The 39 Steps is a fun and enjoyable 100-minute long play. Over 100 characters are played by 4 actors, but it’s done really well and isn’t confusing at all. Here’s my The 39 Steps theatre review.
Overview of The 39 Steps
The 39 Steps is a play that follows the story of Richard Hannay. At the beginning, he’s at a theatre performance of ‘Mr Memory’, but hears gunshots in the theatre. A woman with a strong accent persuades Richard to take her back to his apartment, where she tells him she’s a spy. She says she’s uncovered a plot to steal British secrets, and used the gunshots at the theatre show to escape people who wanted to kill her because she knew the secret. However, later than night the woman is killed.
Richard finds a map of the Scottish Highlands, and decides to go there to try to uncover the plot that the woman knew about. He’s also on the run, as the police suspect he murdered the woman in his flat.
The rest of the play follows Richard Hannay’s attempts to escape the police and assassins chasing him, with the various people he meets along the way. On the train, he meets Pamela, a beautiful woman who rejects him at first, but their paths are thrown together again later in the show. There’s loads of other characters too – the milkman, a farmer and his daughter, the man with a finger missing, an audience at a political meeting, and many more.
What I liked about The 39 Steps
I enjoyed this play – but I didn’t find it amazing. But definitely still enjoyable. It’s a very innocent, old-fashioned style of comedy – and a lot made me smile. A lot of the comedy is based around chasing scenes, where people fall off things – it’s all innocent, good-natured fun.
There were only 4 actors in the play, but loads of different characters. Richard Hannay is consistently played by the same character throughout – he’s in every scene. But the other 3 actors swap characters multiple times throughout the show. I thought this was done really well throughout the show – there wasn’t any confusion at all about who the characters were meant to be. I’ve seen shows before where a few actors play multiple roles and have ended up getting so confused about who they’re meant to be in each scene. But in The 39 Steps, I wasn’t confused at all. The actors all did great with different accents, different sets, and different costumes. I felt like I could relax watching the play, and just enjoy it because the plot was really clear throughout.
What I wasn’t so sure about
There wasn’t anything specific that I didn’t like about The 39 Steps. But I still wasn’t completely wow-ed by it. I found it enjoyable at the time, but fairly unmemorable afterwards. Even after a few days, I was struggling to remember some of the details of the plot.
While I found the comedy in the play amusing, I wasn’t laughing out loud throughout the play. And not many people in the audience were. There were a few moments that got a laugh from the audience, but most people just seemed to be smiling and enjoying it without laughing out loud. In a way, I don’t mind that – I don’t expect to be fully laughing throughout the show. But a few more proper laughs would have been nice.
Would I recommend The 39 Steps
I definitely enjoyed The 39 Steps, so I would recommend it. It was enjoyable, with nice innocent comedy and very well done with the actors playing multiple characters. However, I’m not going to be in a massive rush to go to see it again soon. But I’m still glad I’ve seen it.
Hope you enjoyed my The 39 Steps theatre review! Check out my other theatre reviews for more shows in the West End, across the UK and the world.
