The 39 Steps – Pitlochry Festival Theatre

Based on Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 film, Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s revival of The 39 Steps features femme fatales, a runaway convict, police chases, and a healthy number of sheep.  The film and the play both share an almost identical narrative structure and much of the dialogue has been lifted straight out of the film and into the play – however they couldn’t feel more different to each other.  The play is a spoof of the classic film, and while it still maintains the dry, sarcastic humour of the film, it relies heavily on slapstick comedy.  I was especially pleased to see the iconic train scream being absolutely nailed because nothing is more camp than that. 

With only four actors, but about 150 characters, it was a marvel to watch the cast rapidly battling with jackets, hats and wigs in order to make their next cue.  I say battling, but really it was done very smoothly, most of the time.  Playing the majority of the 150 characters were our two “Clowns”, Chris Coxon and Stephanie Cremona.  Coxon and Cremona were a formidable duo – completely in control of their physicality and vocality, both showcasing an incredibly broad range of accents and the ability to shift their vocal pitch and timbre effortlessly.  The tens upon tens of characters that they both played were all perfectly differentiable and had a unique specificity to them – truly impressive performers.  Accompanying Coxon and Cremona was Alexander Service who played the leading man, Richard Hannay.  Hannay seems to be the only character who finds the events of the play bizarre, and Service certainly managed to deliver the astute and bewildered attitude of the all-too-polite Englishman.  Service provided us with grounding in the midst of all the chaos, as did Blythe Jandoo who played the three leading-lady characters.  Jandoo’s range becomes more impressive to me every time I see another show of Pitlochry’s Summer season – acting with a quiet but assured attitude.  The multi-talents of this year’s ensemble is astounding.

As well as the actors captured that 1930’s English-noir feel, so too did the set and costume design by Liz Cooke.  A revolving set never loses its novelty, and with such a wide variety of locations to incorporate on such a small stage Cooke managed to execute these location changes so cleverly.  The adjustments made to the base-set changed the feel of the set immensely each time and were done in such short spaces of time.  Subtle but logistically clever, with cloths being draped over staircases to encapsulate the look of a theatre, or a lectern stand being flipped upside-down to transform into the steering wheel of a car (which even received applause).  Stylistically it aligned so well with the film, with the classic wooden panelled walls and art-deco banisters, as well as the slick costumes that had such a feeling of richness.  And of course the highlight had to be the miniature train track that ran across the length of down-stage, with a train that had lights and steam and all! Not to mention the herd of sheep that moved along the track, stopping right in front of the villain’s car – a classic Scottish experience.

I feel the sound design needed more confidence to match the high energy antics of the play.  The music was slightly too quiet at some points, making it very awkward when you could hear the actors shuffling about during a transition.  Especially considering how prevalent the score is in film-noir, I think this really could have been ramped up.  Because there was so much action on stage, it wasn’t a lack of sound that was the issue as this would have caused overwhelm, but rather a sort of non-committal feel towards the sound.

The 39 Steps was witty and sharp – very aware of itself yet not scared to be completely silly.  Being mostly set in and around Scotland this was yet another very relevant pic for the Pitlochry Festival Theatre – it really is refreshing to see such strong championing of Scottish representation in the theatre even if done in more subtle ways such as in this example.  Running until the 26th of September, you better chase after it for an evening of lighthearted fun. https://www.pitlochryfestivaltheatre.com

Reviewer: Jessie Martin

Reviewed: 16th July 2025

North West End UK Rating: