The stage production based on the thriller is back in London for a limited time only!
WhatsOnStage: **** “It’s quirky, swift, ingenious and altogether a smashing hour and three quarters in the theatre. Really, The 39 Steps is the theatrical equivalent to comfort food: it’s tasty, nourishing, warming and a little bit indulgent…gosh it’s lovely to have it back.”
The Stage: ** “Touring version of Patrick Barlow’s daft, dated spy thriller spoof returns to the West End.”
The Guardian: ** “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.”
London Theatre.co.uk: **** “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.”
Londonist.com: *** “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.”
Broadway World: *** “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. Even when ignoring the work it is patterned on, there’s a dated feel about this play that lacks the audacious physical japery of later stage spoofs like The Play That Goes Wrong.”
Evening Standard: ** “The 39 Steps is sporadically amusing but lacks the physical precision and pace that could make its quick changes and ironic subversions really zing. I also wonder if the source material, in which a square-jawed hero battles dastardly foreigners, resonates as it did in previous decades, however mercilessly it’s sent up.”
iNews: *** “An epic story of adventure and derring-do pokes fun at the limits of the theatrical form.”
City AM: **** “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.
The 39 Steps continues to play at the Trafalgar Theatre until the 28th September.