Review: THE 39 STEPS at CVRep
THE 39 STEPS is a bit like SNL’s sketch about New Shimmer, “it’s a floor wax, and it’s a dessert topping.” In this case it’s not just a 1915 novel, it’s a 1935 Hitchcock movie, and it is a play now running at CVRep through December 22, 2024. Written in 1996, and updated in 2005, it is the dessert topping in my SNL analogy, a 180 from the other two, and is what we call a parody. I call it a jolly good time.
All of the actors have performed this play at least once, and director Jamie Torcellini is also a veteran director of the play. It is evident by the result, an extremely clever and hilarious production.
Jimmy Cuomo’s charming and clever set immediately lets us know we’re all about the “noir” of it. Flanking both sides are theatre boxes which usually mean … murder in the theatre!! (just on stage, big screen or tv, you -as a theatre goer- are perfectly safe in your seat). Cuomo combines a theatre, an Englishman’s flat, a farmhouse, and a moveable door that acts as a portal to each and every different location. Moire Wilke’s lights also help define the spaces, and even creates a few on her own. Each creative element plays into the all around ingenuity of the production. It’s so damn clever it boggles the mind.
