The 39 Steps – John Buchan (Adapted By Patrick Barlow)

Devotees of John Buchan’s original 1915 novel might find this adaptation a little difficult to take. However, It seems likely that audiences at the Stephen Joseph Theatre will delight in this 2004 bonkers version. After all, we have had a number of interpretations which tend to reflect the times in which they are produced rather than pre-World War 1 Britain. There are three films – Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll, director Alfred Hitchcock (1935); Kenneth More and Taina Ege, director Ralph Thomas (1953); Robert Powell and Karen Dotrice, director Don Sharp (1978) along with multiple stage and TV renderings. Buchan’s words have become a palimpsest over which many hands have written.

It seems there is something in the narrative that continues to resonate with audiences. For our own times, the stiff upper lip of the original Richard Hannay (Dave Hearn) has become risible, but is retained for comic purposes. Of course, he still gets into, and extricates himself from, the same scrapes as in the original, but every one is milked for laughter, and he still gets the girl. It would be unfair to reveal how he manages the escapes each time, suffice to say many scenes demand considerable athleticism.

Playing opposite Hearn is Olivia Onyehara. Her first entrance is as the femme fatale Annabella Schmidt, but once a blade between the shoulder blades has seen her off, she resurfaces first as an unwilling accomplice and then as an ally. A number of scenes echo or directly employ tropes from other versions. For example, in Kenneth More’s 1953 film, handcuffed to Taina Ege, his hand runs along her leg as she removes her stockings. It is surprisingly erotic for 1953, but Director Paul Robinson is unlikely to omit such a piquant moment.

The two remaining members of the cast - Lucy Keirl (Clown 2) and Niall Ransome (Clown 1) - undertake their duties at dizzying speed. They inhabit too many different characters to list here, but the speed of costume and character changes defies description.

Much of the humour comes from manipulation of the minimal set. For example, in a country house, picture frames with the heads of the two ‘clowns’, hang on an imaginary wall, then move along as Hannay turns right and walks along a corridor. Later, a fireguard is used for the grille of a motor car as Clowns 1 and 2 become secret agents and transport our heroes to a remote location.

As in most other versions, the actual significance of the 39 Steps is not clear, but after a two hour riot, does anyone care?