The 39 Steps

This was a great comedy thriller, based on the iconic film of the same name by John Buchan & Alfred Hitchcock, that had been cleverly adapted by Patrick Barlow. It includes lots of set pieces with lots of hilarious twists and turns.
Director John Petroff has a great cast to work with, the set was simple but very effective and the comedy timing with the sound and lighting all worked well together.

We had not seen this play before so did not know what to expect, it starts with Richard Hannay, excellently played by Mathew Stone, setting the scene in his apartment. He then goes to the music hall and meets Annabella Schmidt, nicely played by Sara Woodly. They are watching the compare (Bruce McIntosh) and Mr Memory (Harold Gasnier) holding the stage with the memory act.

Once Richard and Annabella are back at the apartment, she tells him they have been followed by two men who are down in the street by the lamp post, Richard goes to the window, the two men appear on stage with the lamppost, sending the audience into fits of laughter. We knew from then on we would be in for a great night.

Another excellent comedy moment was when Annabella had been stabbed and had fallen across Richard, sat in his chair. Mathew’s comic timing came in to full effect when the phone rang and he had to get out of the chair by sliding underneath the ‘corpse’ without moving her. He then covered her up with a cloth and left for the station.

I also liked the train scene - this again was very funny with Mathew ‘clinging’ on to the outside edge of the train whilst being chased by the police.

There are lots of scenes in the play whilst the story unfolds, but the pace never dropped and kept us laughing all the time.

The cast all take on various roles throughout the play and it’s difficult to single out everyone, as they each took on every character with great style. This was an excellent play and you should all be very proud of yourselves.
 

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