The 39 Steps - A Comedy?

On April 25, I saw a theatrical adaptation of Alfred Hitchcock’s film, The 39 Steps. The play was very different from the film itself, though it did follow the plotline fairly rigorously. While the film was made in a very serious, suspenseful style, the performance I attended took Hitchcock’s work and turned it into a comedy. The overall effect was that the play relied more on slapstick humor than suspense; comedy seemed to be its main artistic goal.

Given that the goal of the performance was to entertain the audience and make us laugh, the play was successful in achieving its goals. I noticed that the skill of the actors and theater technical team in certain aspects resulted in this success. The actors’ creative use of movement played a major part in making the performance a hit. In a scene in which the actors ride on the outside of a train, they tipped their hats, waving them back and forth on their heads to make it look like the wind was blowing in their faces. Similarly, the movements of the actors through doors, waterfalls, and other passages had to be mimed, as the stage was clearly not big enough to accommodate real houses or waterfalls. This became extremely funny when the actors would go through a series of seemingly never-ending entrances and exits, only to end up in the same place on stage. In the scene in which Annabella Schmidt dies, the actress moves in a very rigid, awkward manner with irregular timing to portray the subject of death lightheartedly and humorously.

The use of lighting and props in the performance was very effective. In scenes in which the police are chasing Mr. Hannay, the directors decided to pull down a sheer, red-colored curtain over the stage space and use paper cut-outs of people and models of airplanes behind the curtain to act out the scenes. This creative use of props not only made more efficient use of the stage space, but also conveyed the general idea of the chase better than if they had used actual actors. The opaque red color of the curtain gave the scene a sense of urgency and danger, as Mr. Hannay was running for his life across the terrain. The lighting in this scene, as in other instances, played a significant role in changing the mood and focus of the play. This made it very clear to the audience when the mood changed from lighthearted to darker.
With regards to acting, a total of four actors and actresses played all of the parts in the play, about 10 or so total characters. One man was Mr. Hannay; one woman played all the female roles; and two men played all the minor roles in the play. The two men sometimes had to play multiple roles at once, which, along with making their scenes very funny, made it interesting to watch how they switched characters so quickly yet still gave each character its own unique voice. The male and female lead, however, did not seem to be as skilled as the other two men. Some of the scenes between them felt unintentionally awkward.

Although I enjoyed the play as a piece of entertainment, I do not think that it was especially good in terms of artistic value. Clearly, the goal of the performance was to show the audience a good time and perform comedy. As far as their goals, the theater company definitely achieved them. However, despite achieving their goals, I still do not think that it was a good work of art because the goals they set were not high enough to reach any kind of meaningful artistic expression. The performance did not make me think or question myself in order to understand the value of the art being demonstrated. The satisfaction I felt from watching this play was immediate – there was no delay in gratification that I sometimes feel with more meaningful works of art. I would consider this play very successful entertainment, but I did not think it was impressive or substantial in terms of artistic value.