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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Our View: Three elections that matter right now ... The Concord launches ... Mail Tribune 100: Oct. 20, 1915 ... Our View: Three elections that matter right now ... The Concord launches ... Mail Tribune 100: Oct. 20, 1915 ... THEATER REVIEW Review: Hitchcock meets Monty Python in OCT's 'The 39 Steps' Comment By Bill Varble for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Bill Varble for the Mail Tribune Posted Sep. 12, 2015 at 8:34 PM By Bill Varble for the Mail Tribune Posted Sep. 12, 2015 at 8:34 PM » Social News Adapting a movie to the stage is a tricky business. For the rather funny “The 39 Steps,” which just opened at Oregon Cabaret Theatre, the journey took almost a century. John Buchan’s novel came out in 1915, and by far the best-known of several film versions was Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 classic. In 2005, the English actor and playwright Patrick Barlow re-wrote an earlier stage play based on Hitchcock’s script, and that’s the version playing at OCT. The key thing to note is that the play keeps all the elements of Hitchcock’s treatment while reimagining the thriller as a farce. There’s handsome English bachelor Richard Hannay (John Stadelman), who is unwittingly ensnared in a mysterious (and quite Hitchcockian) espionage caper from which he must escape. There are mysterious heavies on his trail (Justin Waggle as Clown 1 and Stephen Kline as Clown 2). There are the cops (or maybe they’re not the cops). And of course, there’s The Woman (Katie Worley), Hannay’s beautiful and mysterious love interest. OK, there’s lots of mystery. For the most part, despite a few slow moments, it mixes quite well with the laughs. The play is neo-classic English farce, with silly, exaggerated characters, extravagant situations, a byzantine plot (don’t even ask!), physical humor, cross-dressing, and, of course, lots of funny business coming and going through lots of doors and windows. Central to the fun is that just four actors play innumerable characters, changing right in front of the audience into spies, fake cops, railroad personnel, a milkman, a maid, politicians, innkeepers and a salesman of what used to be called ladies’ foundation garments. There are funny props (a fake arm, a large puppet). There are those comic Scottish burrrrrrrrrrs. Never mind the plot. There’s not room, and you wouldn’t follow anyway. There’s a terrific chase scene on a train roaring through the countryside. There’s a menacing airplane (think “North by Northwest"). There are country inns whose weird keepers seem to have stepped out of a Monty Python skit. There are sheep. The acting is strong throughout. Stadelman and Worley are spot-on as the man and woman whose instant antipathy to each other tell us they’ll fall in love. Kline and Waggle make the most of parts (lots of parts) to die for, some of which are more fully realized than others (hey, it’s a farce). And yet, despite lots of laughs, the production is not end-to-end hysterical. Maybe it’s the script, which insists on stuffing the thing full of all that Hitchcock stuff to parody. Maybe it’s Rick Robinson’s direction, which gets up a head of steam here and there but overall could have been more frenetic, even a little frenzied. Faster is usually funnier. Whatever the reasons, the production lagged in spots. One such is a long, not particularly funny political speech Hannay makes during which the action comes to a halt. Another is a scene in which Hannay and The Woman, hating each other and handcuffed together, are forced to sleep in the same bed. The scene is along one with few laughs. In comedy, timing is everything, and especially farce. It could be that “The 30 Steps” will sharpen as its run goes on. I’m not saying it’s not funny, just that it hasn’t yet achieved that razor edge that is the sine qua non of farce. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t see it. By Bill Varble for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Bill Varble for the Mail Tribune Posted Sep. 12, 2015 at 8:34 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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