Review: THE 39 STEPS Takes On A New Comic Look

Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Tuesday 23rd August 2016

The State Theatre Company of South Australia have chosen the very much tongue in cheek adaptation of the John Buchan spy mystery, The 39 Steps, to generate a few warm laughs as we head toward Spring again in Australia. If you have read the book, or seen the much loved film noir adaptation by Alfred Hitchcock, with Robert Donat, or the later one, with Kenneth More, then you will know exactly what you are NOT going to see here. Patrick Barlow's adaptation from the book, published in 1915 at the start of the first world war, and Hitchcock's iconic film, from 1935 not that long before the start of the second world war, is not entirely like either.

To be fair, the lines are true to the earlier works, and the story is not changed, but I don't think I recall a high camp Scotsman mincing about in a mini kilt in any of those versions. Ah, the penny just dropped, did it? Yes, this is all very silly, with overtones of Monty Python and The Goodies, and more than a touch of Commedia dell'Arte.

Director, Jon Halpin, has found a very talented cast who willingly push themselves to the limits, and they need to, as you will discover. He keeps up a breakneck pace for all four performers, two of them in particular.

The central character is Richard Hannay, who finds himself caught up in a spy mystery and on the run from the police for a murder he did not commit. In this role is Nathan Page, who would probably be best known at the moment for being on the side of the law in the ABC television's production, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, playing Detective John 'Jack' Robinson. He is actually the only person in the cast who plays only one role, because he is in every scene.

Page's interpretation of Hannay is every bit the English gentleman, smartly dressed, well-mannered, and sophisticated with a keen sense of right and wrong. For the most part, Page plays the role relatively straight, providing a stark contrast against the performances of the other two men in the cast.

Anna Steen comes in second, with three roles to play, as Annabelle Schmidt, the German counter-spy who is killed in Hannay's flat, Margaret, the lonely, attractive, and amorous young wife of an unpleasant Scotsman, and as Pamela Edwards, the naïve young woman who is involuntarily thrown into his company, and eventually accepts Hannay's innocence and aids him to solve the mystery and clear his good name.

She, too, keeps to reasonably straight playing, but the delivery of lines by her and Page is often skewed just enough to make them hilarious. They two also find plenty of very funny stage business that is juxtaposed against the apparently realistic characterisations, adding further humour.

The other 135 roles are covered by Tim Overton and Charles Mayer. No, that is not a typographical error. Mayer is listed as playing "The Others", and Overton as "The Other Others". These are the knockabout clowns, who are sent in, the quick change comedians. Blink, and they have both changed characters completely, not simply hats, coats, wigs, beards, and other paraphernalia, but their entire characterisations.

Glance at one, and the other has metamorphosed by the time you look back and, when you glance at the other again, another transformation has occurred. This kaleidoscope of characters goes on throughout the entire performance, with hardly a moment to take breath.

Ailsa Paterson designed the set, a versatile structure that, with a few movements of extra bits of scenery, and Geoff Cobham's incredible lighting plot, becomes every scene in the tale. Paterson is also behind the costumes and that must have been a very taxing job, a mammoth undertaking in dressing all of those diverse characters. Composer, Stuart Day, provided the other necessary element for establishing time, place, and mood, the music.

If you are really quick witted enough, there are plenty of passing references to Hitchcock's other films. See how many you can spot as they, and everything else, go flying past at high speed.

This is a mighty effort by everybody involved, and loads of fun, so spend an evening at the theatre before it is over.

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