To prepare his cast for rehearsals of New Village Arts’ production of “The 39 Steps,” the stage spoof of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 film of the same name, director AJ Knox had them sit down and watch the movie.
For Knox, this was a departure in strategy.
“Normally,” he said, “if I’m doing a show that’s based off an existing property or has a well-known adaptation, I discourage my actors from watching the source material because I feel it will inform their choices, their decisions. For this one, because the adaptation is so faithful in so many ways to the film and faithful to Hitchcock, I thought it was important to set a tone of, ‘This is our reference material. This is our homework.’”
“’The original film is quite funny,” said Knox. “Lots of Hitchcock’s film are full of this wonderful dark humor.”
AJ Knox is the director of New Village Arts’ “The 39 Steps.”
(Courtesy of New Village Arts)
Hitchcock based his film on a 1915 novel by John Buchan. Playwright Patrick Barlow’s based his 2005 theatrical spoof on both the novel and the movie.
Dallas McLaughlin is playing Richard Hannay, the wrongfully accused protagonist in “The 39 Steps” at New Village Arts. He called the Hitchcock movie “unintentionally hilarious.” As the straight man in the story, McLaughlin is exploring the balance between that demeanor and the show’s brand of organized chaos.
“A lot of people try to take Hannay a little too far. I knew I didn’t want to do that,” he said. “I look at a role like this thinking ‘How do I make this character be the through-line to a show that really doesn’t have a through-line?’ There is a loose plot, but what gets us from Point A to Point B is me. So how do I make that work without making it too silly?”
Hannay is a Canadian businessman living in London who gets unintentionally wrapped up in a crime when a mystery woman is murdered in his apartment. Soon he’s on the run from both the police and a secret spy ring known as The 39 Steps with the goals of solving the murder and surviving the ordeal. Barlow’s 90-minute play is known for its fast pacing and the cast’s use of minimal props to creatively imagine Hannay’s far-flung adventures.
Knox suggested that “The 39 Steps,” which is rife with physical comedy and quick character changes (its two “clowns,” Kenny Bordieri and Reden Magtira, play dozens of parts), is not all wackiness. While likening “The 39 Steps” to British romps like “Monty Python” and “Blackadder,” he said that this show “has a real beating heart at the core of it, which to me is the key to any great comedy.”
“It’s about a guy who feels really alienated in the world. He feels unloved and unlovable. He ends up on this incredible pseudo-spy caper by happenstance. In doing so, he realizes that he cares about people and he wants to the world to be a better place. There’s this underlying element of the play that is really about empathy and connection,” Knox said.
McLaughlin, who co-stars with Erica Marie Weisz (playing two roles), says he grew up a fan of the Marx Brothers and the comic duo of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. In this production, he said, “I’m the Dean Martin in the scenario. I’ll still get my laughs and have a lot of fun and do some jokes.”
This is the second time that Knox has directed McLaughlin in a New Village mainstage production. The first was five years ago in “The Servant of Two Masters.”
“He’s a wonderful improviser,” Knox said of McLaughlin, with whom he also works at a San Diego marketing agency. (“Our main job is to write funny commercials.”)
The timing for funny, whether in commercials or onstage, is ideal, said Knox.
“To be doing a comedy right now is important,” he said. “There’s a lot of weight in the world.”
‘The 39 Steps’
When: Previews, today through April 12. Opens April 13 and runs through May 12. 7:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays, Wednesdays and select Saturdays
Where: New Village Arts, 2787 State St., Carlsbad
Tickets: $28-$48
Phone: (760) 433-3245
Online: newvillagearts.org
Coddon is a freelance writer.