John Buchan’s exhilarating novel, famously adapted by the Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, will transport you once again in this new live performance of a period radio play. Read more …
On holiday in London, handsome traveller Richard Hannay meets a mysterious foreign agent on the run and finds himself caught up in the secretive international spy ring The 39 Steps.
While making his getaway on the Flying Scotsman, he encounters a string of extraordinary characters across the hills and moors of Highland Scotland. Espionage, love, and murder abound in this epic journey as the reluctant hero Hannay tries to prove his innocence and prevent a war.
All in all, it’s a jolly night out.
This production keeps reminding us of its artificiality, which is fun, though nowhere near as thrilling and transporting as radio drama, much of which plays out in the imagination.
While by and large all this is played straight, with period mannerisms and actorly affectations to the fore, some knowing Mr Cholmondley-Warner style hamminess proves irresistible at points.
A perfect piece of lightweight entertainment, completely predictable in outline, yet infinitely fascinating and amusing in detail.
Irene Macdougall--The 39 Steps
On Tour, from Tuesday June 5, 2018, until Saturday June 23, 2018.