Cronulla Comedy is in Step with Hitchcock Thriller

Photographer: Dan Binger

Preview audiences have been thoroughly entertained by the new production at Arts Theatre Cronulla, The 39 Steps, a parody play adapted from the 1915 novel by John Buchan and the 1935 film by Alfred Hitchcock. The play shares the plot and characters with the film, and there are entertaining Hitchcock references throughout. However, as Director Cheryl Butler notes in the program, “if you think you’re going to see Alfred Hitchcock’s 39 Steps, oops!” 

The play has been described as film noir meets Monty Python, and it really is. A clown show, a spy story, a thriller and a romance in which four actors play multiple roles mixed with slapstick, vaudeville and farce. It’s a fast-paced whodunit for anyone who loves the magic of theatre. 

Photographer: Dan Binger

One actor plays the hero, Richard Hannay, another 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.

Bemoaning his boring life, Hannay meets a woman at The London Palladium who tells him she’s a spy. When he takes her home, she is murdered. Pulled into a web of intrigue and deceit, frustrated by skullduggery and suspicion, Hannay must solve the mystery of the 39 steps before it is too late!

Photographer: Jeffrey Hall

He must evade shadowy organisations and corrupt constables – and escape a manhunt while being pursued by a plane! 

The play has been described as absurdly enjoyable!, a dizzy delight!, riotous and marvellous!, a wonderful triumph of theatre!. For the Cronulla production, Butler says that The 39 Steps has been a wild ride, but advises “if you’re not confused yet…wait for it!”

Photographer: Graham West

The 39 Steps

Adapted by Patrick Barlow
From the novel by John Buchan

The production opens on Friday 25 October and runs till 30 November, on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, with four Sunday matinees at 2pm.

Tickets are $33/$30 and can be booked online via the theatre’s website: 

https://www.artstheatrecronulla.com.au/

Cast

KATHRYN BRAY: Clown 1

GARY CLARK: Clown 2

ANGELA GIBSON: Annabella Schmidt, Margaret, Pamela

GAVIN LEAHY: Richard Hannay

 Photo credits: Port Hacking Camera Club