What to Know About The 39 Steps: 10 Fun Facts About the Comedy

The Utah Shakespeare Festival is thrilled to have The 39 Steps in our 2024 play lineup. A thrilling comedy that blends farce, suspense, and romance, this play is a must-see for patrons in the upcoming season. Before you attend the theatre, here are some fun things you may want to know about this show.

1. Director Aaron Galligan-Stierle was in the Festival’s first and most recent production of The 39 Steps. This season, he will be directing the play. In 2010, he played the role of one of the two clowns.

   “I am thrilled to bring with me many lessons from that production as well as rediscover, reinvent, and reconsider many of the elements with a new team of collaborators,” Galligan-Stierle recently said.

2. The 39 Steps started as a novel written in 1915 by John Buchan and has since inspired many a mystery story. Later, it became an Alfred Hitchcock film in 1935, and the British Film Institute named it the fourth greatest British film of all time.

3. The play has been adapted for the screen three times, and, announced in 2021, is set to be adapted as a limited series on Netflix starring Benedict Cumberbatch.

   

4. Because the play follows an innocent man accused of a crime, this was the first of many of Hitchcock’s films that followed the “wrong man” theme.

5. Galligan-Stierle is using the inspiration of film noir, and hopes audience members will feel as if they’re in a movie theatre, “but somehow experiencing something so much better than a movie by using theatrical conventions and stage magic to consistently delight and surprise.”

6. The call for a small cast requires that each actor play a plethora of characters onstage, which is where the comedy finds its place. In fact, the cast of four actors play over 150 characters(!) and they reenact all of the characters, locations, and famous scenes in Hitchcock’s 1935 film with only a few props and a ton of theatrical ingenuity and split-second quick changes.

7. The first version of this play was funded by Yorkshire Arts Grant for only 1,000 euros.

8. The production hit London’s West End in 2006 and closed in 2015, making it the fifth longest running play in West End history.

   

9. The 39 Steps won the 2007 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy and two Tony Awards in 2008.

10. Surprisingly, it’s been speculated that parts of The 39 Steps are autobiographical. Richard Hannay is said to have similar qualities to one of Buchan’s friends.

For those that are new to theatre, longtime theatre-goers, or families, The 39 Steps is sure to entertain a variety of audience members. It’s not too early to purchase tickets. Don’t wait! Visit bard.org for more information.