Multi-Award Winning The 39 Steps To Close After 9 Years In West End
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| By
Jacob Porteous
The Olivier, Tony and Whatsonstage award-winning comedy The 39 Steps has celebrated 9 years in the West End since it opened at the Criterion Theatre in 2006. The 39 Steps’ 9 year run will close on September 5th 2015, having played the 5th highest number of performances of any play in West End history.
Following the incredible adventures of our handsome hero Richard Hannay, complete with stiff-upper-lip, British gung-ho and pencil moustache as he encounters dastardly murders, double-crossing secret agents, and, of course, devastatingly beautiful women.
This wonderfully inventive and gripping comedy thriller features 4 actors, playing 139 roles in 100 minutes of fast-paced fun and thrilling action.
Over the past 9 years, the production has seen more than 50 actors tread its boards and between them they have got through over 3,000 pairs of stockings, 530 O/S maps of Scotland, 38 pairs of handcuffs and 16 suspender belts. With the production having performed in 39 countries including Moscow, Shanghai, Tokyo and Paris, an audience of 3 million have seen the production worldwide.
The tongue-in-cheek production opened at London’s Criterion Theatre in September 2006, following short runs at the West Yorkshire Playhouse and London’s Tricycle Theatre. The original cast included Rupert Degas, Charles Edwards, Simon Gregor and Catherine McCormack.
Based on John Buchan’s 1914 spy thriller The Thirty Nine Steps and adapted for the stage by Patrick Barlow (Desmond Oliver Dingle/The National Theatre of Brent), The 39 Steps is directed by Maria Aitken, with design by Peter McKintosh, lighting by Ian Scott, sound by Mic Pool, and movement by Toby Sedgwick. The 39 Steps is presented by Edward Snape for Fiery Angel and Tricycle London Productions with the West Yorkshire Playhouse. From an original concept by Simon Corble & Nobby Dimon.
The 39 Steps was also famously adapted for screen by Alfred Hitchcock in what is widely regarded as one of the best films from his early period. The stage production references a number of the legendary scenes from Hitchcock’s 1935 classic movie thriller of the same name including the chase on the Flying Scotsman Train, the escape on the Forth Rail Bridge and the controversial ‘stockings and suspenders’ scene.
Current cast includes Daniel Llewelyn-Williams [Richard Hannay], Kelly Hotten [Pamela/Annabella/Margaret], Mike Goodenough [Man], and Gary Sefton [Man].