Coming to the end of another fabulous 2026 season for STAG is the 1930’s play The 39 Steps. A fast-paced, hilarious, spoof-heavy, suspenseful spy thriller. Blending Hitchcockian tropes, absurdist Python-isms, and the deliciously evil dashings of James Bond villainery. And on opening night, The 39 Steps pulled out all the stops. From the get-go, it took the audience on a fast-paced ride of round-the-world intrigue, featuring a satirical plot, laugh-out-loud silliness and farcical adventures.
Based on Scottish writer John Buchan’s hit 1915 spy adventure novel, (an immediate commercial and critical hit of that time),The 39 Steps, historically speaking, cleared the benchmark for the beginnings of the spy-tale genre we know of today. It became a 5-book series, and then, in 1935, was loosely adapted by Alfred Hitchcock (his 20th feature film) which was not only declared by the British Film Institute ‘as the fourth greatest British film of all time,’ but cemented Hitchcock's international reputation as well. It was then adapted multiple times for radio, most famously by Orson Welles's Mercury Theatre in 1938, alongside later film and TV versions.
But by 1995, a thrilling stage adaptation of The 39 Steps was devised by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon. And finally, in 2005, rewritten by Patrick Barlow, it premiered at the West Yorkshire Playhouse before enjoying long-running successes in the West End and on Broadway.
And for good reason.
The 39 Steps follows Richard Hannay, a world-weary, well-travelled 37-year old British gentleman, who returns to London in 1935 after roaming the world and living in Canada. Filled with a tremendous sense of boredom, he decides to go to the London Palladium in the West End to attend a night at the theatre, to seek some much-needed thrills n’ spills.
His wishes come to pass, when he comes into contact with a mysterious woman, Annabella Schmidt, who seats herself next to him. Gunshots are fired and panic breaks out. Annabella then acts fearful and convinces Hannay to let her come home with him. Once they arrive at his flat, she admits that she fired the shots herself as a diversion. She then explains that she is a secret agent being pursued by assassins who are trying to steal vital British military secrets. This is how Hannay unknowingly gets dragged into a chaotic case: of international espionage.
As they drink scotch back at Richard’s West End apartment, and things start to get cosy, Annabella returns with a knife literally stuck in her back. Quickly, she informs him that the foreign spy ring is called "The 39 Steps". Before she collapses and dies, she leaves him a clue alluding to a contact and a location in Scotland called ‘Alt-na-Shellach’, and warns him that a master spy resides there. As she dies on top of him, Richard finds himself the prime suspect - painted as a murderer, and thus, becomes an accidental fugitive on the run, taking the audience on a spy-filled adventure aboard the Flying Scotsman Train up to the Scottish Highlands, on a mission to find this international enemy, save England and thus clear his name. All this, while evading both the police and international agents on every corner who fail to capture him, with hilarious results.
On this pursuit through the highlands of Scotland, he finds himself encountering an array of absurdist Scottish characters, somehow being able to escape their evil clutches. All the while, trying to discover the meaning of the 39 Steps, and stop this evil faction from destroying the world.
But in between this adventurous rogue-ish romp? Lies intrigue. There are romantic entanglements thrown in. Hilarious unforgettable characters, including bizarre innkeepers, entertaining prop playfulness thanks to the brilliant direction by George Benca that literally stop-the-show with uncontrollable laughter, and the truly evil spy-dom that would much satisfy the inner James Bond fan in all of us.
The cast is equally brilliant in this clever masterpiece, many of whom take on a variety of clown roles with classic fluidity, and with gusto. Drew Mason as Clown 3 plays the Sheriff in Scotland convincingly and with a great American drawl, just as he enthusiastically plays a West End variety host at the London Palladium, a mischievous thug, and an ‘overly-excitable’ Monty-esque train inspector.
