Editor’s note: After press time on Tuesday, the Monitor was notified the play has been postponed to Feb. 24-26 due to illness within the cast.
The Community Players of Concord, NH will be presenting the comedy The 39 Steps on February 17 through 19 at Concord City Auditorium.
Based on Alfred Hitchcock’s classic movie that thrilled audiences in 1935, the stage version is now a “comic thrill ride” performed by a cast of only five actors. Adapted by Patrick Barlow, this 2005 comedy hit played in London’s West End for nine years and was nominated for six Tony Awards on Broadway in 2008.
Like the Hitchcock thriller which first put the fast-paced, location-shifting spy thriller on the screen, The 39 Steps tells the story of an ordinary man flung into extraordinary circumstances. When a female spy is murdered in his London flat, Richard Hannay is chased by a team of killers across England and Scotland, defying death in one seemingly inescapable scrape after another – including a romance!
Based on a 1915 spy novel by John Buchan, Patrick Barlow’s adaptation not only spoofs old movies and Hitchcock tropes (Psycho, Vertigo, etc.), but also adds a dash of Monty Python comedy as five actors instantly transform into over 150 characters with lightning precision.
Kevin Gardner, well-known author, commentator and theatre director in New Hampshire, directs the Community Players’ February presentation. Having directed the Shakespeare program at St. Paul’s School, numerous plays at Plymouth State, as well as at New Hampshire’s professional summer theatres, Kevin is happy to be returning to The Players, where he began appearing in plays as a teenager with his family in the 1960s.
The multi-talented cast of The 39 Steps includes Todd Bubier (of Manchester) in the role of the pursued everyman-with-movie-star-looks, “Richard Hannay.” Todd is the only actor who plays one role in the show. Julia Kehr (of Concord) and Suzanne Watts (of Penacook) are playing, respectively, “Margaret” and “Pamela” as well as other roles. Julia was seen in the Community Players’ The Farnsworth Invention and Suzanne in Last Gas. Seth Bunke (of Boscawen) and Daniel Kehr (of Concord) are listed as “Clown 1” and “Clown 2.” Both actors bring technical polish and unbridled passion for comedy to over 100 roles they’ll be playing in the comic tour de force on the City Auditorium stage in The 39 Steps.
Wayland Bunnell, Sharon Sweet, Ellen Burger and Allwynne Fine produce the upcoming February production.
Performance dates and times for The 39 Steps are Friday, Feb. 17 at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Feb. 18 at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, Feb. 19 at 2 p.m. Tickets are now available online at communityplayersofconcord.org. Adult tickets are $20 and student/senior tickets are $18.