A classic Alfred Hitchcock film has a new twist in Patrick Barlow’s adaptation of “The 39 Steps.”
“The words are exactly the same but instead of it being super serious like the movie, it is a Monty Python-like comedy,” said Billy Surges, artistic and managing director of Surging Films & Theatrics, which is producing the show Jan. 23-31 at Oak Park’s Madison Street Theatre. Surges is directing the show and starring as Richard Hannay.
Surges described Richard as “down-on-his luck, kind of suppressed. He really has no purpose in life so he decides he wants to go on this escapade. He takes it so seriously that he kind of turns his life around.”
The catalyst for Richard’s escapade is Pamela, a woman with a thick accent who says she’s a spy. Christy Cutts of River Forest plays Pamela. “She is sort of a straight-laced character and ends up on an adventure that she doesn’t want to be on,” Cutts said. “In that, she finds love that she doesn’t know she needs at the start of the show.”
Pamela and Richard have a close relationship throughout the show — though it’s mostly a physical closeness. “Billy and I spend a good part of the show handcuffed to each other,” Cutts revealed.
They do get to travel, though. “We’re in Scotland for half the show, London for a good chunk of the show,” Cutts said.
Surges and Cutts are joined by a six-person ensemble of “Clowns” playing some 150 roles. “It’s a little zany, a little chaotic, with special effects and costumes,” Surges said. “In one scene, two actors play five characters each and they have a little choreographed routine where they switch characters and they switch hats. It’s really hard to keep a straight face while everybody’s doing all this crazy, chaotic stuff around you.”
Surges asked co-artistic director Katie Meyers to co-direct “The 39 Steps.”
“His character almost never leaves the stage so I’m like a second pair of eyes — I’m kind of an extension of his brain,” Meyers explained. “We’re usually pretty in sync in what we want to achieve.”
Meyers is a fan of this show. “I love that it’s an ensemble piece and I love that there’s really nowhere the script won’t go to get a laugh,” she said. “I think it will be really fun for the audience to see how you put a movie onstage with eight people and try and make it make sense.”
Surges admitted that this show “is not in our comfort zone. Usually we do big musicals with our company and then we do really weird dramatic small shows. Doing a comedy — especially a physical comedy — is a new challenge for everybody. But everybody is taking it in stride and having a great time with it.”
Surging Films & Theatrics presents ‘The 39 Steps’
When: 3 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays, Jan. 23 and 30; 3 p.m. Sundays, Jan. 24 and 31
Where: Madison Street Theatre, 1010 Madison St., Oak Park
Tickets: $20 at the door; $15 online
Contact: www.surgingfilms.com
