The 39 Steps

          This show has been in the West End since 2006. It was first at the Tricycle Theatre for a month and then moved to its current home, the Criterion Theatre in Piccadilly Circus. I have never been to this theatre before, even when I was younger. For some reason, and I'm not really sure why, I've never really been interested in seeing this show. This is a very unique theatre in London. From the outside you would be forgiven for thinking the building you see from the street is the theatre. That isn't the case. The actual theatre is entirely underground. Surprisingly, even though this is the case I had an extremely good 3G connection on my phone.

          The show is based around the Alfred Hitchock film from 1935, the first of 4 film versions with a fifth "in development" by director Robert Towne. Hitchcock based his film on the 1915 book (of the same name) by John Buchan, though the the film departs substantially from its literary predecessor. As you can see from the image above, the play still has Hitchcock's name on it. As I said before I've never seen the show but I have also never seen any of the film versions, nor have I read the original book, so the story is entirely new to me. I was really looking forward to the fact the show only has 4 actors and I was wondering just how interesting/gripping this would be. After all the only thing I knew about it was that it involved a man and a train. Mind you anyone could guess tiaras the advertisements kind of give that away.
 

          The theatre itself is lovely, though one could say its very 'girly' with an excessive amount of red and pink. When sitting in the stalls, if you sit any further back than row L, there is a possibility you may be sat directly behind a pillar and therefore see very little of the stage. I was thankfully in row L and I had a brilliant view. From the outside it looks like a fairly normal and unassuming building, however you can't acctually see the theatre from the street. What one sees from street level is infact a hotel and a restaurant. The theatre itsself is entirely underground. If you find steps hard, go prepared for the decent. Being entirely underground makes it a very unique theatre in London. The audience was a good mix of ages and infact there was a large school group of young people who must have been no older than 13/14. 

          The set was lovely and simple but was used to an absolutely brilliant standard. The cast also acted brilliant, well maybe that's a bit of an overstatement, and infact made the show seem a lot more like an improv than a wel rehired show. These two things combined with the lack of an extensive amount of costumes and actors made the show seem more like something one imagines one might have seen at an old variety theatre. The show is funny, though not exactly laugh out loud. This was mainly helped by Greg Haiste and Nick Holder who play characters both simple called 'Man'. Their OTT performances and brilliant comic timing add another comic level to what is already a funny show. 
 

          There are lots of Hitchcock references throughout the show, which I'm sure most young people would miss. For them though, and adults who don't get the references, the show is still massively entertIning. Definitely one you can take the whole family to see as it verges close to slapstick. I hope they take that as a compliment as that's certainly how I mean it. Tickets and Info