Ravishing: The 39 Steps Reviewed

The 39 Steps was a relentless onslaught of choreographed chaos and it was absolutely fantastic. Director Madeleine Inskeep described the show as “nothing if not FUN” in the show programme, and, speaking to her during the interval, she referenced her time in Blind Mirth as primary inspiration. With such a dynamic script, she needed the same “mind of saying yes to anything”. Luckily for the audience, who laughed raucously throughout, The 39 Steps’ combination of “anything” was amazing.

The script itself, combining Hitchcock’s chill (“Through the REAR window!!” *wink wink*) with Monty Python’s joy follows the line of a spy novel in a circular, story-telling structure as our hero Richard Hannay races time; deciphering the meaning of the 39 steps as he flees from a crime he didn’t commit.

The strength came from the cast. The main man and leading lady were double-cast and, whilst I didn’t see Tom Giles and Hannah Philippa Raymond-Cox tread the boards earlier, I can’t imagine a better stage duo than Joe Viner and Jemima Tyssen Smith, who made their debut Friday night. Their chemistry was consistent. Viner’s chip-off-the-old-block-esque, old-school-styled Richard Hannay was a grounding, stable presence who remained the same throughout. Viner held his own and was not overshadowed by the constant bombardment of other characters, though he reacted well to them all.

Smith gave a formidable, stand-out performance as the German, Poison Ivy-influenced femme fatale (Annabella), turned dowdy Scottish minx (Margaret), turned prim and proper English darling (Pamela) and oozed varying degrees of sex appeal as her characters required. The seduction scenes were among the strongest. Notable is Annabella’s death; a well-choreographed, dreamy dance segue which culminated in buttock-thrusting, hip-gyrating rigor mortis and the wiggling of a plastic knife.

In general, the entire cast’s command of accents was remarkable, and whilst sound effects at times competed with the dialogue (and this is being very picky), enunciation was usually clear and crucially kept the audience entangled in the plot’s complex twists and turns. A special mention must be given to the great attention to physicality throughout, and in particular to the three clowns (Becca Schwarz, Adam Spencer and Scott Wilson) who morphed their bodies as well as they did their voices. The clowns had perhaps the hardest task of all, moving from cackling evil genius to bumbling politician to obnoxious policeman; crossing sexes, amongst other things, considerably tastefully. I could wax lyrical about the merits of each actor for the rest of time, all hyperbole firmly intended.

Inskeep’s direction was consistently inventive, making use of the small Baron space in unpredictable ways. The final face-off between Hannay and his evil arch-enemy included the best use of curtain I have ever seen – whipped across the rail in a split-second to shield an implied punch-out. The naivety of the props involved, such as the signposts (which were hilariously danced on) and the ‘fire’ which Hannay and Pamela rubbed their hands over were a nice touch. Indeed, it was at times difficult to tell whether the farcical nature of the play was intentional (“Chains these days” / “It’s funny because he’s meant to have a pipe”), but, whatever the truth may be, the reality is that the production was executed with such conviction that any misstep appeared entirely crucial.

The 39 Steps was an ambitious, rigorous and, above all, hilarious production and among the best pieces of theatre I have seen in St. Andrews. A special mention goes out to the stage hands and the tech team, who did a very difficult job very well. Get tickets if you still can.

Photo courtesy of Katie Brennan.