Review Roundup: What Did The Critics Think of THE 39 STEPS at Trafalgar Theatre?

Patrick Barlow's adaptation of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic spy thriller, The 39 Steps has returned to the West End after a nine-year absence at the Trafalgar Theatre.

The cast of The 39 Steps is Tom Byrne as Richard Hannay, Safeena Ladha as Annabella Schmidt, Pamela and Margaret, Eugene McCoy as Clown 1 and Maddie Rice as Clown 2 (the first time this production has cast a female identifying actor as one of the Clowns), with Jacob Daniels and Hannah Parker as the understudies.

The 39 Steps is directed by Nicola Samer, with the original creative team of designer Peter McKintosh, lighting designer Ian Scott, sound designer Mic Pool and director of movement Toby Sedgwick.  Casting is by Abby Galvin.  This production is a remount of the award-winning production directed by Maria Aitken and adapted by Patrick Barlow. 

See what the critics are saying...

The 39 Steps continues at the Trafalgar Theatre until 28 September.

Photo credit: Mark Senior

Franco Milazzo, BroadwayWorld: Barlow doesn’t hold back in poking fun at the original film, not least its approach to romance and broad stereotyping. Overacting is the name of the game and the cast throw themselves into this with gusto. Unlike cult classics like Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Airplane! and Top Secret!, the writing is a little too beholden to the source material with only references to other Hitchcock films like North By Northwest and Psycho broadening its cultural scope.

Chris Wiegand, The Guardian: The villains’ machinations remain locked away in a comedy world, without gaining any modern resonance, and there is little sense of Hitchcock’s 30s London populated by bobbies and milkmen. In a show that needs more polished physical comedy, Eugene McCoy stands out for his vivid interpretations. Maddie Rice and Safeena Ladha juggle accents and, like Tom Byrne as Hannay, make a jolly stab at it but the result can sometimes feel less like a thrilling race against the clock and more of a garbled rush.

Marianka Swain, London Theatre: An epic manhunt across the moors is achieved with shadow puppetry, Mic Pool’s sound design gives us instant changes of mood, such as sweeping strings for romantic tension, and Ian Scott’s clever lighting both aids the storytelling and supplies some atmospheric, even eerie, moments. There’s also a plethora of playful Hitchcock references if you want to fill your bingo card. It’s no mystery why this affectionate parody is still delighting audiences. Balancing suspense with slapstick, and a cracking yarn with theatrical in-jokes, it’s a welcome piece of thoroughly escapist entertainment.

Will Noble, Londonist: Ultimately, if you're after a genuine white-knuckle ride of a crime thriller, The 39 Steps is not it. The narrative doesn't so much escalate into giddy suspension, as merrily skip from one scene to the next. Still, the play remains a showpiece of low budget stage buffoonery, silly voices and whip-smart clowning. More than anything else, it will make you smile. And if that's your jam, then step to it and get yourself a ticket.

Nick Curtis, Evening Standard: Some moments are deftly done: the chase across the Scottish moors is performed in silhouette, with human shadows, miniature 2D-cutouts, and 3D models of biplanes providing a delicious mishmash of scale and perspective. The comic-erotic scene where Pamela removes her stockings while handcuffed to Hannay retains its edgy power. But we’ve now seen the other stuff – the ironic sidelong glances into the auditorium, the deliberately botched physical gags, the mood-puncturing jokes – done a million times in the last two decades, and often better. This is a reminder that even solid-gold hits tarnish with time.

Fiona Mountford, iNews: For all the good intentions of the production, my reaction to the piece remains the same 18 years on. Time hangs heavy as one fast-paced escapade hurtles into the next, given that emotional engagement with these characters is vanishingly hard to come by. I found myself doing an excess of watch-checking during the 100-minute playing time interrupted by an interval that does more for bar takings than the storytelling.

Adam Bloodworth, City A.M.: It all feels delightfully handmade and fringey. The 39 Steps is an homage to the roots of theatre: these skits could have been performed 100 years ago. That they still work today is testament to the power of clowning and physical theatre, without massive technological bells and whistles, to amuse and delight.

Average Rating: 54.3%