{"id":62746,"date":"2025-07-13T17:21:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-13T17:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/62746\/"},"modified":"2025-07-13T17:21:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-13T17:21:08","slug":"review-the-39-steps-at-main-street-theater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/62746\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: The 39 Steps at Main Street Theater"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n For some shows, criticism is just beside the point. The 39 Steps<\/a>, now playing at Main Street Theater<\/a>, is one of those shows.\n <\/p>\n

\n
The whodunit, adapted by Patrick Barlow in 2006 from Alfred Hitchcock\u2019s 1935 black-and-white thriller of the same name (itself adapted from Scottish author John Buchan\u2019s 1915 novel) is a delightful parody, a two-act goof that, above all else, exists to make you laugh \u2013 and it will.\n <\/p>\n

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The setting is London, August 1935, and 37-year-old Canadian Richard Hannay is back in \u201cthe old country,\u201d and he\u2019s not having the best of times. In fact, he\u2019s in the midst of a \u201cno one would miss me\u201d spiral when he decides to distract himself with something \u201cmindless and trivial\u201d and \u201cutterly pointless\u201d \u2013 i.e., a night at the theater. While taking in an act from Mr. Memory, who boasts that he learns 50 new facts a day, a woman joins him only to abruptly shoot off a revolver out of nowhere and ask to go home with Hannay. He obliges. Back at his \u201cfashionable West End flat,\u201d the woman, Annabella Schmidt, tells Hannay two men in the theater were trying to kill her.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeautiful mysterious woman pursued by gunmen? Sounds like a spy story,\u201d Hannay says.\n <\/p>\n

\n
Annabella says that\u2019s exactly what it is, that there are government secrets on the line, and in short order is proven right. By morning, Annabella is dead \u2013 a knife in her back \u2013 and Hannay must not only clear his name, but get an answer to the question Annabella left him with: What are The 39 Steps?\n <\/p>\n

\n
If you evoke The 39 Steps today, it’s probably Barlow’s adaptation that comes to mind, and it\u2019s quite a feat that Barlow has managed to overshadow the Master of Suspense. And it\u2019s not undeserved. Barlow\u2019s script maintains the twisty-turny nature of the spy genre while leaning into the funny and irreverent at every one of those twists and turns. In terms of production, The 39 Steps is playground theater. It\u2019s a sandbox with plenty of room for imagination and inventiveness from creatives and cast.\n <\/p>\n

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The sandbox at Main Street is a stage that serves as a mostly blank, wooden canvas. It morphs into multiple locations with little \u2013 a few chairs, some trunks, one door, an occasional title card, and other miscellaneous props, courtesy of Rodney Walsworth. The actors play against Ryan McGettigan\u2019s set, partially framed with pieces from a cracked, broken stage arch and some drapes, with one elevated theater box stage right. It\u2019s got a peek-behind-the-curtain feel, with brick and rigging ropes visible, which perfectly matches the played-with-a-wink energy of the production.\n <\/p>\n

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That energy starts at the top, when the four-person cast comes out, bows, and sets the first scene before scurrying off. And if it sounds like you can\u2019t possibly pull off a compelling mystery with only four characters, especially one that travels from London to Scotland, you\u2019d be right. Luckily, these four \u2013 and, in particular, two of them \u2013 have more than a hundred roles between them and it\u2019s a treat to watch them move quickly between so many characters. This interplay in Barlow’s script can lend itself to a frenetic rhythm, but director Kara Greenberg keeps the production tightly leashed, her team moving speedily but with well-orchestrated precision and control.\n <\/p>\n

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Kevin Crouch is game for anything as Richard Hannay. He anchors the production as the only actor who never switches character and runs himself ragged around the stage with a playful gleam in his eye. As the show\u2019s lone actress, Meg Rodgers masterfully flirts with female archetypes of the era. She\u2019s the femme fatale as Annabella Schmidt; the ingenue as the shy, but curious and helpful Margaret; and the independent, screwball comedy heroine as Pamela. She\u2019s also dressed to the nines by costume designer Paige Willson, who provides a huge assist to the production with carefully chosen pieces \u2013 furs for Annabella, coats for the cops, tartan when we go into the Highlands, etc.\n <\/p>\n

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The two scene-stealing attractions in the production are undeniably Wesley Whitson and Chris Szeto-Joe as Clown 1 and Clown 2. They are the two that shoulder the vast majority of the roles, skipping between costumes and dialects to populate this world. Between them, they portray a milkman, a porter, a paperboy, salesmen who specialize in undergarments, henchmen, various members of law enforcement (policemen, inspectors, constables, sheriffs), hoteliers, and more. Often, they are something of a double act, and the chemistry (and timing) between them is a joy to watch.\n <\/p>\n

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It\u2019s also a pleasure to see how different items will be used (like the strategically hung industrial bowl pendant lights that cross the stage, or the ladder that lays quietly until it\u2019s needed in the second act) and how the actors will accomplish some of the more action-y set pieces. There is a chase outside of and atop a moving train, as well as a North by Northwest-style plane attack. David Gipson\u2019s lighting choices and Shawn W. St. John\u2019s sound designs are crucial to these moments, and they do a lot of heavy lifting throughout the production. But at the risk of spoilers and stepping on the jokes, I\u2019ll leave it at that.\n <\/p>\n

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Though gags abound in the show, Barlow\u2019s second act dips. Rest assured, though, that Whitson and Szeto-Joe as characters at a political assembly and an unexpected roadblock will get you through. The laughs won\u2019t stop, and you\u2019ll leave the theater with a smile on your face. Because though The 39 Steps may be \u201cmindless and trivial\u201d and \u201cutterly pointless,\u201d it\u2019s in the best possible way and all the more worthwhile for it. Who couldn\u2019t use a smile on their face right about now?\n <\/p>\n

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Performances will continue at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays through August 10 at Main Street Theater \u2013 Rice Village, 2540 Times Boulevard. For more information, call 713-524-6706 or visit mainstreettheater.com<\/a>. $45-$64.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For some shows, criticism is just beside the point. The 39 Steps, now playing at Main Street Theater,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":62747,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[4345,35787,44950,5039,9221,358,44949,1148,35789,3187],"class_list":{"0":"post-62746","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-houston","9":"tag-main-street-theater","10":"tag-parody","11":"tag-play","12":"tag-stage","13":"tag-texas","14":"tag-the-39-steps","15":"tag-theater","16":"tag-ticket-prices","17":"tag-tx"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114847081095286044","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}