Review of The 39 Steps, adapted by Patrick Barlow

Parker & Snell Company

Gaiety Theatre 27^th-29^th November 2025

Reviewed by: Sarah Lockyer

This Olivier and Tony Award-winning 2005 adaptation of the novel by John Buchan is a parody of Alfred’s Hitchcock’s 1935 film. The play’s concept calls for the entirety of the spy story to be performed by a cast of only four, giving the tale a wonderfully comic twist.

The story sees the hero, Richard Hannay, a disaffected London gent, getting drawn into a deadly international conspiracy while attending a West End show, where he meets a mysterious woman. When she is murdered in his apartment, he has to flee to Scotland, evading the police and the gang that killed her. His final encounter with the mastermind behind the espionage takes place back in the same London theatre, with his new-found love interest by his side.

The Gaiety is the perfect venue for the play, with use made of the boxes and aisles, especially in the final scene set in Palladium. The mood is established by a wonderfully evocative score of 1930s music which also pays tribute to the silent film era. Costumes are spot on, from Hannay’s tweeds to a Scottish crofter’s smock, and a plethora of wigs and hats provides plenty of visual gags. Staging is deliberately sparse and theatrical, with plenty of fun involving curtains and bits of furniture that are dragged in to use as everything from a steam train to the Forth Bridge. Running jokes include a lamppost that has to be pulled on and off stage several times in one scene, and a door that is wheeled around as characters go in and out of houses. Shadow puppetry showing Hannay racing across the moors pursued by policemen and aeroplanes is ingenious and hilarious, and the famous chase scene on the top of a train is created simply by characters hopping across trunks and flapping their coats to simulate the wind.

It is the acting that makes this production such a tour de force. Richard Hannay is portrayed expertly by Carl Parker, whose manner, accent and bearing make for the perfect, if often perplexed, hero. He does have the luxury of playing just the one character, while Lisa Kreisky creates his three romantic interests marvellously, shifting from femme fatale to Highland lass to platinum blonde with aplomb. The other dozens of characters, male and female, fall to the two ‘clowns’: Ben Hynes and Dave Shaw. Quick changes of hats, coats and accents—often within the same scene— bring to life, among others, a cockney milkman, a Scotland Yard detective, a music hall emcee, a Bond-style villain, bumbling policemen and virtually unintelligible Scottish hotel owners. Their comic timing is superb, and their energy remarkable!

The audience were clearly captivated by the whole experience and laughed throughout this comic whirlwind of a production. It was certainly a thoroughly entertaining show.

Studio Theatre at Ballakermeen, 7^th November 2025.
Reviewed by Anthony Lawler on behalf of the Manx Amateur Drama Federation

Introduction

Sponsored by the IOM Arts Council, ‘Remember Me to All at Home’ is a tribute to the fallen of both World Wars. With two award winning plays ‘The Perfect Gentleman’ by Sharon Walker and ‘Shelter’ by Jenny Derbyshire, (both of whom are Isle of Man residents) and performances from the Isle of Man Arts Council Choir. Both plays are set in World War I and World War II, respectively, and were performed by their original cast.

Production Overview

The production opened with a selection of songs from the first world war period, sung by the fantastic Isle of Man Arts Council Choir led by conductor Mandy Griffin and accompanied by John Riley the audience were encouraged to sing along, which set the atmosphere ready for the first performance, A Perfect Gentleman. Written by Sharon Walker, this play takes you on a thought provoking and emotional journey of one young soldier’s experience during the first world war. The play was inspired from the letters written home of Lt Cyril Gordon Walker MC to his family.

There was a short interval followed by a return of the choir who gave us songs from the second world war period, which led into the second play of the evening, Shelter. Written by Jenny Derbyshire, this was another thought-provoking piece of work set in an Anderson Shelter where a husband and wife, Will and Mary face the realities of war and relive the horrors of the past. While not a true story this play is based on two very real people and from where the title of the evening stemmed from, a letter from Will Derbyshire written in 1940 in which he pens “remember me to all at home”

Performance Highlights

Let’s start with The Perfect Gentleman – Three Actors took to the stage to perform this play and while I will not spoil the plot or how the performance was presented, I will say that all three were outstanding bringing not only their characters to life but, through their performances, brought us, the audience, into the world of Lt Walker and what he endured during his time at the front.

Shelter – This play sets a very different tone, with only two actors on stage who take us on another emotional journey of loss, love and hope. Again, with a powerful script and amazing acting you are transported into this very real story of a husband and wife who are trying to make sense of what is happening to them while trying to reconcile the past. The chemistry between the two actors is fantastic to see as they bring this story to life.

Direction & Technical Elements

Both plays used minimal staging and set, however, what was used was perfect. It transported you into the living room of a family reading letters from their loved one at war. And in the case of Shelter, into that Anderson shelter where the story unfolded. There really was no need for a dramatic set or fancy costumes, the acting and the scripts were enough.

Audience & Atmosphere

With a full house, the atmosphere was tangible. Ballakermeen Theatre Studio was made for these intimate performances and these two plays brought everyone there on an emotional journey from start to finish. I must admit I had a tear in my eye at one point and on more than one occasion the hairs were standing up on the back of my neck.

Final Thoughts

What an amazing night’s entertainment, thought provoking, emotional, and so very worth watching. If you get the chance to see any of these two plays either together or separately then do so. You will not be disappointed.