For many people, and certainly for cineastes, “The 39 Steps” calls to mind the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock thriller, which with a 96-percent top critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, leaves in its dust the 1959, 1978, and 2008 remakes.
However, there is also a play written in 2005 by Patrick Barlow, based, like the film, on the 1915 novel by John Buchan, but also on a previous version of the play by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon, who were the first to reimagine the novel for the stage.
The Hampton Theatre Company will open its production of “The 39 Steps” next Thursday at the Quogue Community Hall. It will continue through June 7.
Barlow’s play follows the unlikely adventures of Richard Hannay, an ordinary man swept up into a web of intrigue after meeting a mysterious woman with a dangerous secret. Accused of murder and pursued by both the police and a spy ring, Hannay must race across the country to clear his name and uncover the truth behind “The 39 Steps.”
Unlike the films, however, the play, which won the Olivier Award for best comedy in 2007, has a cast of four actors playing dozens of eccentric characters. The result is quick changes, physical comedy, and ingenious stagecraft.
When it opened in New York City in 2008, Ben Brantley of The New York Times called it an “absurdly enjoyable, gleefully theatrical riff on Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 film” and a “fast, frothy exercise in legerdemain [that] is throwaway theater at its finest. And that’s no backhanded compliment.”
Directed by Catherine Clyne, who helmed HTC’s “Boeing Boeing” last year, the cast features one veteran of the company, Eric Clavell, who first appeared in the theater’s 2010 production of “Mauritius” and plays multiple roles as Clown 1. Making their debuts in Quogue are Adam Mosebach as Hannay, Kevin Clyne in multiple roles as Clown 2, and Anna Tatishvili as Annabella Schmidt, Margaret, and Pamela.
Performance times are 7 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, with Sunday matinees at 2:30. There will be an additional matinee on June 6. The performances on May 29 and June 5 will be followed by conversations with the creative team.
Tickets are $40, $36 for senior citizens, and $25 for students under 25.
