Photography: Nile Scott Studios.
‘The 39 Steps’ – Based on the movie directed by Alfred Hitchcock and the novel by John Buchan. Adapted by Patrick Barlow. Directed by Ilyse Robbins; Scenic Designer, Shelley Barish; Lighting Designer, Daisy Long; Costume Designer, Rachel Padula-Shufelt; Sound Designer, Andrew Duncan Will. Presented by the Greater Boston Stage Company, 395 Main St., Stoneham through October 10.
by Mike Hoban
In the opening scene of Greater Boston Stage Company’s uproarious The 39 Steps, the dashing Richard Hannay, weary of life and the relentless bad news reported in the daily papers, decides the remedy is to seek out “something mindless and trivial. Something utterly pointless” to distract him. His solution? “I know! I’ll go to the theater!” he tells the audience, which erupts in knowing laughter.
While 39 Steps is anything but mindless, based as it is on the 1935 Hitchcock classic of the same name, this production is about as silly and fun as anything you’re likely to see on stage this or any season. And while one might assume it’s a loose parody of the thriller, it’s worth noting that many of the best comic lines in the play are lifted directly from the movie script (I know, because I watched the film the night before). In watching the filmed version, it was easy to see how the scenes – mostly involving cop chases and playful flirtations between Hannay (the brilliant Paul Melendy) and three beautiful women (all played by Grace Experience) – would lend itself to a comic staging.
So true to his word, Hannay does head for the theater, or more precisely, a kind of vaudeville hall where the main attraction is a novelty act starring Mr. Memory, who can answer nearly any question the audience throws at him. A gunshot goes off in the middle of the act, clearing the theater, and a mysterious beauty with a vaguely Eastern European accent asks Hannay to take her home with him. Once home, she reveals that she is a spy, trying to prevent a character named Professor Jordan from sharing military secrets with the Nazis, and two men are following her, trying to kill her. When she winds up with a knife in her back as she falls dead in his lap the next morning, it sets in motion the race against the clock to both clear his name as the prime murder suspect and save Britain from the Nazis.
The high stakes and narrow escapes from the law/foreign agents set the stage for a wild night of physical comedy and non-stop gags, which come at us like comic machine gun fire. There are very few thuds in this production, and if you don’t like one bit you don’t have to wait long for the next one – sometimes literally seconds. Director Ilyse Robbins and her talented cast (including Russell Garrett and K.P. Powell as Clown 1 and Clown 2 respectively) make the intricate physical comedy bits look effortless – meaning they’re anything but – which isn’t surprising given Robbins’ background as a multiple IRNE and Norton Award winning choreographer (and musical theater director). The scene where Hannay must wriggle out from under the prone body of the murdered spy is pure comedy gold, and even the frequent scene changes provide laughs, largely supplied by the able clowns Powell and Garrett.
Garrett also plays a number of female roles, reminiscent of Monty Python sketches, and he has a John Cleese quality about him. Experience (whose first two characters could use some volume) really shines in the role of Pamela Edwards, where she and Melendy generate the kind of old school rom-com chemistry seen in classics like “It Happened One Night”, where the characters pretend to loathe each other before falling in love. As the main character, Melendy is the one who really makes this production go, with his razor-sharp comic timing and insanely funny facial expressions. His character is less an impersonation of Robert Donat in the original film and more of an amalgam of the sophisticated leading men of the black-and-white movie era. As my companion remarked after the show, “Melendy is a national treasure.” But it’s a joy to watch the entire cast, and they’re having a great time as well, cracking each other up a la the “Carol Burnett Show” multiple times during the performance.
If your tired of the horrific news 24-hour news cycle, and – like Hannay – need something “mindless and trivial” to distract you from your cares, The 39 Steps could be just the remedy. For tickets and information, go to: www.greaterbostonstage.org
GBSC Health Note:
Greater Boston Stage Company is pleased to announce that we have joined with a
coalition of Boston area theatres to implement masking, vaccination and testing
policies designed to keep our audiences, artists, staff and volunteers safe in
accordance with CDC and local guidance. The following policies will be in place from September 1 through October 31. For more information, please visit:
http://www.greaterbostonstage.org/health-and-safety.html
