NEWPORT Playgoers are all set to start their 90th season with a bang – by presenting the actionpacked, fun-filled stage version of Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps.

Imagine four actors playing 139 characters in 100 minutes and you get an idea of the mystery, madness and mayhem involved.

Audiences will find plenty of thrills and spills as they follow the adventures of stiff-upperlipped Richard Hannay as he flees spies, the police and killers in his quest to answer the question: what is the secret of the 39 Steps?

Hannay – a tongue-in-cheek 1930s James Bond – woos every attractive lady in sight and jumps through windows and onto trains as he tries to escape villainous enemy agents.

Director Lynn Phillips said: “Anyone who has seen Hitchcock’s 1935 film will be sure to love it as we take audiences to a variety of locations, including a train, the wilds of Scotland and the London Palladium.”

The 39 Steps adapted by Patrick Barlow from the novel by John Buchan and the Hitchcock film is at the Dolman Theatre from September 11 – 14 at 7.15 pm, with an extra matinee on the Saturday at 2.30 pm.

To book tickets call 01633 263670 or visit www.dolmantheatre.co.uk