High jinks, high energy and a highly enjoyable night with the British Comedy Company
What better way to spend a Sunday evening than sitting in the Back Room of the Star Inn, Guildford in the presence of the British Comedy Company. The band of merry players is presenting The 39 Steps… I Counted Them – which is billed as a ‘Goons-style mash-up of John Buchan’s iconic spy story and Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film’ - as part of this year’s Guildford Fringe Festival, and what a romp it is!
Staged as a ‘live’ radio play, chaos ensues as our redoubtable hero Richard Hannay (played with great style by the languorous Peter Wear, think Joh le Mesurier in Dad’s Army) battles his way through a highly convoluted plot by way of mistaken identity, murder and mayhem to eventually unmask the mysterious Black Stone and save good old Blighty from ruin.
The cast of four: Wear, Steve Steen, Jack Vaughan, Flip Webster are masterful in their myriad roles which range from Scottish crofter to German spy with every conceivable permutation in between.
The action fairly rattles along as we journey with Hannay from London’s West End to the Highlands and back again. There are plenty of nods to the current state of the country and our relationship with our continental neighbours, which concurrently drew groans and cheers from the audience, while the occasional slip of the tongue and adlib all added to the performance. The musical accompaniment – enthusiastically performed by Anthony Ingle helped to build the tension and my daughter and I particularly enjoyed the on-stage sound effects!
The Back Room of the Star Inn was the perfect venue for this production and the full house was rightly very appreciative of what was a splendid production!
The Guildford Fringe Festival runs until July 30 and is packed with theatre, comedy, cabaret and music. Tickets are very reasonably priced and many events are free! For more information and tickets, visit: guildfordfringefestival.com
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