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Fast, furious and funny The 39
Steps Belgrade
Theatre, Coventry ***** I
HAVE to say at the start that I don't remember laughing that much at
Alfred Hitchcock's 39 Steps, or John Buchan's book, so I was a bit
surprised to spot that this version of the 39 Steps was the winner of
The Best New Comedy 2007, as well as two Tony Awards. However, I
eat my words; it was hysterical, fast, frenetic, farcical, funny,
fantastic, very physical and frilling – oops sorry, thrilling. Four actors ‘tackle' – definitely the right word – all the parts; 104 characters, often changing hats or outfits in mid-sentence. In one amazing sequence as Richard Hannay (Richard Ede), our handsome hero, racing on the train to Scotland after a murder in his London flat, two actors (Tony Bell, Gary Mackay) were the police searching for Hannay, plus station staff announcing the trains, plus other passengers travelling in ladies' underwear. The whole train section was
truly wonderful. The audience cooed at a tiny train steaming across the
front of the stage. As Tom Stoppard muses in Jumpers, ‘Does Paddington
leave the train or the train leave Paddington?' As Hannay's train
arrives in Edinburgh a 1930s station sign shoots on from the side –
brilliant stuff. It's incredibly hard to
describe the plot but here goes! Richard Hannay meets his German femme
fatale, Annabella Schmidt (Charlotte Peters) at Mr Memory's show in Love interest in the shape of
Pamela arrives and accompanies him on his journey. His quest to find out
about the 39 steps leads him back to London and in a tidy volte face
we think the love interest hasn't worked out but it turns on a dime
and back in his flat, in his same comfy chair, she brings him a whisky
and soda, a baby cries in the background, a Christmas tree in a fire
bucket speeds onto the stage, snow starts falling and on us too. Lovely! I enjoyed it all, particularly
the back projection scene with Alfred Hitchcock standing on the
sidelines. This is a tour de force, directed by Patrick Marlowe
and completely wonderful entertainment. Go if you can. Ten stars.
To 27-04-13 Jane Howard
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