Lorna Irvine is much amused by the tour of the West End hit.
From the plummy RP voice telling the audience to keep mechanical time-keeping devices switched off, to the fake snowflakes, Fiery Angel's production whizzes along nicely for its one and a half hour running time.
Adapted for the stage by Patrick Barlow and beautifully directed by Maria Aitken, this is a production which is at its best knowing farce; at its worst, verging on pantomime. Happily, it is mostly more of the former- really hard to fault.
John Buchan's original tale has been all but dispensed with- there's not a serious bone in the whole play's body. The classic tale of derring-do, with the stiff-upper-lip Englishman Richard Hannay, unable to cope with a stiff, on the run from the police in Scotland, has a delightful visual style and a sense of its own ridiculousness, with props like toy trains, picture frames and ladders drawing attention to the theatrical creakiness synonymous with the staid 1930s.
Peter McKintosh's set is wonderful to behold. One gorgeous sequence with a red screen and shadow puppetry pays homage to Hitchcock himself, who of course directed the silver screen version in 1935. Indeed, there are several cheeky references to Hitch all the way through, which should keep any film buff on their toes.
The four cast members are fine, Richard Ede giving good bounder as Hannay, the more deadpan his reaction to the idiocy that surrounds him the better, but it's Gary Mackay's show all the way, wonderful in numerous roles- his sense of comic timing, vocal tics and absurd physicality winning the biggest belly laughs.
Not 'the world's favourite comedy', then, as sarkily billed, but with some glorious moments. You'd be a bally cad to disagree.
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