The 39 Steps Response Paper
The 39 Steps is the first play that I saw from the School of Arts and Sciences at Ohio University. It was adapted from the novel written by John Buchan and the 1935 film by Hitchcock. The story is about an English man named Richard Hannay, who is plunged into international espionage after meeting a beautiful Russian woman spy in a theatre. After she tells her secrets and mentions the 39 steps to Hannay, she gets injured and finally dies in his house. He is charged with the crime of murder, so he runs away but at the same time tries to find the Professor and the meaning of the 39 steps. On his journey, he stays in a shepherd’s cottage and the wife of shepherd helps him escape. Then he meets a woman named Pamela. After being cuffed together, they escape from fake police chasing after them and find a hotel to stay. Soon, they have feelings for each other. Eventually, Richard Hannay kills the Professor in a gunfight and he marries Pamela. They live a happy life ever after.
The play is hilarious. There are many hilarious dialogues and creative performances. I think the most exciting part of the play is there are only four actors in the play. In the scene of the station, two clown actors switched their hats to show that they portray in different roles. Every character they play, they play them realistically and lively. Even the same actor plays two roles in one scene, but the audience can distinguish them easily. In addition, the story happens in the United Kingdom. Every character has a unique British or Scottish accent (which as a nonnative English speaker, is sometimes hard for me to understand). All of these actors are American and I think they imitated the accents very well. Scenes were changing fast but were well organized. The music helped to smooth the change of emotions well too.
I remember the scene that happens on the second