The 39 Steps is a parody adapted from the 1915 novel by John Buchan and the 1935 film by Alfred Hitchcock.
The original concept and production of a four-actor version of the story was by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon and premiered in 1995
Patrick Barlow rewrote this adaptation in 2005, and when it closed, it was the fifth longest running play in West End history.
When it moved to Broadway and closed in 2010, it was “the longest-running Broadway play in seven years”
Awards include: the Olivier Award for Best Comedy in 2007 and the What’s On Stage Award for Best Comedy 2007, and the 2008 Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience
The play’s concept calls for the entirety of the 1935 adventure film The 39 Steps to be performed with a cast of only four.
One actor plays the hero, Richard Hannay
One actress plays the three women with whom he has romantic entanglements
Two other actors play every other character in the show: heroes, villains, men, women, children and even the occasional inanimate object.
This requires lightning-fast quick-changes and occasionally for them to play multiple characters at once.
Thus the film’s serious spy story is given a more comic treatment of the story, in the style of Monty Python and the script is full of allusions to (and puns on the titles of) other Alfred Hitchcock films, including Strangers on a Train, Rear Window, Psycho, Vertigo and North by Northwest.
The play also incorporates references and use of music excerpts from other Hitchcock films.
Casting:
Richard Hannay: plays late 30’s to mid-40’s, dashing, British accent, lead.
Annabella Schmidt/Pamela/Margaret: all played by same woman 30’s, German, English and Scottish accents
Clowns 1 and 2: any age or gender, many accents including various British dialects, as well as Scottish, VERY physical performances, high energy!
Please contact theatrebacchus@gmail.com to request sides. Then submit a self-tape to that same email reading the role(s) you are interested in using the accents required NO LATER than January 11, 2023
Show dates: March 31, April 1,2,7,8,9 for a total of 8 performances
Rehearsals in Burlington, ON at Paroisse St. Philippe, 472 Locust St.
Performances will take place in the beautiful venue at Vieni Winery 4553 Fly Rd, Beamsville, ON
Non-union, Profit-share
Mix a Hitchcock masterpiece with a juicy spy novel, add a dash of Monty Python and you have the intriguing, thrilling, riotous and unmissable comedy. The show hurtles a notorious fugitive and a spellbound blonde from a London music hall north by northwest to Scotland’s most remote highlands. Will they save Britain from a den of devious spies? A cast of four actors plays over 150 characters in this fast-paced tale of an ordinary man on an extraordinarily entertaining adventure. The 39 Steps contains every single legendary scene from the award-winning movie — including the chase on the Flying Scotsman, the escape on the Forth Bridge, the first theatrical bi-plane crash ever staged and the sensational death-defying finale in the London Palladium.
