For Alfred Hitchcock buffs, the Tony Award winning “The 39 Steps” currently showing at New Village Arts Theatre in Carlsbad through May 12th is a virtual smorgasbord with all the toppings and enough goodies to satisfy every taste.
If you’ve never heard of the great moviemaker/director Hitchcock or his “39 Steps” think “Rear Window”, “The Birds”, “North By Northwest”, “Dial M For Murder”, “Vertigo” and “Psycho” for starters. There was always his television show Alfred Hitchcock Presents that lasted about ten years.
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| Clown 1(Reden Magtira) Clown 2 (Kenny Bordieri) |
Hitchcock’s wry sense of humor both in the movies and on TV is evident from the outset, as each of his TV shows opened with music from Gounod’s “Funeral March”of a Marionette" as the body of the rotund Hitchcock walks into a silhouetted caricature of the man himself. And he manages a cameo appearance in every one of his movies. Now, if you still have no recollection of any of the above mentioned forget I said anything and just enjoy the excellent production at New Village Arts deftly directed by Dr. AJ Knox
John Buchan’s 1915 book “The 39 Steps” with original concept by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon and the film version was adapted for the stage by Patrick Barlow. That all may sound like Who Killed John but you ain’t heard nothing yet! It is also based on the Hitchcock 1935 spy thriller of the same name and is considered a classic in this particular genre.
“The 39 Steps” follows the same patterns for which most other Hitchcock thrillers are known. It is a combination Victorian melodrama and Elizabethan drama and is said to have been the first of many of Hitchcock’s murder mystery to set this tone.
It goes something like this: lonely and depressed by current events young man, Richard Hannay (Dallas McLaughlin) goes to theatre (Palladium to be exact) because he’s bored; man is watching a performance of “Mr. Memory” played by Reden Matira/clown. He also plays about every other character, male and female, with assorted accents. He is a man with a photographic memory. He is introduced by the Emcee/clown (Kenny Bordier).
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| Dallas McLaughlin and Erica Marie Weisz |
In the middle of Mr. Memories act, a fight breaks out and a mysterious woman from the audience fires shots. The lonely man soothes an agitated and hysterical woman and takes the gun from her. The mysterious woman (Erica Marie Weisz) is Annabella Schmidt who convinces the man to take her back to his apartment.
Back at his flat she gives him some cockamamie story that she is a government spy and is being chased by foreign assassins who have stolen government secrets. She is a being followed by the bad guys, one of whom has a joint missing from one of his pinky fingers. She also reveals the conspirators are in a German espionage organization called (you guessed it) “The 39 Steps”
The next morning girl winds up stabbed with his bread knife in her back. He finds her strewn across his lap when he wakes up in his chair. In her hand is a map of Scotland Yard. (Another clue?) Concerned about being falsely accused of murder he takes it on the lamb with the map and the chase begins.
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| Erica Marie Weisz and Dallas McLaughlin |
On the run, over the meadows and through the woods cutting across cold misty London countryside, farms, county estates, dangerous foggy sea cliffs, choo-choo-train chases from England to Scotland, and spooky taverns, encountering various and sundry red herrings and a bevy of suspicious looking characters who may or may not be guilty of the crime and or the subterfuge, Hannay is determined to get to the bottom of The 39 Steps conspiracy.
So far this tongue in cheek thriller is all too familiar. And when Richard is being chased by the police on the train and meets a beautiful young woman and kisses her to hide from the police, we have to think “North by Northwest”.
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| Dallas McLaughlin and Erica Marie Weisz, Reden Magtira and Kenny Bordieri |
Again, you really don’t have to be an Alfred Hitchcock fan or have to have seen any of his movies to enjoy this delicious little caper that NVA is honing in on. The play that has but four players (three men and one woman) playing 140 characters running, changing clothes, locations and accents at a frenetically faster than a humanly possible rate of speed, so much so, that by play's end the audience is winded and chuckling at the same time. It's probably one of the most physically exhausting play you might see in some time.
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And it takes a village to set the stage for a production like this to be mounted: Frank Seed designed the sets, sparse as they are, Grace Wong, the costumes (that sometimes didn’t make it in time to complete the change), Dialect Coach, Gerilyn Brault, Sound Design, Dr. AJ Knox. Prop Designer Mc Kenna Foote. Erica Marie Weisz for wigs, and Hannay's wig is designed and maintained by Kevane La'Marr Coleman.
In his notes, Knox conveys a note of optimism: “We see a call for the creation of a kinder, gentler world. How we get there, of course, is a comedy of errors. And that’s the fun of it”. Sit back and let your imaginations carry you to places you might never want to visit.
Enjoy.
See you at the theatre.
When: Through May 12
Where: 2787 State Street, Carlsbad, Ca. 92008
Tickets Prices: $28.00 -$48.00
Phone: 760 433 3245
Photo: Daren Scott
Online: info@newvillagearts.org
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