An innocent man on the run, suspicious spies and endless twists and turns – Patrick Barlow’s The 39 Steps is residing at Grand Opera House York for one week only on its well-received UK tour.
Whilst the farce, adapted from the John Buchan novel-turned-Hitchcock-film, first premiered as a play in 1996, the staging and delivery we witnessed here is transformational – however the plot remains just as brilliantly bonkers.
The 39 Steps is at the Grand Opera House York from Tuesday 23 to Saturday 27 July.
This jaunty journey follows our ‘straight man’ Richard Hannay (Tom Byrne) who is suddenly taken from his nonchalant London life and instead braced with a manic mission to defeat the evil forces.
The comedy is at its most exaggerated form, and whilst its likeability could be compared to Marmite by many, the audience this evening determined it a certain success. The beauty was the relationship between those performing and perceiving, with the cast often gaining the warmest reception when breaking the fourth wall or requiring audience involvement. And we were of course happy to oblige and tag along on this break-neck speed of an adventure.
Byrne led the charge as our protagonist armed with a misplaced murder accusation; he dashed about the stage with such vigour and knew exactly how to play with and pander to the audience. His speech in the second act was a particular highlight as, even if somewhat prompted, it resulted in an eruption of support from the audience.
By his side was our trio of female companions played effortlessly by Safeena Ladha as she switched between each role, having complete autonomy in an otherwise male-dominated genre. The pair had excellent onstage chemistry throughout, which enabled us to yet again get behind another enticing enemies to lovers tale.
Completing our cast of four were Eugene McCoy and Maddie Rice, who no doubt stole the show as our skilful clowns. They moved a mile a minute to enable each and every character to differ significantly from the last, mastering each accent, facial expression and costume change. They transformed with ease from train inspectors, to helpful highlanders, puppeteers, to even a bog… every actor’s dream, right!
The playground for this farce was nothing short of grand, as we were presented with a beautiful bronze proscenium arch within which the story came to life. From Hannay’s first solitary monologue, to full cleverly portrayed travel sequences, the design was masterful.
The smooth and swift transitions were a constant reminder to expect the unexpected, a theme throughout. Credit must be given to the entire crew who worked just as tirelessly as those onstage to allow every trick to play out perfectly – or even disastrously when needed – it was wonderful for them to join the cast to bow and gain the appreciation that is so often missed.
If you want to journey into farcical fun, head on down to Grand Opera House York this week and join in the magical mayhem.
The 39 Steps is showing until Saturday 27 July. Tickets start from £13 and can be found here via the ATG website.