Back up 'The 39 Steps'

The 39 Steps, Patrick Barlow's winking romp through Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 film, itself adapted from John Buchan's 1915 spy novel, has proved it has the goods to be a regional theater staple in perpetuity.

The play lands at Bristol Riverside Theatre after a circuitous route that began in 2005 in Yorkshire, England, led to London's West End, then Broadway, and then filtered out to the regions with gusto, this being at least the fourth recent professional area production.

With just four actors playing multiple comedic roles and riffing on classic Hitchcock moments, it's as much tribute to the suspense-thriller genre and that iconic rotund silhouette as it is spoof. Set designer Charles Morgan lands squarely in the tribute camp, setting the action against a backdrop of crisscrossed wooden boards, tacked with vintage film posters representing the years between book and film - Hitchcock is represented, as are vaudeville, comedy, silents, talkies, a stage-to-screen adaptation

It's all a bit confusing and distracting, particularly when Gus Kaikkonen's direction flags and one is left squinting at the posters, trying to read their credits and taglines.

This is a show that relies on quick changes, lightning-fast banter, and a whiplash pace, and Bristol's production succeeds much of the time, but that flagging really affects its impact. It's also an adventure thriller, in which dashing Canadian Richard Hannay meets a German femme fatale in London who warns him to head to Scotland and find the "39 Steps" before it's too late. Left with only that bit of information and on the run from a murder rap (the femme's involvement with the business of the steps, indeed, proves fatal), he meets a suspicious blonde and sets out to prove his innocence.

The fun comes in watching this cast, Dan Hodge, Matt Leisy (the only one who gets to relax into a character, as Hannay), Adam Sowers, and Karen Peakes (playing nearly every woman Hannay encounters) tear off coats and slap on dresses, or, while leaping across a row of steamer trunks, flap their jacket lapels as though they're racing against the wind atop a passenger train. They're all-in with Barlow's physical comedy, though again, under Kaikkonen's direction, his dialogue doesn't have the urgency I've seen in other productions, and Peakes' voice tends to be too wan for the size of the house.

Still, for those who haven't seen any of the other 39 iterations of The 39 Steps, this one delivers. At least until the next one comes along.

The 39 Steps

Though Oct. 26

at Bristol Riverside Theatre, 120 Radcliffe St., Bristol. Tickets: $36 to $46. Information: 215-785-0100, brtstage.org.

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