The 39 Steps' Cliff Saunders: 'Roles' Model

Eight shows a week, there is magic taking place on the stage of the Cort Theatre, four actors, no, better to describe them as magicians or alchemists or conjurers. In truth they would most likely be happy to be labeled as "lucky stiffs" as they are able to bring joy and laughter to an audience every evening as the house lights dim, the foursome in question are the incredibly gifted cast of the Tony nominated, The 39 Steps

The 39 Steps has been nominated for six 2008 Tony Awards including Best Play and Best Director (Maria Aitken) and won two 2008 Drama Desk Awards, including Unique Theatrical Event.

 

The 39 Steps is adapted by Patrick Barlow and directed by Maria Aitken.The production is based on an original concept by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon and on the book by John Buchan.

 

Mix Alfred Hitchcock's cinematic masterpiece with a juicy spy novel, then, add the manic dash of vintage Monty Python and you have The 39 Steps – equal parts hilarious whodunit, espionage thriller and quick-change comedy, adapted for the stage from Hitchcock's famous 1935 film and John Buchan's 1915 novel.

One talented gentleman plays the ironically billed role of "Man 1", this would be better titled as, "Man 1000", for he seems to be playing that many roles and more, seemingly at the same time! This "Man" is the delightfully talented, Cliff Saunders, a Canadian actor making his Broadway debut in The 39 Steps. In Toronto he was celebrated for his work on stage in such works as The Servant of Two Masters, King of the Basement and the musicals, Beauty and the Beast, The Drowsy Chaperone and as Bilbo Baggins in the World Premiere of the musical version of The Lord of the Rings. He's done all sorts of film and television roles, but the stage called him back, and boy are we lucky, he's an actor of great inspiration and care, and a truly nice guy, I was able to sneak some time with him in his dressing room to talk shop and see how he's enjoying his stay at the Cort Theatre.

Eddie Varley: I truly adored the show. I love that while you're seeing all the theatricality, at the same time, as an audience member, you also embrace the characters and story.

Cliff Saunders: It's a real celebration of theater isn't it? Even though we are doing a film (Laughs), it is more about theater.

EV: (Laughs) So true! How did you come to join the production?

CS: What happened was [casting agents] Jay Binder and Jack Bowdan, when they got on and were thinking of people – they saw the show in London I think – they started looking at people, and they said 'I know a guy in Canada who would be good for this,' so they called my agent, then I came down.  I did what I do … you know, my approach. I treated it as you do on any show – you work on your characters. I just happened to have a lot of characters, and to have to be able to snap in and out of them really quickly!

EV: In less than a second most times!

CS: Yes, sometimes.  We worked on a few characters, they liked me, and they gave me the job. I got the permission to come to the US. Thankfully, it all worked out. They said it was okay to come down, we rehearsed it and opened it up in Boston.

EV: What were rehearsals like? For something like this I can imagine very specific in regards to what was needed from you all?

CS: About four weeks? Pretty standard, you know, but one good thing was that Charlie (Charles Edwards who stars as Richard Hannay) had done the show before, and even though [Director Maria Aitken] had directed, he had done it too so he knew the logistics of it, and then she made us feel like we could go do our own thing. Of course the structure is strong, but she gave us our own way with it, in terms of playing it. She directed it, but we never really felt we ever copied as somebody else had done, but she did say it was amazing how we were very similar, so our instincts were good!

EV: Those instincts I'm sure would prove to be very important as the journey with the show began, finding that rhythm of the performance.

CS: Right. For example, in the train scene – switching hats, switching dialects, remembering your lines, remembering the notes the director gave us, remembering the physicality, all that, and trying to remember what hat goes on at which time! It was a bit of a trick for Arnie and me to get that, but we did it, but it was a bit of a juggling ac

EV: Do you find yourself building on your natural instincts and techniques as an actor when you are approaching such an intricate work like this?

CS: What I like to do is snap it on a physical note, something that I can latch onto physically that would immediately put me into that moment – snap! So we would do that.

EV: Did you work on this on its feet very quickly in rehearsal?

CS: VERY little table talk! (Laughs) [Maria] got us up on our feet pretty quick (Laughs)! As a matter of fact we had about five days of rehearsal in New York first, before we had Chris Bayes, our movement guy.  One of the things – a happy kind of thing that happened –  was we got to the scene where I put the handcuffs on Charlie, and I didn't know what he was going to do…we were just starting.  So I come over to him to put the handcuff on, and he goes, "I don't think so" and throws a crappy punch, and it happened to be an upper cut, and I reacted.  I like falling, so I fell and as I was almost all the way down, soon as my back hit, I flopped over and did the second part of the fall.  I like doing pratfalls, and Maria was like, "Are you ok?!", and I said, "I'm fine." [The scene] used to take place behind the desk, I guess before the hit, and she then said, "Well we can't have it take place back there", and she brought it out front and center so everyone could see it!

EV: It's such a great moment!

