The Olivier award-winning thriller The 39 Steps will receive its in-the-round UK premiere at the SJT this summer.
Patrick Barlow’s adaptation of the legendary book and movie played for nine years in London’s West End before two years on Broadway and then in over 39 countries. It is a brilliant, fast-moving spoof including legendary scenes such as the chase on the Flying Scotsman, the escape from the Forth Bridge, the first ever theatrical bi-plane crash and a death-defying (well nearly) finale.
Paul Robinson says: “This gripping and hilarious four-person whodunit was an original idea of North Country Theatre before being adapted by Patrick Barlow who turned it into a global smash. Now, The 39 Steps makes its return to North Yorkshire after an absence of over 20 years – and we can’t wait to share it with our audience.”
The central character of Richard Hannay is played by Sam Jenkins-Shaw, a co-founder of Out of the Forest theatre company, and a co-creator of their show Bury the Hatchet, which has just returned from a US tour. He has also been seen in Future Conditional at the Old Vic and The Bashful Lover at the Globe.
Playing no less than 138 other characters between them are:
Amelia Donkor, who was in James Graham’s The Culture – A Farce in Two Acts at Hull Truck Theatre earlier this year. She has also been seen in What Shadows at Birmingham Rep, Lyceum Edinburgh and The Park Theatre and Villette at West Yorkshire Playhouse.
Laura Kirman is an associate artist of Mischief Theatre Company and has appeared in their Olivier Award-winning The Play That Goes Wrong, and in Peter Pan Goes Wrong. She has also been seen in Vice Versa and Dido, Queen of Carthage at the RSC.
Niall Ransome is a member of Mischief Theatre Company, and has also appeared in The Play That Goes Wrong and Peter Pan Goes Wrong plus, on BBC radio, The Christmas That Goes Wrong. Other work includes The Comedy about a Bank Robbery (Criterion) and Romeo and Juliet (The Rose Playhouse).
The 39 Steps can be seen in the Round at the SJT, in rep, from Thursday 21 June to Saturday 23 August. Tickets are available from the box office on 01723 370541 and online at www.sjt.uk.com
