The 39 Steps Review

Overall Rating

Two of the actors (Charles Edwards and Arnie Burton) managed the material, Edwards by underplaying, with satiric style; the others chewed the scenery, often shouting their lines -- and their "asides" directly at the audience.

Script should have been "a play within a play" -- apparently supposed to be about a severely limited little acting company -- limited in no. of actors, stagehand assistance, and sets -- diligently trying to mount a stage production of "The 39 Steps." But because the actors are never allowed to come out of character to each other, we merely get "39 Steps as 39 Mis-steps." It's a heavy handed, repetitive, poorly paced burlesque of a play, lacking the precision and "innocence" of true farce.

Besides boringly repetitive running sight gags, we have actors who tell us their problems, instead of acting the frustration of trying to do things right within their ridiculously limited resources. It should be their frustration we laugh at, and they should race from one frustration/gag to the next. Can't imagine The 39 Steps being such a hit in the West End, nor making it on Broadway. It seems quite amateurish.