The 39 Steps

SYNOPSIS

The 39 Steps

It is the play that they said could never be staged. Defying the odds John Buchan's classic whodunnit thriller, The 39 Steps, is now showing at the West End's Criterion Theatre in Piccadilly Circus - with a cast of four! The one hundred and fifty characters that feature in the 1915 novel by Buchan, and popularised by the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock movie classic, all appear in this clever production adapted for stage by Patrick Barlow. The pace is fast and furious; the action frenzied - and the props are reincarnated with a touch of genius in this tongue-in-cheek adaptation of The 39 Steps. Hold onto your hats for this innovative West End show!

A touch of the familiar

Unlike in many other West End productions Patrick Barlow's The 39 Steps assumes a level of familiarity with the characters - and particularly the scenes from Alfred Hitchcock's film. In fact the entire production is geared more to an irreverent take on the story, and is played for laughs.

The story begins with our all-action hero, Richard Hannay, returning to London from Africa in the build-up to World War I. With Europe on the verge of war, the stereotypical British stiff-upper lipped Hannay is contacted by Franklin Scudder - a freelance spy. Scudder asks Hannay for his help, having uncovered a German plot to assassinate the Greek Prime Minister and steal military plans that would compromise Britain at the outbreak of war. The plot thickens when Hannay returns to his flat days later to find Scudder murdered!

Acknowledging that someone is trying to frame him for Scudder's murder, Hannay picks up the trail, evading German spies and the police in the process. The chase is now on - a chase that sees many famous scenes flit across the Criterion Theatre stage, among them the chase on the Flying Scotsman and the escape from atop the Forth Bridge in Scotland. Adroit lighting and use of scenery enable the cast and crew to stage other favourite cinematic moments from Hitchcock's film. The bi-plane crash is there, as is the sensational finale at the London Palladium.

Central to the plot of the Thirty-Nine Steps is the meaning of the title phrase, first mentioned by Scudder. What are the Thirty Nine Steps? It is this question that drives Hannay on to discover the truth behind Scudder's death - and the German plot that Scudder had uncovered. Together with the might of British Military Intelligence, Hannay arrives at the conclusion that the 39 steps is in fact a reference to a coastal location in South East England where the German spies have encamped - there being 39 steps down from the coastal path to the beach, off which the spies' yacht is anchored. With the help of Hannay the British authorities seize the German spies. In doing so the plot is thwarted and Britain's military secrets remain intact as World War I closes in.

The 39 Steps is showing at the Criterion Theatre until February 7th, 2009.