It took me a while to decide whether or not I was going to include plays in my “25 Books in 2012” challenge. I came to the conclusion that since I do spend a great deal of time reading (and re-reading, and re-re-reading) the plays that I’m currently working on, I would count them as books and they would go toward my 25. Anyway, I’m getting off topic.

Being a big Alfred Hitchcock fan myself, I found this piece of comedy to be delightful. It is light-hearted enough to poke fun at the ultra-heightened drama of the typical Hitchcock film, while still staying true enough to the story to keep it within the confines of farce. Patrick Barlow takes all of the characters in Hitchcock’s original movie and doles them out to four actors. Some of the gags are written in, such as references to several Hitchcock movies, and some are left open to interpretation. Part of what makes this script (and ultimately, the production that comes from it) so successful is that there are endless possibilities to elaborate and compound the comic factor to suit the cast. I found The 39 Steps to be a pleasant, quick read with a lot of promise, leading me into my first production of the year with confidence.

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