Legendary West End comedy The 39 STEPS opens in Melbourne next month

Tickets are now on sale for Hearth Theatre’s brand-new production of uproarious comedy classic The 39 Steps, a satirical homage to Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece that blends nail-biting suspense with a dash of Monty Python.

Playing Chapel Off Chapel from 8 March for a strictly limited two-week season, this Tony and Olivier Award-winning farce first took the West End by storm in 2006 and ran for an extraordinary 9 years, making it the fifth-longest running play in West End history.

Packed with non-stop laughs and laced with some good old-fashioned, film noir romance, The 39 Steps showcases the incredible talents of just four actors as they take on over 150 madcap characters and contend with an onstage plane crash, handcuffs and…missing fingers.

Theatre at its finest…absurdly enjoyable!” The New York Times

Hearth Theatre founder Charlie Cousins (ABC’s The Doctor Blake Mysteries) will direct and star in the ambitious four-hander alongside a remarkable cast including Sorab Kaikobad (ABC’s The Newsreader), Jackson McGovern (Australian Shakespeare Company’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and Yvette Turner (Hearth Theatre’s Death of a Salesman).

Cousins shared his excitement to bring this timeless hit to Melbourne audiences before the company embarks on a nationwide regional tour later this year.

This play is pure joy. In many ways, it feels like a love letter to theatre and the myriad performing styles that have emerged over the past century. It’s a clown show, a spy story, a thriller, a romance, all mixed with the most brilliant slapstick, vaudeville, and farce. The four actors are like a classic troupe of players trying to do the impossible and bring this epic story to life. We can’t wait to premiere the show at Melbourne’s glorious Chapel Off Chapel before touring it to regional centres around the country.

The 39 Steps follows on from the success of Hearth Theatre’s acclaimed 2022 production of Death of a Salesman, which received praise for its “highwire performance style” and “impressive histrionic feat” from the cast (The Age).

Hearth Theatre takes inspiration from legendary UK director Mike Alfreds’ ‘different every night’ rehearsal methodology, built around the idea of disciplined improvisation. The structure of a scene does not change, and the text is spoken as written, but the way actors play within a scene can vary each night, ensuring every performance is the most alive it can be.

A man with a boring life meets a woman with a thick accent who says she’s a spy. When he takes her home, she is murdered. Soon, a mysterious organization called ‘The 39 Steps’ is hot on the trail with a nationwide manhunt culminating in a death-defying finale. A riotous blend of virtuoso performances and wildly inventive stagecraft, The 39 Steps delivers an irresistible evening of pure theatrical magic.

The creative team includes Eloise Kent (Set & Costume Designer), Niklas Pajanti (Lighting Designer), Justin Gardam (Sound Designer) and Emma Parfitt (Production Manager & Associate Producer).

The 39 Steps is presented by Hearth Theatre by arrangement with Fiery Angel Limited, licensed by ITV Global Entertainment Limited from the original concept by Simon Corble & Nobby Dimon.

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Season Details

Venue: Hearth Theatre’s
Date: 8 – 17 Mar 2024

For more information click Here