The Stage

The 39 Steps

Published Thursday 6 May 2010 at 12:14 by Susan Elkin

I was a 39 Steps virgin, having never seen any of the films or earlier stage versions nor read John Buchan’s original 1915 novel. So I came open-minded to this production which turns out to be an enjoyable romp - slick, silly and deliciously, calculatedly hammy.

David Bark-Jones, who looks like a young John Cleese, as the louche Hannay exploits English understatement with perfect timing, from being picked up at the theatre by a mysterious female who then gets murdered in his flat through to a nicely managed farce sequence in which he spends the night in a hotel handcuffed to a woman he hardly knows.

There’s excellent voice work from Dianne Pilkington as both these women and as the downtrodden but lusty wife of a dour Scottish farmer (Timothy Speyer). Speyer’s funny voices and manic movements complement Jeremy Swift’s Oliver Hardy-esque roles - all their pair work is tremendous fun and they do an awful lot of quick change doubling in this show. All four seem genuinely to be enjoying themselves - even at curtain call.

Maria Aitken ensures the pace never flags in a production which makes sparky use of shadow puppets, strobe lighting and moving torches, as well as playing jolly make-believe games with Edinburgh Station and the Forth Bridge. She neatly sends up both theatrical conventions and 20th century macho thrillers.

Highly recommended.