 

CS: Yeah, it's a nice touch, you know, because, it all happened because Charlie threw an upper cut and that's the fun of the show, it all came about naturally on that instinct.

EV: Do you find that you have found other new moments as you've been working it now, to have an inspiration?

CS: Well, the show, they are always tweaking it, but as far as us running it, within the confines of the show, there's a little bit of room, to you know however you're feeling, to react as an actor in the show, but it's extremely disciplined. Even though it looks like mayhem, and wacky crazy zany stuff, it takes great discipline to do it, and I think without the discipline it would fall apart very quickly.

EV: Absolutely.

 

CS: So I think that discipline is there. I mean, you stray, you find stuff, you get new laughs, and sometimes the new laughs might be helpful for the show, but at the same time those new laughs might hinder it.

EV: Because it's so structured and you know you have an "x" amount of seconds to get to that next bit, that next moment.

CS: That next bit, right, a lot of time some funny stuff was sacrificed at certain times because it was more important for the audience to get information instead of a cheap laugh.

EV: For me seeing it, the story was so important and so clear, never once did I not care about what was happening on stage.

CS: That's good, that's the trick, you are working hard to give them all personalities.

EV: And the audience around us were so engaged with them too, they were either laughing out loud, or deadly silent!

CS: They don't want to miss anything!

 

EV: I found the Cort to be a wonderful house to tell this tale. It's so intimate.

CS: It's a great fit. It's interesting. The Huntington Theatre in Boston had a kind of an old feel too, except that the front row had to be eight or ten feet away, because sometimes they have to have an orchestra pit in there. So, that's a little weird –  having all that space, [Co-star Arnie Burton] used to throw the body in the pit there! At the American Airlines and here, it hits the stage. 

EV: At that point in the play, there's such suspense, all that comedy is still there, but it's got emotional depth, and the stakes are high and on view. 

(Note to my dear readers, I was so excited about discussing certain moments that I fear I was giving away too much of the plot, so you'll just have to see the show and find out what happens for yourself! My final moments with Cliff were spent chatting with him about making his Broadway debut in the show, so back to the interview!) 

EV: What a debut! 

CS: It's a great Broadway debut I gotta say, a four hander on Broadway; we're kind of the little darlings of Broadway in a certain way. People have really been wonderful. We've really been embraced.  There has been so much positive warmth given to us, and you know I keep telling people how pleasantly surprised I am at how hospitable New Yorkers are. They're great. They make you feel good and it's a good place to work, and this coming from a Canadian: "New Yorkers are NICE, I like them!"

 

The 39 Steps opened to deliriously ecstatic reviews.Ben Brantley, New York Times, called the production, "Absurdly enjoyable!This gleefully theatrical riff on Hitchcock's film is fast and frothy, performed by a cast of four that seems like a cast of thousands.The actors themselves seem to be having a helluva good time.As does the audience."Clive Barnes, New York Post, pronounced The 39 Steps "Inventively astonishing, riotous & marvelous."Joe Dziemianowicz, Daily News, exclaimed, "Hitchcock probably never imagined his thriller had the makings of a hilarious comedy, but this show is a dizzy delight and an ingenious spoof, inventively directed by Maria Aitken. A fast-paced fun ride!"

 

The production features sets and costumes by Peter McKintosh, lighting by Kevin Adams and sound by Mic Pool.Dialect coach is Stephen Gabis.Original movement created by Toby Sedgwick.Additional movement created by Christopher Bayes.Production management is by Aurora Productions.Production stage manager is Nevin Hedley.

The 39 Steps has been a runaway hit in London's West End, playing to sell-out houses at the Criterion where it continues to delight and thrill audiences.The first production of The 39 Steps was directed by Fiona Buffini and produced on stage by North Country Theatre in April 1996 at the Georgian Theatre, Richmond, North Yorkshire.

The production received its American debut at the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston, MA., from September 14, 2007-October 14, 2007.The Broadway premiere began previews on January 4, 2008 and officially opened on January 15 at Roundabout Theatre Company's American Airlines Theatre.

The 39 Steps is produced by Bob Boyett, Harriet Newman Leve/Ron Nicynski,Stewart F. Lane/Bonnie Comley, Manocherian Golden Prods., Olympus Theatricals/Douglas Denoff, Pam Laudenslager/Pat Addiss, Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director; Harold Wolpert, Managing Director; Julia Levy, Executive Director), Huntington Theatre Company (Nicholas Martin, Artistic Director; Michael Maso, Managing Director) and Edward Snape for Fiery Angel Ltd.

 

Tickets are available from TeleCharge at 212-239-6200, online at www.telecharge.com or at the Cort Theatre box office (

138 West 48th Street

, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues).39 tickets at $39 are available at every performance.Performances are Tuesday at 7:00 PM, Wednesday through Saturday at 8:00 PM, with matinees Wednesday and Saturday at 2:00 PM, Sunday at 3:00 PM.

Photos by Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.