FROM classic novel, to hit film and now an award-winning
theatrical spoof, The 39 Steps is a masterclass in tomfoolery and ingenuity.
Four actors play 139 roles in 100 minutes, recreating every scene from Hitchcock's 1935 spy thriller, which was adapted from John Buchan's 1915 novel.
Richard Hannay, a chisel-jawed, smooth-talking chancer, complete with pencil moustache, bids to clear his name and foil a German spy all at once, after an alluring femme fatale is murdered in his flat.
His mission takes him to the highlands of Scotland where he encounters a backward farmer, double-crossing agents, a political rally, and of course, what every golden age hero desires, a classically beautiful sidekick.
The four actors - Colin Mace, David Michaels, Alan Perrin and Clare Swinburne - are all terrific, switching between roles at breakneck pace.
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The recreation of some of Hitch-cock's legendary chase scenes, one spanning the Forth Bridge and another involving bullet-firing
bi-planes, are both witty and
original, but this approach wears a little thin as the thrilling element of this thriller is sucked out mercilessly in the name of laughs.
Patrick Barlow's adaptation of The 39 Steps, directed by Maria Aitken, deserves its status of Best New Comedy (having recently won the Laurence Olivier Award) not only for the content but also for the actors' superb comic timing and delivery.
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