Theatre: The 39 Steps

The 39 Steps
Cast: Andrew Alexander (understudy), Laura Rogers, Dermot Canavan, Sean Kearns

"4 cast members play 139 characters in 100 hilarious minutes!"

This is a gem of London theatre. Full of humour, excellent staging, wonderful voices and brilliant storytelling, this show had me quite literally crying with laughter from start to finish. It really is a ripping ride from London to Edinburgh, jumping from moving steam trains, darting through windows and never consuming more than a thumb of whisky.

Based on the Alfred Hitchcock classic, the unintentional hero, Richard Hannay (who Andrew Alexander plays uncannily like the dashing Cary Elwes in The Princess Bride...swoon!) must travel from his lonely bachelor pad in London to discover the 39 steps, aquit himself of murder and save England from a strange man with four and a half fingers. Hannay is charming, quick-witted, rather athletic and cut from very noble cloth. The other three cast members between them play more than 100 other bizarre and brilliant characters, sometimes simultaneously in one scene!

The dialogue is pacey. The staging is faultless. The sound effects are hysterical. The finale is quite simply ridiculous. I loved it.

My rating: ***** 5/5 stars.
Recommendation: See it. Then see it again. Then see it again. I defy you not to laugh every time.