REVIEW: Small cast of 'The 39 Steps' works hard to have a lot of fun

Dec. 9—It's doubtful you'll find a theatrical production in this area with four performers who work harder than the cast of Flashback Theater Co.'s "The 39 Steps."

It's an immense cast of characters, with only the most economic cast of actors — four of them, ranging from Flashback regulars to a spritely newcomer. And they spent the whole time in motion, with frantic, madcap energy, changing costumes and personas sometimes right in front of our eyes.

Following is a review of "The 39 Steps," which began this weekend and runs next weekend as well at the Flashback Theater Co. Black Box Theater located at 400 East Mt. Vernon Street. As I always say in these, don't expect it to be completely objective; I know those involved too well, and I'd never want to trash anyone doing their best to bring art to the community even if I didn't like something. But I can present to you my observations to help you consider if this is something you'd be interested in seeing.

Though "The 39 Steps" began its life as a fictional work as an adventure-themed novel in 1915 by John Buchan, it really found its footing in popular culture as an Alfred Hitchcock thriller on the big screen, and Patrick Barlow's adaptation hews closer to the latter. Flashback's production really leans into these Hitchcockian roots, particularly in terms of one of the play's secret comedic weapons: music.

The show uses recorded sound as a major source of its humor. Whether it's increasingly flattering descriptions of a wanted man on the loose by a faceless news narrator (voiced by director Jade Ellis) or music cues that are employed in a variety of creative ways, "The 39 Steps" maximizes its technological resources to best assist and augment the actors doing yeoman's work on stage. One of those little bits of music will be familiar to many of a certain generation as the theme to Alfred Hitchcock's TV show; it's an iconic ditty that's easy to get stuck in your head and hum — but that's all I'll say about that.

This may be a spy thriller, but "The 39 Steps" never takes itself seriously, and Ellis isn't afraid to go heavy on the cartoonishness. Don't expect a character to brandish a realistic-looking firearm prop at any point; it will be a colorful water pistol instead. There's no fancy make-up used to depict a character with a deformed finger, but rather, an obviously fake prosthetic that will elicit giggles as soon as it's viewed. And that's okay.

If you'll permit me a moment of self-indulgence, I once wrote a paper for a college course about Mel Brooks' "The Producers" — which is referenced in this production of "The 39 Steps," but I won't spoil how — where I suggested that the nature of parody is to be purposely bad, and thereby succeed in your work. In "The Producers," the title characters tried to make a play that will bomb and choose material suited for that goal, with artists to execute it who approach the material very earnestly.

The result is so over-the-top that it appears to be intentionally funny, and as a result, the audience enjoys it — and the play is a hit. Parody is just that, in its essence; it feels familiar to a serious work, but would completely fail if it was indeed trying to be dramatic. But because it's so ridiculous, it's funny in such a way that we laugh with it rather than at it — consider the Merry Men in "Robin Hood: Men in Tights" vs. a straightforward Robin Hood telling, or if "The Naked Gun" was trying to be a legitimate crimebuster film. Essentially, parody is drama that fails so dramatically that it succeeds at being true comedy.

I thought of that while watching "The 39 Steps," and that's how it should be approached. When you're watching someone pull a gun and it's plastic and purple, that can be jarring if you still feel like you're in a Hitchcock thriller. But when you realize this is parody — it works. You laugh because it's supposed to be funny. And at this, "The 39 Steps" wildly succeeds.

In the middle of everything is Brian Herrmann as Richard Hannay, an English everyman who finds himself unexpectedly thrust into the middle of a complicated spy plot involving a mystery known only as "the 39 Steps." Every actor in this play has tremendous comic instincts and timing, and Herrmann is the epitome of that. He's a gifted physical comedian, willing to twist and turn and fall and whatever else he needs to do to convey the harrowing situation he finds himself in when he has to go on the run for a murder he didn't commit. Herrmann is the one actor who stays in the same role the whole time, which is good; it serves as an anchor for the audience in the midst of the chaos, as we follow Hannay along his absurd journey.

Billy-Christopher Maupin and Kailyn Ball do most of the heavy lifting in terms of costume changes and making up the supporting cast of over 150 characters. They're a bit of a mismatched duo — Maupin is an adult man and a veteran actor who has appeared in a number of FbTC productions previous, and Ball is a student at Southwestern High School who is just beginning her journey with Flashback and presents as very youthful. But they're paired so often in "The 39 Steps" that they become an effective comic duo, almost like a Laurel and Hardy or Abbott and Costello. You will likely get your biggest laughs from this combination, and Maupin is an expert scene-chewer when the script calls for it.

Jenny Denney follows fantastic performances on the FbTC stage in "Sweeney Todd" and "The Thin Place" with her role as the main female support in "The 39 Steps." As Pamela, she's something of a "straight man" in this cast of misfits — the most grounded in reality — but that's to the play's credit. Her scenes as Pamela with Hannay allow the tempo to slow a little bit and the audience to catch its breath. Denney does get her opportunity to go over-the-top however at the start of the play as the femme fatale who drags Hannay into the mess he finds himself in, and it's nice to see Denney really develop her comic chops as an actor. As the daughter of longtime local theatre director Steve Cleberg, Denney's natural gifts on the stage are readily apparent.

Last Christmas, Ellis directed the seasonally appropriate "Miracle on 34th Street" for FbTC. This December, "The 39 Steps" is less about holiday magic and more about big laughs, but Ellis shines in this area. Her directing style allows the actors and crew to never stop playing around with the material and always looks looks for bigger and better laughs when inspiration strikes. I can say that it's a pleasure to work with her as an actor (as I did in "Miracle") and I can tell that those working with her on this production had a blast doing so.

Credit also goes to Ian Zajkowski for making the most out of limited space in the set design, with lots of little secret spaces that allow for the theatre magic to happen, and quick and efficient work by Mahayla Mounce and Sloan Smith in facilitating scene transitions and quick changes. And of course, Renate Dopp's sound design is one of the highlights of the show.

"The 39 Steps" can be seen Sunday, December 10 at 2:30 p.m., Friday, December 15 and Saturday, December 16 at 7:30 p.m.m and Sunday, December 17 at 2:30 p.m.

Tickets are $23 for adults in advance, $25 at the door, $12 in advance for students and $15 at the door, and $20 for senior both in advance and at the door. Tickets can be purchased online at: https://fbtc.ticketleap.com/39-steps/ or by calling the box office at (888) 394-3282, ext. 1. Box office hours are Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

If you like to laugh, "The 39 Steps" is a heck of an early Christmas present. And the actors and crew that make this play possible work awfully hard to have a whole lot of fun.