Theatre News

The 39 Steps set for a spiffing time at Opera House

Glenn Meads

Glenn Meads

| |

5 April 2010

Following its huge success at the Liverpool Playhouse, Alfred Hitchcock’s classic spy thriller The 39 Steps, returns to the Northwest, opening for a week long run at the Manchester Opera House next week.

Adapted by Patrick Barlow from an original script by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon, The 39 Steps is being directed by Maria Aitken, as she did in the West End.

The production gained an Olivier award for Best New Comedy for
its witty adaptation. It follows the incredible adventures of handsome
hero Richard Hannay, complete with stiff-upper-lip, British gung-ho and
pencil moustache, as he encounters dastardly murders, double-crossing
secret agents, and, of course, devastatingly beautiful women.

Aitken’s production contains every single legendary scene from
the award-winning 1935 classic Hitchcock movie thriller, including the
chase on the Flying Scotsman, the escape on the Forth Bridge, the first
theatrical bi-plane crash ever staged and the sensational death-defying
finale in the London Palladium.

This gripping comedy thriller features four actors, playing 139 roles in 100 minutes of fast-paced fun and thrilling action.

Dugald Bruce-Lockhart, stars as
Hannay, and Katherine Kingsley as his glamorous but reluctant
accomplice Pamela. Dan Starkey and Richard Braine are the men
charged with the task of portraying the majority of the 139 roles in
this fast-paced caper.

This production of The 39 Steps, like the Hitchcock film, is based on the book written by John Buchan.

The 39 Steps is a Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse
production by arrangement with Edward Snape for Fiery Angel and
Tricycle Theatre London Productions in association with West Yorkshire
Playhouse.

The 39 Steps opens at the Opera House on Monday 12 April and runs until Saturday 17 April 2010.


To read the Whatsonstage.com review of the production from Liverpool, please click here

*Photograph taken by Tristram Kenton

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