The West End’s long-running show – the Olivier Award-Winning comedy, 'The 39 Steps,' will visit Birmingham Repertory Theatre from February 29 to March 5, on a special 10th anniversary tour. Based on Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 movie and John Buchan’s 1914 spy thriller 'The Thirty Nine Steps,' the hilarious show follows dashing hero Richard Hannay - complete with stiff upper lip, British gung-ho and pencil moustache - in a dangerous tale of cat-and-mouse from London to the Scottish Highlands, in which four actors play over 130 characters in 100 minutes.
The cast for this touring production are Richard Ede (A Little History of the World – Watermill, Newbury and The Reduced Shakespeare Company's The Bible - Abridged) and Olivia Greene (42nd Street – Bird College and Kindertransport – Little Theatre, Leicester). They will be joined by Andrew Hodges (Antic Disposition’s 'Henry V' – France and The Temple Church, London; More4's 'Iraq: The Bloody Circus' and BBC’s 'Hands on History' film) and Rob Witcomb (The Wind In The Willows and The Taming of the Shrew – Guildford Shakespeare Company, and As You Like It – Oxford Shakespeare Company).
Patrick Barlow’s adaptation of 'The 39 Steps' opened at the Tricycle in 2006 and the same year transferred to the Criterion Theatre in Piccadilly Circus, where it played for nine years and won the Olivier Award for best new comedy. In 2008 'The 39 Steps' was produced on Broadway, where it was nominated for the Tony Award for best play. Enjoying worldwide success, it went on to win a Molière Award for Best Comedy in France and a Helpmann Award for Best Comedy in Australia.
'The Thirty Nine Steps' was also famously adapted for the 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 this 1935 classic movie thriller of the same name, including the chase on the Flying Scotsman train, the escape on the Forth Road Bridge and the controversial ‘stocking and suspenders’ scene.
It is directed by Maria Aitken, with design by Peter McKintosh, lighting by Ian Scott, sound by Mic Pool, and movement by Toby Sedgwick. The Associate Director is James Farrell. It is presented by Edward Snape for Fiery Angel and Tricycle London Productions with the West Yorkshire Playhouse. From an original concept by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon.
