Review: The 39 Steps at The Little Theatre

Never have I heard such delight and amusement from an audience in The Little Theatre in Dunstable, who were all totally tickled by the show.

Which was all the more surprising to me at first since as far as I was aware, The 39 Steps is a serious spy-thriller about Richard Hannay, who is on the run from the police, suspected of murder and desperate to stop top secret information being smuggled out of the country.

When the secret agent who first accosts Hannay (John O’Leary) appeared as a seductive woman with an exaggerated German accent, I wondered fleetingly if this was going to be the worst attempt at a thriller ever. With clichés, hammed-up acting and production-mishaps like phones not ringing when they’re supposed to, I wondered what I’d let myself in for.

But then I got it.

The ‘slip-ups’ are part of the performance, O’Leary’s frustrated glances towards the production team and shared smiles with the audience are carefully-placed aspects of the show.

It’s the perfect mix of humour and drama, and it really is very entertaining.

This version of The 39 Steps is not the same as Alfred Hitchcock’s film, or John Buchan’s adventure novel, but is based on the comic stage adaptation by Patrick Barlow.

The four actors play dozens of characters and manage to tread the delicate line of giving the impression they are your mates putting on a fun, silly performance full of mishaps and jokes with the audience, while maintaining the plot, creating believable characters and keeping you totally glued to the stage.

For example, double act Joe Butcher and Matt Flitton switch sleekly between their many and varied characters– detectives, villains, Scottish farmers, hoteliers and more – using clever props, costumes and accents.

In the train scene they swap between characters so quickly they end up in a muddle, with the wrong hat matched with the wrong accent and lines.

You worry this might be a genuine error, but of course it’s actually a cleverly-prepared routine and the result is really funny.

When Hannay is shot by the evil professor and the curtain falls on the stage, I wasn’t sure if it was the interval or the end. It had been such a fast-paced, crazy play so far I wouldn’t have been surprised if it had finished in such a bizarre and abrupt way.

Fortunately, there was more to come, and we were treated to yet more of the riotous adventure.

Kelley Sarson goes from German agent to Scottish farmer’s wife to a chic alluring lady, giving each woman an entirely different persona, so much so that along with the various wigs you might not even know it was the same actress.

The audience clearly adored Butcher and Flitton, but all of the actors got plenty of laughs and O’Leary played his part to perfection.

You couldn’t fault the fantastic four, and aided by superb direction, a hard-working set and a smooth backstage team, it made for a really entertaining, top-quality performance that I thoroughly enjoyed.

by Connie Primmer