APT’s The 39 Steps Owes More To Charlie Chaplin Than To Alfred Hitchcock

In less than a month’s time, I have been privileged to see two plays based on iconic 20th Century movies. First was the Milwaukee Rep’s It’s A Wonderful Life Radio Play and now the American Players Theater, The 39 Steps. Of course, the anticipation before both of these plays was intensified by my curiosity around how these wonderful theater companies were going to translate such memorable movies to the stage.

The underlying premise for Hitchcock’s film of the common man getting caught up in a web of deceit and intrigue and coming out the hero is absurd. Absurd! Keep that word in front of mind because Patrick Barlow’s adaptation is going to plunge us into the absurd! Barlow’s adaptation is loosely based on the film. Loosely! The basic story line remains intact: it’s a spy thriller and our hero gets caught up with a femme fatale German spy, runs across Europe trying to solve the puzzle, is falsely accused of murder, is chased by henchmen and police, is tempted by a number of captivating women, and triumphs in the end. Now, after that, take all of your preconceived notions on how that happens and what is said and throw them out the rear window (sorry, there should have been a spoiler alert there since I just twisted a joke from the play to my own devices. warning: I may do it again).

Just what do we have here? Well as director John Taylor Phillips mentions in his note in the playbill, “If Alfred Hitchcock and Monty Python had a theatrical baby, it might look something like Patrick Barlow’s adaptation…”. Yes indeed, there is certainly a resemblance to Python humor…but I also sense a great deal of Charlie Chaplin…and the interactions between Nate Burger and Casey Hoekstra, probably owe something to Stan Laurel and Oliver Harvey as well. And although I have to credit Phillips with a cinematic vision across this small stage…there is no way this would have happened without the ensemble being wholly committed and inwolved (sic !!). And Phillips takes great care, great care indeed, to poke fun at any number of cinematic and theatrical norms and structures throughout. Half the fun is finding them and recognizing them as they occur. And Barlow has baked in a few references to other things Hitchcock. like my reference to Rear Window above. Every Hitchcock fan will delight in those. And I believe the trunks scattered and moved around the set to act as beds, chairs, tables, rail car seating, car seats, and the roofs (why isn’t that rooves?) of train cars, actually seem to resemble the one in Rope. Keep your eyes and ears open for Hitch references. Is this Barlow’s means of providing a Hitchcock cameo?

There are four actors in the show. Three of them play multiple roles…a couple of them dozens of characters. It gets very complicated and confusing…it’s a miracle that it all works so well.

Marcus Truschinski plays our protagonist, Richard Hannay (or Hammond or Highsmith or Hwhatever). He plays the role for all that it is worth, rising to the occasion as attractive females fawn over him, pretend to fawn over him, or actually fall over him in their death throe. Truschinski keeps his cool and pursues the solution to the mystery presented him. He proves himself to be the consummate comic actor as he gets himself out of any number of tight spots. Besides acting the quick witted and glib tongued Hannay, Truschinski also simulates the varying ‘death defying’ stunts that always enable his last minute escapes! Some of his implied escapades, to me, are reminiscent of Chaplin movie stunts.

Laura Rook gets to play three entrancing but completely different female roles. We first meet her as Annabella Schmidt, our femme fatale German spy, as she reveals the plot to Hannay just before she breathes her last in his apartment. Rook’s German accent is an ear stretching exercise in its own wit. And then she moves on to the woman who meets Hannay on the train as he dashes into her compartment and embraces her to avoid the police in pursuit…but she turns him in. And again later she turns him in but eventually comes around to understand he is telling the truth. Rook is wonderful in her transition from insulted to enamored. And finally she shows her coquettish side as she plays the young wife of a farmer who agrees to put Hannay up for the night (wink wink) Three visions of beauty, three accents, three very different characters…and Rook smoothly moves from one to the other.

And then we come to the Clowns. Now, no actual clowns were harmed in the making of this production and no actual clowns take part. Instead clowns here is the descriptive term that lets us know what activities Nate Burger and Casey Hoekstra are going to embark in. They are about to play multiple roles, many of them slapstick, many as a pair or duo, and here’s where I feel the Laurel and Hardy influences come into play. They play spies, policemen, salesmen on a train, a Scottish couple running a hotel, and the aforementioned young wife and older farmer. Sometimes in quick unison and sometimes back and forth and back and forth. And each time with change in costume and accent and age…and sometimes gender. In through the out door and wig on wig off or give me the other wig. And there is a moment on the train as they squeeze around the compartment that does seem like a clown car skit at the circus. These gentlemen are completely fluid and nonplussed through it all, and absolutely hilarious. One paean to Hitchcock, and I got lost in transition, but I think this bit belongs to Hoekstra, but as he plays a police officer on the rail platform talking with someone on the train. He speaks in a voice oddly reminiscent of a certain James Stewart! Bravo.

Besides director John Taylor Phillips who kept this all straight and moving in a jagged line, there are two other heroes here who don’t appear on stage. Scenic designer, Nathan Stubar, who made a city, railway, manor, hotel, moors, car, and biplane out of nothing right here on stage in the Touchstone Theater. A couple of step ladders and a cross ladder become a very effective and believable bi-plane! And costume designer, Holly Payne, who managed to keep the costumes in place at the exact moment they were needed and looking precisely right for the character…and if someone else besides Payne was responsible for the wigs on the clowns, give them a gold star for this season ender.

And one more thing: we don’t need no stinking sound effects when the director allows the cast to channel their inner eight year old selves and make the appropriate noises! And those of you sitting front row? You may end up being inwolved for a moment or two.

And as promised, Spoiler Alert (dad joke): When is a picture frame, not a picture frame? When it’s a rear window!

The 39 Steps runs in the American Players Theatre’s Touchstone Theater through November 30, 2025 but most shows are sold out so call the box office, just in case: More info here!

Extra Credit reading: the Playbill!

Recommended reading: ^^John Taylor Phillips Director’s Note! ^^