Newport Playgoers Society began their season with quite a few ‘bangs’ as a stellar cast of four took Patrick Barlow’s spoof adaptation of John Buchan’s The 39 Steps to a new level. Heavily dependant on the versatility and capability of the cast, David Constand, Ros Jones-Griffiths, Richard Dymond and Jes Hynes more than met the challenge and delivered an evening of tongue-in-cheek hilarity.
The plot remains faithful to the novel. The dashing, oh so British, Hannay, played meticulously by David Constant, is wrongly accused of murder and dashes to the Highlands to act on the glamorous victim's last words and try and unravel the mystery of the 39 Steps.
The comedy and utter absurdity arrives when the three other cast members mesmerisingly take on the remaining roles of underwear salesmen, spies, bungling detectives, officious policemen and crooks as well as numerous female roles at break-neck pace (and occasionally simultaneously) in order to sustain the plot.
The sparse set adds to the comedy and endless door and window manoeuvres, moveable lampposts, manic headgear swapping and a train fight scene over the Forth Bridge, in which three crates defy all credibility and actually become a train, remain memorable.
The utter ridiculousness of the situation is perfectly highlighted towards the end when a cleverly staged, female wig is left clearly visible underneath a villain’s trilby. Great entertainment with physical and verbal humour at its best.
The production runs until Saturday.
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