Milwaukee Rep Takes ‘39 Steps’ in New Direction

As with so many genres, it’s difficult to track the origins of espionage thrillers. They proliferated in an era when writers cranked out as many stories as possible just to scratch out a living, making it hard to know which authors invented which stylistic conventions. There’s no disputing, however, that one of the genre’s founding writers was John Buchan. His novel The 39 Steps was a huge hit that moved from page to screen to stage with ease. And on Jan. 11, 2011, it makes its way to the Milwaukee Rep.

The 39 Steps even gripped the imagination of one of the world’s most acclaimed filmmakers, Alfred Hitchcock, with its plot that fuses personal and political conflicts in the now-familiar convention of a man on the run. The Rep’s stage adaptation of The 39 Steps takes something of a satirical look at the classic suspense thriller. The Patrick Barlow script calls for four actors to play dozens of roles in quick changea theatrical convention that never seems to become tiresome to audiences. It’s the type of show that is content to emphasize fun over more cerebral concerns.

The Milwaukee Rep should be the ideal company to bring Barlow’s comic adaptation to the stage for its local premiere. Though the current season has not allowed its actors as much time together as in seasons past, the Resident Acting Company has been working together for years, developing the type of chemistry that should work really well for rapid-fire comedy.

The Milwaukee Rep’s production of The 39 Steps runs Jan. 11-Feb. 13, 2011, at the Quadracci Powerhouse.