The 39 Steps – Hull Truck Theatre

Early on, when watching The 39 Steps at Hull Truck Theatre on Thursday night, I began to wonder how much more of the production I could take, as I’d laughed so much and so hard.

I was on the front row, so escape for some respite would have been noticed by the incorrigible actors responsible for my near demise – James Keningale, Kathryn Perkins, Sophie Bloor and the rather dishy Ryan Starling.

Understudy Tom Mitchell was the “invisible” scene shifter. Dressed in a dark, tightly fitted onesie-type outfit, he removed and installed furniture, often at the wrong times, finally, briefly emerging onesie-free as Chief Inspector Albright – to huge cheers from the audience.

At “curtain up”, to the left on the raised stage was a red leather armchair, side table holding an old-fashioned dial phone and, to the right, a table with decanter and glasses, plus a tablecloth. Further right was an old-fashioned lamp standard with tasselled lamp shade.

Two large wooden A-frames to the rear came into focus as the production progressed.

And, best of all, the dark backdrop turned out to be a huge video screen depicting train windows, cattle walking, faces, people running, planes flying, so on and so on.

The inside of a train carriage and its large windows was most impressive, as was the sight of a train hurtling through the night towards us. Very inventive.

The original book is set in 1915, but by the look of the costumes I would put the action as in the 1930s. I was too busy laughing to care if I was right.

Inspired by John Buchan’s classic novel and Alfred Hitchcock’s iconic film, the story starts in London and centres around the debonair Richard Hannay (Starling), in his smart suit and two-toned shoes of the era.

He is bored with his life, but that’s all about to change when he meets the beautiful Annabella (one of three roles for Bloor). In hysterically funny scenes she pops her clogs (she had to die, Bloor had two other roles to fulfil).

The way Hannay handles her body, complete with a huge knife sticking out of her back, is comedy at its very best, bringing a whole new meaning to the word stiff, as in dead.

However, before she dies, Annabella reveals she is a spy and asks Hannay if he has ever heard of The 39 Steps. A question that drives him from London to Scotland in search of any clues, after being accused of the woman’s murder,

Although playing the straight man, Hannay’s stiff-upper-lip and gentlemanly behaviour are perfectly intertwined with facial expressions, a raised eyebrow and a glint in his eye with sideways glances at the audience, that show hints of a naughtiness ready to break out at any time.

He is the perfect upper-class foil for all the chaos to come – a lot of it actually caused by him in the first place, when he runs from the murder accusation. Starling brings life to a character who could be restrained by his posh upbringing. He is wonderful in the role.

With the four performers playing more than 130 characters it was hard to keep track of them all through my tears.

For instance, between them, Keningale and Perkins acted as clowns, milkman, Scottish crofter and his wife, Met detectives, balloon man, policemen, paper boy, creepy hotel owners, Nazi, an ageing cleaner, magicians at the London Palladium, biscuit guzzlers and throwers, and more.

Each character elicited huge guffaws of laughter from us in the well-attended theatre – their walks, accents, falls, false teeth, costumes, in fact too many shenanigans to remember and report here.

They were both relentless in their quest to make us laugh.

Along Hannay’s journey to solve the Steps puzzle, he has a cheeky interlude with the crofter’s wife (Bloor). Discovering the couple embracing, the crofter (Keningale or was it Rab C Nesbitt?) exacts his revenge by calling the police, resulting in yet another daring escape for Hannay.

Amidst all the chaos, Hannay comes into contact with a beautiful blonde, Pamela (you’ve guessed it, Bloor), resulting in yet more comical scenes, especially when the pair are handcuffed together.

As with her role as the ill-fated Annabella, Bloor throws herself into the physical side of comedy with gusto, proving she’s not just a pretty face.

Keningale and Perkins are so well attuned to their craft – what an amazing double act they are.

Their antics made me laugh harder than any physically comedic performers I’ve ever seen.

How the other cast members kept straight faces during their onslaughts, I’ll never know.

Director Cal McCrystal did a wonderful job with Patrick Barlow’s adaptation, as did the backstage technicians who created sounds of the many face slaps, phones ringing, audience cheering, planes flying, car doors slamming, cows mooing etc etc.

Not all at the right times, on purpose, wringing more laughter out of us.

Never having seen the original film or read the book I honestly have no idea if the above showed any resemblance to those genres, or, honestly, even if I’ve got the story right.

All I know it was the most entertaining couple of hours imaginable. Try to see it.

The 39 Steps runs until Saturday, November 14th, 2026 at Hull Truck Theatre with tickets available at (01482) 323638 or www.hulltruck.co.uk

Reviewer: Jackie Foottit

Reviewed: 22nd October 2026

North West End UK Rating: