Kicking off this year’s Festival of Theatre is a jolly romp through genre, class and gender, compressing a driving narrative into 40 or so minutes of 1930’s derring-do. With Archie’s Richard Hannay emerging as a kind of manic cross between Sherlock Holmes and a shoe-string James Bond, and Coco, Sophie and Sandra inhabiting an almost dizzying array of characters that seduce, assault and complicate his pursuit of the mysterious ‘39 steps’. It’s a theatrical joy. It’s also delightfully exhausting: well-paced, packed with ingenious theatrical devices and tricks, so it’s hardly surprising that in the dress-rehearsal Hannay’s moustache almost fell off. It was a tiny and fitting comic malfunction in a professional and entertaining performance. If you saw it, you enjoyed it. If you didn’t - tough. That’s Hurtwood theatre for you: here, there, gone. Get on board for another brilliant festival of talent, ideas and magic moments, and hopefully high A-level marks. Art eh? It’s the only comfortable ride in town right now.
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‘The 39 Steps’
Directed by Stephanie Berryman and Natalie Wallis
The wonderfully inventive and gripping comedy thriller sees the adventure of Richard Hannay who is seeking the answer behind the 39 Steps. Caught up in the spy story he finds himself a fugitive trying to prove his innocence while always in the clutches of beautiful women.
CAST:
Coco Cawley
Archie Elliot
Sophie Vink
Sandra Vovk
Sound designer: Hannah Brod