A step above the rest, or was it 39?

    Going to the Criterion Theatre Wednesday night was new and exciting for me. I have seen many shows in my time, but excluding certain amateur productions that my friends have performed in, every show I'd seen had been a musical. Naturally, going to see The 39 Steps was a great way to start this off. Plays on the West End suffer in such a way that Musicals benefit. Whenever you go to London, you expect to see posters of The Lion King riding past on a bus and you'll probably walk down the street afterwards humming Circle of Life. In the same way, I challenge you to spend a day in London and not see an ad for Wicked or Les Miserables. We also know their songs, and that attracts a greater audience. Play's don't benefit from this as much. Indeed they have a much smaller public eye in London. How then has the Mousetrap lasted so long versus some of the great showtunes of the early century? I don't know myself as I am yet to see Mousetrap, however this argument has a similar influence on The 39 Steps, which has been an eye catcher on Piccadilly Circus for many years now, but up until yesterday I knew very little about it. I knew straight away what I'd been missing out on. 

      The 39 Steps is an all round funny production that is likely to please audience members of all ages. I went in with no expectations, but it wouldn't have mattered much if I did. The play makes effective use of physical comedy to bring scenes from Alfred Hitchcock's classic to life in a brand new manner. Some of the brighter gags involve cast members Greg Haiste and Nick Holder taking on multiple roles without even stepping off stage. Another source of light hearted entertainment came from the satire of minimalistic theatre, particularly during a long cat and mouse scene taking place on a moving train. Another example of this is during a windstorm later on in the show. Both sequences were executed impressively by all cast members, especially Ben Righton, who took on the lead role of a man falsely accused of murder. Ellie Beaven, who also played several roles in the production, portrayed his love interest with exceptional elegance, although her highlight of comedy came earlier on when she played the murder victim in black in the first five minutes of the show. This is something I personally attribute to the script not giving her characters as much scope, although not something I consider to be an issue with the script. Alas the contrast only heightened the comedy for the remainder of the performance.

     Leaving the performance, I certainly felt light at heart and jolly. That is what a comedy is meant to do. The 39 Steps succeeds at the core purpose of a comedy, and that is why it stands out to me as an exceptional performance.