Oscar Mikic, as Clown 4, doubles in many roles and is suited to the hapless Benny Hill-style British comedy club, if there ever was one. He embodied a plethora of the absurd, including the unforgettable portrayal of humanoid Mr. Memory, a radio announcer with a particular crush, a member of the British police in full Monty-garb, and a humorous lampoon-y Scottish Highlands inspector alongside the sheriff.
Jack Lees, a truly committed actor as Clown 2, was also simply a joy to watch. Understanding the need to morph into larger-than-life satirical characterisation from the get-go. From his arrival as a imposing thug wielding a baton, to a married salesman with a particular fetish for ladies undergarments, to a ghoulish evil spy bringing the house down with a five-minute dramatic death sequence, with ‘Palin-like prowess.’
In this piece, the actresses also took centre-stage, and were the perfect fodder for their male counterparts. Del Jordan was enigmatic and playful as Annabella Schmidt, and equally hilarious as a human fireplace prop that spoke. Sarah Deering as Mrs Higgins & Mrs Jordan played the roles of ‘Bates-like’ sinister housekeeper and evil chatelaine to perfection, as she did attempting to blow a tiny Scottish ‘bagpipe’ while holding an Edinburgh sign at the train station, to the delight of the audience. Kirsten Hennessey as Pamela, had great chemistry with Richard Hannay, her leading man, matching his physicality and wills to great depth.
But Kirsty Taylor as Margaret & Mrs McGarrigle? Had that quality of a great British comedienne. Playing ‘quietly-oppressed’ churchy Glaswegian character Margaret with a deadpan mousy energy, to the extremely funny ‘pepperpot-voiced’ Mrs McGarrigle, a classic female Monty Python archetype - sent the audience into absolute stitches.
The lead actor and narrator, Richard Hannay, played by Sean Paisley Collins, carried the show with confidence, cultivated wit, and clever quips. His depiction of a benign brit on-the-run outwitting danger from the authorities time and again was equally hilarious as it was brazen. His sly cheekiness and love of adventure worked beautifully with his onstage entanglements, appearing playful yet comfortably alone, even while handcuffed: set in his ways as a seasoned strait-laced bachelor in an unpredictable world.
But Broderick McDonald? Was by far my favourite of the bunch. As Clown 1, he played his roles to precision. His versatility shone. His ability to rapidly switch between characters and adopt a range of accents in split-second comic changes was impressive to say the least. He paired well with other actors in scenes as he did on his own, and committed wholeheartedly to the process of veering from British stereotypical sketch comedy into leering, scruffy Scottish loonery. From a British lingerie salesman wearing ladies underpants on his head, to reciting church-going hymns as a Scottish highland madman, to slithering across the stage as a drunk-as-a-skunk detective, Broderick McDonald is the one to watch when it comes to comedy gold.
The slapstick direction by George Benca kept the audience in fits of giggles. In particular, his clever use of props being thrust upon the stage as cinematic staging, allowing them to not only actively drive the story forward; but to add stylised theatrical trickery to The 39 Steps.
My favourites included a bubble gun machine used for the train and airplane smoke, and to depict foggy weather; the airplane props being held by two actors to depict spy planes in flight, the 1930’s wall telephone being thrust out for the actors to pick up and answer, the stuffed lambs that are brought onstage that block the enemies’ get-away car, and the surreptitious way that various members of the cast come onstage to create a huge prop - like the Flying Scotsman Train for example, as if they are in a play-within-a-play.
Very python-esque, n’est-ce-pas?
If you are looking for a historically-minded mystery show that is full of jocular banter, satirical wit and parody-like stylisation, smack dab in the genre of espionage-driven spy films, then The 39 Steps is definitely the show for you to indulge in this week.
The 39 Steps is playing from the 12th - 21st November 2026 at the Strathmore Theatrical Arts Group in Strathmore.
To book tickets to The 39 Steps, please visit https://www.trybooking.com/au/event/1528227.
Photographer: Lee Cook
