The 39 Steps

The 39 Steps is a parody adapted from the 1915 novel by John Buchan and the 1935 film by Alfred Hitchcock. The original concept and production of a four-actor version of the story was written by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon, and premiered in 1996. Patrick Barlow rewrote this adaptation in 2005. The play's concept calls for the entirety of the 1935 adventure film The 39 Steps to be performed with a cast of only four. One actor plays the hero, Richard Hannay; an actress (or sometimes actor) plays the three women with whom he has romantic entanglements; and two other actors play every other character in the show, each occasionally playing multiple characters at once. Thus the film's serious spy story is given a comedic twist. Production history The first version of the play written by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon for a cast of four actors and funded by a £1,000 Yorkshire Arts Grant, premiered in 1996 before an audience of 90 people at the Georgian Theatre Royal in Richmond, North Yorkshire, before embarking on a tour of village halls across the north of England. In 2005 Patrick Barlow rewrote the script, keeping the scenes, staging and small-scale feel, and on June 17, 2005, this re-adaptation premiered at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, directed by Fiona Buffini and designed by Peter McKintosh. The featured actors were Robert Whitelock, Lisa Jackson, Simon Gregor and Mark Hadfield. Maria Aitken directed the revised production in its London premiere at the Tricycle Theatre (London), which opened on 10 August 2006 titled John Buchan's The 39 Steps. The cast for the London premiere comprised Rupert Degas, Charles Edwards, Simon Gregor and Catherine McCormack, again with designs by Peter McKintosh. The production transferred to the Criterion Theatre in London's West End in September 2006. The 39 Steps closed on 5 September 2015 after 9 years in the West End, making it the fifth longest running play in West End history.