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The 39 Steps
| Opening Date |
25 May 2010 |
| Closing Date |
5 June 2010 |
| Time |
8.00pm |
| Director |
Maria Aitken |
| Writer |
Patrick Barlow |
Cast
|
Dugald Bruce-Lockhart, Katherine Kingsley, Dan Starkey, Richard Braine |
| Ticket Price |
€31.20 |
Venue
|
Olympia Theatre
72 Dame Street
Dublin 2 |
| Phone |
(01) 679 3323 |
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Not a step too far.
Replete with pencil moustache and lacquered hair The 39 Steps' main protagonist Richard Hannay (Dugald Bruce-Lockhart) prances about the Olympia stage-deftly meandering his way around sticky situations and various attempts to ensnare him-whilst maintaining a stiff upper lip and impeccable lapels. Largely borrowing from both John Buchan's original 1915 novel and Hitchcock's classic movie adaptation (1935), the theatrical version of The 39 Steps, directed in this instance by Maria Aitken, offers a more comedic take on the dastardly deeds and murky underworld that Hanney finds himself embroiled in. Four actors take on a variety of roles in this much lauded Olivier winning theatre production-from winsome young wife to femme fatale in a nanosecond-while a variety of slapstick comedy and Monty Pythonesque humour make it a jolly, splendidly inventive creation.
The 39 Steps is the original man-on-the-run story about a young gentleman who unwittingly becomes involved in a counterespionage case which forces him to flee around the country in an effort to both evade his captors and find out the solution to the actual meaning of the mysterious 39 steps. Along the way he comes into contact with a variety of characters from Arabella (Katherine Kingsley)-the beautiful agent who lures the hapless Hannay into her world of intrigue and is later murdered, to the gregarious old couple (Dan Starkey/Richard Braine) who run an inn in rural Scotland and finally to the diminutive Mr. Memory (Richard Braine) who holds the key to the whole mystery. Whilst Hitchcock took a certain amount of creative licence with his movie adaptation of the successful adventure novels Patrick Barlow's theatrical version takes these inventions and turns them into the ridiculous to great effect.
To be able to play a vast scope of characters within a short space of time undoubtedly requires capable and exceedingly adaptable actors. Bruce-Lockhart is fantastic as Hannay who by just the quirk of a raised eyebrow can convey the utter nonsensical situations he finds himself in whilst his three co-stars are equally adept at handling a wildly playful script. While the accents are oftentimes rather dubious-bordering on the histrionic-one gets the feeling that rather than taking away from the play, it actually adds to the hilarity and the more exaggerated inflections the better. The economy of props is refreshing, as is the clumsy, almost slapdash switch between characters. There are no guises here and whilst its detractors may berate the rather low-brow comedy or the crude double-entendres, The 39 Steps unashamedly continues to reduce a multitude of avid theatre goers to an unchecked giggling mess-and as the old proverb goes, a little laughter never hurt anybody.
- Louisa McElwee |
