The 39 Steps – The Opera House, Manchester

Writer: Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon

Director: Maria Aitken

Reviewer: Malcolm Wallace

The Public Reviews Rating:

The 39 Steps started off as a reasonably serious adventure novel by John Buchan first published in 1915. Immediately a hit, the story has been filmed several times although every adaptation has taken much artistic license and has departed substantially from the original story. The stage adaptation, which premiered in 2005, draws upon the original text but is primarily based on Alfred Hitchcock’s much acclaimed 1935 version.

The familiar story concerns Richard Hannay who, after getting embroiled in the dangerous world of espionage, goes on the run to solve the mystery of the thirty nine steps. His travels take him all across the country and into a series of sticky situations where his wit, charm and good looks inevitably work to his advantage leaving him one step ahead of his pursuers at all times.

It’s an ambitious story for a cast of four to portray, but due to the excellent adaptation by Patrick Barlow who intricately weaves in numerous references to other Hitchcock films and masterful direction by Maria Aitkin, along with cracking performances from all four actors the production is clear, concise and never falters for a moment.

The show is played out on a small and basic set clearly designed for stages significantly smaller than the Opera House where it does look a little swamped. However, the simplicity of Peter McKintosh’s design is also one of its greatest assets. A vast array of props of all shapes and sizes are imaginatively used in multiple situations and for multiple purposes to denote different situations and locations

All four cast members work their socks off and it is to their credit that they give off every impression that they are enjoying the performance as much as the audience. Dugald Bruce-Lockhart plays handsome hero Hannay with just the right amount of arrogance and charm and he is equally matched by Katherine Kingsley who ably plays the three major female characters scoring particular success as Annabella Schmidt, German spy.

The remaining multitudes of characters are played by Richard Braine, a recognisable face for fans of Jeeves and Wooster, and Dan Starkey. Their quick transitions from character to character, sheer number of different accents and costumes and variety in characterisations border on genius and at times it’s exhausting to watch!

With ‘Allo Allo’ accents, characters the League of Gentlemen could only ever have hoped to dream up, and a fast paced riotous romp through scenes and locations that puts the even the brilliance of the Reduced Shakespeare Company to shame, this is a gloriously entertaining and incredibly slick homage to the old style adventure thriller and the great British hero.

I cannot recommend this production highly enough. Unmissable!