The 39 Steps

The Pymble Players have been providing the local community with quality, live theatre for the last 50 years in their quaint little hall on the corner of Bromley Avenue, Pymble.  Next year they will make the move into the Zenith Theatre at Chatswood and what a change that will be.  The stage space is noticeably larger, the potential for scenery changes is much greater and the audience capacity will jump from 84 up to 250.  Perhaps most significantly, the actors will henceforth only have 8 performances to participate in, rather than the larger commitment of 18 shows over a longer span of time.

In the words of director David Allsopp, ‘The 39 Steps is 100% pure entertainment, and I can think of no better way for Pymble Players to say farewell to our home of 50 years than to have one hell of a good time”.  The 39 Steps is one hell of a rollercoaster ride for the audience.  Is it a thriller, a comedy or a romance?  The Pymble Players have managed to showcase all three of these genres in this one tidy play and I laughed until I cried.  The set is as spartan as it could possibly be but the reason for that soon becomes abundantly clear.  Though there are only 4 actors involved, there is so much geography covered and so many different scenarios represented that multi-purpose boxes and scarily fast costume changes provide all of the visual stimulus.  One thing is for sure, the four onstage actors and the three stage crew would all need a good lie down after every performance.  They are all running around like a whirling dervish but that frantic, unbridled energy is exactly what a play like this needs, especially when the leading man is racing against the clock.

Daniel Ferris plays Richard Hannay and as always, is charismatic and naturally funny.  Ferris is rock solid as a leading man and his aptitude to retain ridiculous amounts of dialogue show after show never fails to impress.  He is prolific on the community theatre circuit, his popularity no doubt fuelled by the fact that he is also tall and handsome.  The challenge of meeting his stage presence falls on the shoulders of Cassandra Gorman in the roles of Annabella, Pamela, and Margaret.  Gorman is also tall and easy on the eye so these two look like a natural couple, even through a maze of numerous accents, ridiculous situations and a pair of handcuffs.  Gorman plays all three roles convincingly and adds some class and stability in contrast to the chaos of the two clowns.

Mitch Doran (Clown 1) and Faith Jessel (Clown 2) are multi-talented dynamos who change characters, jackets, hats and accents all in one breath.  The bandwidth required to play these parts is extraordinary.  They don’t seem to have a lot of down time and when they are on it is non-stop shenanigans.  I can only imagine that rehearsals for this play had people in fits of hysterics.  And you can forget about the ‘fourth wall’ …  the action is quite immersive for the audience which only adds to their enjoyment.  A huge congratulations to David Allsopp and everybody else who helped to put this production together.  It is certainly a fitting send-off to the lovely little hall.

Last I heard this play had sold out before opening last week but do yourself a favour and get on the waiting list.  The 39 Steps will continue to make its audience laugh out loud until 23^rd November.

10 belly laughs out of 10. 

Fiona Kelly