And my expectations weren’t met, they were exceeded.
With just four members in the cast I was curious about how the play would pan out. But as they ‘say good things come in small packages’ and with this adaptation of the John Buchan novel that certainly rang true.
The play centres around English chap and Casanova Richard Hannay’s (played by Mark Leigh) frantic and action-packed time on the run after mysterious Annabella Schmidt (Steph Shipley) is murdered in his London home.
The drama is perfectly pieced together by the two clowns (John O’Connell and Kevin Shipley) who between them had more costume changes and accents than I could count. With their instant changes the four strong cast could have pulled off a cast of 50.
Particular favourites were transformations of a spy to a sheep and a policeman to a train conductor.
It would be unfair and too difficult to single anyone out as they all hit the nail on the head.
But a special mention without a doubt deserves to go to the crew backstage who managed to take the audience on the journey from London to Scotland. The set included boats, a train, a car and some planes. And that is without even mentioning the dogs on leads, car headlights on the clowns’ legs and the puppets – you name it had already been thought of.
Set in the lead up to The First World War the many costumes were traditional but the production even had a touch of modern with some 90s chart toppers and some 4D effects weaved in for the crowd.
The busyness of the show was griping enough for the audience but the dry and somewhat schoolboy humour throughout was priceless.
The only thing I would like to have seen was more information about was Bolton’s unsung stars in the programme – Alfred Hitchcock and John Buchan have had their time to shine let’s hear more about some of Bolton Little Theatre’s finest.
An extra night has been put on due to the demand and let’s hopes every seat is deservingly filled.
Unsurprisingly, at some points you could see members of the cast breaking into a sweat – they truly gave it their all.
Having never read the book of The 39 Steps I am now unsure whether I want to in case it doesn't meet the bar now set.
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