Amiee Turner wasn’t going to let Hurricane Irene interfere with the rehearsal schedule for The 39 Steps, which opens at Theatre By The Sea on September 8.
“The hurricane came blowing in, and we ended up at Amiee’s house to make sure we could practice on Sunday,” says Brandon Roberts, one of the show’s four actors.
The show is a comedy, “a four-person retelling of the Alfred Hitchcock film,” says Roberts. “It’s a spy thriller full of Hitchcock intrigue, but using only four actors, it makes for some good comedy, poking fun at the thriller genre.”
Roberts is very familiar with the show. He’s been with the current production since it opened in Orlando about year ago. “The play itself originated in London on the West End and had an extensive Broadway run. It just got released to regional theaters, and it’s a pretty hot ticket.”
The 39 Steps won two Tony Awards on Broadway, plus a Drama Desk Award and the Olivier Award.
Roberts is listed as Clown 2 in the program. “At last count, I’m playing about 18 characters.” Some of the characters appear as voiceovers, but there’s a lot of costume changing for Roberts and Jason Parrish, the other Clown who plays the same number of characters. “We do revisit a couple of costumes throughout, so there’s a lot of underdressing going on.”
The show is similar in style to The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), which uses three actors to present parodies of Shakespeare’s body of work. “It’s very much in the same vein as that show,” says Roberts. “We’ve added references to other Hitchcock titles. Little winks to certain things throughout the show.”
You don’t have to be a Hitchcock fan to enjoy the show, says Roberts. “There are just a few inside jokes. Not so many that any audience members would get alienated.”
The show will not offend diehard Hitchcock fans. “It’s all in good fun. We try to stay true to the story. There’s a pretty sweet love story in there, and we give the story its due.”
The 39 Steps centers on Richard Hannay (Fred Rose), a man on the run accused of murder. Along the way, he meets up with Pamela (Jennifer Bryne). He ends up handcuffed to her, and they fall in love. Mix in the story of a secret new silent airplane engine that would give Germany a devastating edge over England in World War II, and you’ve got the idea. “A little spy intrigue, a little wackiness, a little zaniness,” says Roberts. “It’s all very fast paced.”
The TBTS production is Roberts’ fourth since last August. In addition to Orlando, he performed with the show in Fort Myers and Miami.
“This is a fun show to do,” says Roberts. “It keeps you on your toes throughout.”
Still, he must find the repeated rehearsal process with each production exhausting. “I’ve never gotten sick of doing it or rehearsing it.” What he enjoys most is the take of each individual director. “They each try to appease their particular audiences. We knew what worked in Orlando, but the director in Fort Myers had a hunch his audience would respond differently. And he was right.”
The story remains the same – but certain elements change. “I’m having a lot of fun with Amiee, as a new director and a woman at that. She brings a whole new sentimentality to the show that I never saw before.”
[The 39 Steps runs September 8 through 18 at Theatre By The Sea in Matunuck. Call 401.782.TKTS for tickets and info, or visit the theater’s web site, www.theatrebythesea.com.]
