The 39 Steps is an Alfred Hitchcock comedy that I saw in celebration of the birthday of my mom (50 years) and my grandpa. Going into it, I wasn’t sure what the play was going to be about. All I was told was that it was a “who dunnit” type of thing. Basically, the play is about an English bachelor, Richard Hannay (John Behlmann), who runs into a lot of trouble. A girl named Annabella Schmidt (Kate MacCluggage, who also plays multiple roles) gets stabbed in his apartment and he’s on the run to find some mysterious man in Scotland. Throughout the entire play, the authorities are on the lookout for this man who they believe is Annabella’s murderer.
The main genius of this play, however, is the fact that it has a four person cast. This wouldn’t sound so amazing if you didn’t know that these four actors played an abundance
of characters. Jamie Jackson and Cameron Folmar playing Man #1 and #2 did a fantastic job with their characters. Sometimes they needed to play women, and sometimes they even needed to play multiple roles at once! The change of characters isn’t too confusing, but sometimes the actors get “confused” between their hectic costume switches. One great scene is when Man #1 and #2 are on the train with Mr. Hannay. They switch between everyday men, to policemen, and to paperboys. The comedy in this scene was superb and was executed amazingly.
Another very impressive talent was the actors’ dialects. Looking in the program, Stephen 
Gabis worked as their dialect coach. The actors had to perfect French, upper class English, cockney, mild Scottish, and heavy Scottish accents. Hearing the same people doing all the accents was very amusing and it brought a lot of feel to the story. Other than the accents, the actors did a GREAT job of simulating different events. On the train ride up to Scotland, Hannay and the two men simulated how a train tosses its passengers around inside. When Hannay gets chased on the top of the train by the police, he simulates the wind by taking the end of his coat in his hands and lifting it up and down. Though there obviously is no wind, and though they obviously aren’t on a train, the fact that they focused on and acted out these little details makes it both easier to understand and extremely enjoyable and fun for the audience.
The 39 Steps is an entertaining and enjoyable experience for all ages. It isn’t too difficult for an eleven year old (my sister) to understand, and even a man in his seventies (my poppy) found it hilarious. The use of slapstick and obvious physical comedy makes it both an easy laugh for the audience and the actors alike.
The 39 Steps
New World Stages
July 31, 2010
Marina B. Nebro
