is a must see.  It's a clever and inventive comedy which follows the adventures of a dashingly handsome hero named Richard Hannay (Richard Ede). 

Our dashing hero becomes unwittingly embroiled in a dangerous spy plot and has to keep moving to avoid detection. Amazing effects allow our hero to be pursued across the country between London and the lonely highlands of Scotland. Here he encounters several brilliant characters along the way including a Scottish girl, a beautiful blonde, Mr Memory and many others.

A compact and extremely talented cast of four actors entertain the audience as these characters with wonderfully inventive and fast-paced action. Charlotte Peters, Tony Bell and Gary Mackay make seamless costume changes to play multiple roles and display perfect comic timing over and over again. The terrifically talented quartet play no less than 139 roles between them in this frenetically paced crazy comedy.

Peters' Annabella Schmidt is spot on in her opening scene when she announces "Ja, Ja, Wunderbar" as The 39 Steps is a wonderfully funny show which keeps the audience gripped throughout and is also a must see comedy thriller with lots of in jokes for movie buffs.

Exciting, exhilarating and hilariously entertaining from beginning to end. The actors may be breathless by the end of the show but the loud rounds of applause on the night I attended - proves that this 5 star comedy classic has not lost it's mojo.

- Lisa Pollitt