CEDAR CITY — Each year the Utah Shakespeare Festival typically offers up a fan-favorite light-hearted comedy. This offering usually draws in and satisfies audiences with perhaps less of a penchant for the bard, and adds variety to the season. The production in the crowd-pleaser slot this year is The 39 Steps, a parody of a 1930s era mystery, adapted by Patrick Barlow (from the novel by John Buchan, from the movie by Alfred Hitchcock with original concept by Nobby Dimon and Simon Corble…phew!). And crowd please it does.
The 39 Steps is a farce within a parody within a mystery and is masterfully written. The show requires only four actors to play over 150 roles and much of its comedy stems from one absurd quick character change after another (sometimes simultaneously), often with a simple on-stage hat or prop swap. The show is physically and comically demanding of its actors, especially of the two clowns who play all but five of the characters, and must therefore be carefully cast. The USF production’s four actors are capable comically and physically, and do the script justice.
From left to right (Tom Coiner, Michael Doherty, Tracie Lane, Baily Savage) Photo by Karl Hugh. Copyright Utah Shakespeare Festival 2024.
Director Aaron Galligan-Stierle’s director’s note describes USF’s production as being set in “an empty theatre space in London” where actors decide to put on a production using what is available to them in that space. I learned at the festival play seminar held in the grove between the Englstad and Jones theatres the morning following that much of what is used on the stage was indeed just pulled from the festival’s large stock of props, costumes and set dressings. Walking into the auditorium I noticed that the entire upstage wall was made of corrugated metal, with a shelf full of props against it. A rack of costumes, furniture pieces scattered about, and a small antique radio were set on a trunk downstage, with the radio as the apparent source of the 1930s music playing in the space. The show begins casually. The four actors appear on the stage; one with a broom sweeping the stage, another with a costume piece, another with a pipe, and they begin to goof around with the props, costumes and each other. The music is interrupted by the preshow announcement which seems to come from the radio, as Michael Doherty, who plays Clown 1, apes the announcement, transitioning the audience into the actual start of the show. This preshow begins to set the tone for the over-the-top silliness that ensues.
Galligan-Stierle describes the show as “a love letter to the theater” and his love for the script and the theater is apparent. With little explicit stage direction in the script, the director and cast are free to solve these problems as creatively as they like. In the train chase scene the actors play with perspective as travel trunks evolve from train car seating to the train cars themselves as the chase moves on top of the train and characters leap from one trunk to the next. At one point the whole scene is literally turned on its side giving the audience a top down view of train passengers with Richard Hannay, played adeptly by Tom Coiner, being blown along the “outside” of the train. Other creative staging moments include the fall from the fourth bridge, accomplished with three ladders, and the plane chase done with a shadow puppet created with light from a clamshell stage footlight.
Production values are simple but with an attention to detail that works well. Lighting by Claire Chrzan is effective with elements like a train light momentarily blinding the audience for impact and vivid colored washes against the corrugated upstage wallt. Sound design by Jennifer Jackson is fun and adds to the comedy with repeated, drawn out off stage crash/fall bits, complete with a screeching cat trope.
Photo by Karl Hugh. Copyright Utah Shakespeare Festival 2024.
USF’s 39 Steps leans heavily into the farce, creating a show that is overflowing with sheer absurdity. The physicality required by the four actors is daunting in the most basic production, but USF’s production turns that physicality up even further—significantly further. The pacing of the production is extremely fast, which is good in that it doesn’t drag. But it also means that some moments– especially when the near constant inanity is layered over the myriad of dialects and sound effects–get lost in the chaos and are difficult to understand. This happens in the train sequence for example, where the speed, chaos, character switching and train sound effects muddle the dialogue. Such moments would have benefited from tapping the breaks slightly and toning down the farce.
This extreme silliness is particularly evident in the clowns, played by Michael Doherty and Bailey Savage, whose physical comedy and comedic timing are outstanding. Typically the clowns are played by two men, so it was refreshing to see a woman in the Clown 2 role. Doherty as Clown 1 is a masterful comedic actor, and Savage as Clown 2, can certainly hold her own as well in terms of comic timing and physicality. Tracie Lane, who plays all the primary female roles is also strong, and likewise leans into the over the top comedy, particularly with the Annabella Schmidt character and dialect. Coiner creates a strong character presence in Richard Hannay, physically and vocally, which at times is overshadowed by all the clowning within the production
One of the strongest recurring gags in the show involves taking a simple action and drawing it out to comedic extremes. This occurs in the train sequences in several ways and with the crucial Mr. Memory character. The most successful long gag is when Hannay stumbles into a political rally and is made to wait as the old man (played by Savage) shuffles painfully slowly setting up a chair, then repeats the bit with a second chair. This bit feels like it lasts at least five solid minutes and earned audible groans and laughs.
From left to right (Baily Savage, Tracie Lane, Tom Coiner, Michael Doherty) Photo by Karl Hugh. Copyright Utah Shakespeare Festival 2024.
The constant high level of absurd physical comedy results in a production that is fairly one-dimensional, creating one long-gag out of the show itself. I enjoyed this aspect of the production, but it might feel excessive to some theatre goers. The show would have benefited from some nuance, variance and character development throughout. I do think there is a lost opportunity in this production. Galligan-Stierle director’s note says that the heart of the show is a love story where two lonely people (Hannay and Pamela) find each other and a “reason to live and a reason to love.” If this is truly the heart of the show, USF’s production falls short of conveying that. The romance is almost an afterthought to the heightened frenetic comedy of the production and certainly doesn’t come across as the heart of the production. I would counter that the heart of USF’s production is its very comic absurdity. The play is meant to be a good time, and it emphatically achieves that.
For those who love over-the-top humor and are looking for a fun respite from the more classical festival offerings as well as a break from the Southern Utah heat (the Randall Jones Theatre is highly air-conditioned, so bring a sweater), USF’s The 39 Steps is uproariously entertaining and fills its role in the 2024 season well.
