The 39 Steps

Whenever I go to see a play or musical for the first time, I normally just check the internet to find a short resumé of the plot. When I arrived at the venue, I was under the impression that I was about to see a serious murder mystery and to find out how an innocent man proves that he is not guilty of a murder and to find out what the espionage element in the plot was all about - and that is bearing in mind that I have never watched the original 1935 film. I was most surprised to be told by many before the show that a comedy was about to begin. Well! So it did. It was easy to follow the story and the comedy was both within the script and its interpretation. It also included much visual humour.  I saw an excellent and polished production and I enjoyed the performance greatly.

I then decided to watch the original film and was astounded at the brilliant writing skills of the adaptor in the use of the film script and turning it into a comedic play and in turn aided by a talented director and cast of four actors who brought the plot to life. I could not help smiling and chuckling throughout the film and thinking of the spoof scenes I had seen two days before.

The four actors in the production were Craig Parker, Clarice Ryan, Lizzie Gibson and Martin Sworn. Craig played the part of the falsely accused murderer Richard Hannay. As per also the other three, dialogue was constant, fast and complicated. This was achieved by all of them with distinction. Not only did they have much dialogue to learn but they also had to play many other cameo and minor characters within the plot - policemen, servants, passengers, spies, music hall artists and Scottish country folk to name just a handful. This was effected by the use of many costumes, wigs, beards, hats and make-up and provided a lot of the humour within the storyline. Men taking women’s lines and vice versa was of great assistance to this end. The visual comedy was well rehearsed and made the scenes with the two people handcuffed trying to go through a fence, the lady trying to remove her stockings and the narrow train carriage seat-change good slap-stick fun.    

The ever moving narrative takes us through many scenes as it travels from London to Scotland and back again. The many scenes were cleverly designed and a lot of thought went into the provision of all the necessary props. There were a lot of carefully timed sound effects and lighting changes required and these were perfect.  

My congratulations to you all for a well coordinated piece of theatre appreciated by an enthusiastic and happy audience.      

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