Gwenn

The 39 steps is a play adapted from a book series called Richard Hannay which is the name of the main character, written by John Buchan. The story is about an ordinary man, Richard who is suddenly involved in a mission which consists in saving the country by preventing someone from revealing important secrets stolen from the British government.

Although it is based on this book, the stage director of this adaptation decided to use extracts from the movie. That was a good choice because, as the actors said, they had to abridge the play since they needed to rewrite it for the three actors instead of four (one of them was ill on that day). So, the extracts from the movie could help the public to follow the events that were not in the script anymore.

Talking about the actors, I found them excellent because they were able to tell a story which is serious (there are murders and spying …) with a lot of humor and lightness. As they said, the acting was well done because people who had difficulties to understand English could get the main situations thanks to the actors and the direction.

Finally, I think that it was really good that at the end of the show, the actors were ready to listen to the audience's questions and that they explained everything that I wrote above, about direction, acting and adaptation. It was a very nice moment.

The Times December 14^th, 2015

Gwenn TL