Bringing the 39 Steps to the Pitlochry Stage

Up in the highlands right now, you can catch quite the caper thanks to Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s energetic new production of John Buchan’s ‘The 39 Steps.’ With only 4 performers bringing every character to life, there’s never a dull moment for either cast or audience. Based on Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon’s 1996 adaptation for the village halls of North Yorkshire – before Patrick Barlowe’s partial re-write took it to the West End of 9 years – the play has sure-fire hit written all over it.

However, the chances of success are only as good as the actors tasked with taking on this formidable challenge. I put a few questions to Chris Coxon and Stephanie Cremona, half of the team bringing this spy-laden adventure to life.

Guys, this production has you both shape-shifting through dozens of characters at breakneck speed. How do you keep each persona distinct and the comedy sharp when you’re switching roles in the blink of an eye?

STEPHANIE: Yes, I play many characters including 6 different Scottish men, and it was a bit daunting at first as to how I would make each of them distinct! What helped was creating different physicalities for each character which I could access quickly using techniques such as: where my body leads from when I’m walking, what my go-to stance is, specific gestures a character might repeatedly use, where I might be holding tension in my body, and of course ridiculous facial expressions!

In terms of the voice I use for each character I decided on an accent first, and then experimented with changing pitch, tone, speed -and in one notable case of Mr McQuarrie, volume- to ensure each character is recognisable and different. And of course the sublime costumes and various additions of facial hair all help to feed into this and add to a sense of individuality!

CHRIS: Alongside theatre, I do quite a lot of work in radio and voiceover, so my process tends to start with finding a distinct voice for each character. Once I have a voice in mind, I then try to find one physical characteristic to lock into, whether that is how they hold their hands, where they hold tension, or the speed with which they move. By anchoring each character to those two things makes it a lot easier to switch between characters in a hurry. It’s also worth remembering that although we play multiple characters, we also have the overarching characters of two clowns trying to play lots of people, and some of the comedy comes from the clowns trying (and sometimes failing) to achieve this.

“Yes, I play many characters including 6 different Scottish men, and it was a bit daunting at first…”

Stephanie Cremona

Chris, you’ve been open about living with Tourette’s. How has that experience shaped your approach to such a frenetic, tightly-timed show: has it offered any unexpected insights or required you to adapt your performance in any way?

C: Firstly, Tourette’s Syndrome is hugely misunderstood. Most people think of it as “the swearing disease”, but that is only a tiny part of a much more complex condition. TS is a neurological condition characterised by tics, which are involuntary movements and sounds, and the majority of those with TS don’t experience coprolalia, which is the technical term for the involuntary utterance of expletives and inappropriate words. Many people don’t even realise I have Tourette’s as my tics tend towards the smaller motor tics. As a younger actor, I used to worry a lot about ticcing on stage, but I had a turning point when I did a short course in Meisner Technique around my mid-twenties.

I realised that as long as everything is rooted in truthful responses, it really doesn’t matter if I tic on stage or not, because that will just become something that the character does. All actors bring elements of themselves to a role, whether it is conscious or not, so my condition, which is a real part of me, just adds to the realness of a character if it happens to occur. Having said all of that, acting actually helps me to control my tics, so it doesn’t come up all that often while performing. Many people with TS find that if they have a task to complete that is intellectually stimulating, physically intricate, and creatively absorbing, they can control their tics for a short time. A show like 39 Steps ticks all of those boxes for me.

Physical comedy in The 39 Steps is all about split-second timing. Was there a particular gag or scene you found especially tricky to nail, and how did you work together to fine-tune its rhythm?

S: Yes, there is a section in the train station in Edinburgh which we refer to as “train madness” where myself and Chris spend a couple of pages of the script running on and off stage with different hats/coats on going back and forth between 6 characters with only a line or 2 as each one before switching again.

The way we got this to a performance ready level was mainly through repetition- we really embedded it in our brains so that we knew exactly what was coming next and got it to a secure place, so that then we could add the chaos back in and make it look more difficult and out of control than it hopefully is! Through playing with it we also found creative choices that helped add to the mayhem and comedy of it, and we found that if Alex (the actor who plays Hannay) is the “straight man” who gets more and more frustrated with our ridiculousness, then that juxtaposition further adds to the humour and fun!

C: You can usually tell if a script is truly funny if the comical timings are apparent as you read it. Patrick Barlow’s script for The 39 Steps has already done half of the hard work for us. The rhythm of the writing makes it very clear how the delivery was intended, and if you stick to that, you can’t go far wrong. The difficulty comes when it’s time to add all the other elements (sound, lighting, set, costume, etc.), as these all add to the comedy if timed correctly, so it’s a big task for Stage Management to coordinate it all. The scene on the train is probably the trickiest in terms of nailing the timing of the physical comedy. Luckily, we have a great team to make it all happen.

With only four actors conjuring an entire world onstage, trust and chemistry must be crucial. How did you build the lightning-fast rapport needed to carry each other through the chaos of so many quick changes and character swaps?

S: We have worked with our wonderful movement director Robin Hellier from very early on in rehearsals to build trust between us which really helped us to feel comfortable and safe while acting out all the silly scenarios, as well as giving us specificity in what we are doing physically. We also had a very collaborative rehearsal room led by our director Ben where we all suggested ideas and had a “yes-and” approach to trying things, and communicated when things felt like they worked (or didn’t!) so that we all felt secure and happy in what we were doing.

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Stephanie, you have a childhood connection to Pitlochry Festival Theatre. What does it mean for you to step onto that stage now in The 39 Steps, and does that sense of homecoming shape how you approach your role?

S: Yes, I grew up in Edinburgh and my family used to come and watch the festive show at Pitlochry for our Christmas Day out, so I have wanted to perform here for a long time! It feels quite full circle and special that I now get to do a summer season here and so I have approached this role with a sense of achievement, gratitude and enthusiasm!

Performing The 39 Steps is like living in a Hitchcock thriller colliding with Monty Python. Has being part of this farcical spy adventure changed how you think about storytelling or genre – perhaps giving you a new perspective on balancing suspense with silliness?

S: Having performed the show to our first audiences, I think it’s shown me how much people want to laugh, while still being fully engaged in the story. Something we worked on a lot was making sure we gave full weight to the ‘drama’ of the play and that the story was clear at all points, and I think I’ve learned that that is the key balance to achieve, as when the audience feel safe in the knowledge that they are following the plot, they are then free to laugh at all the mishaps and larger than life characters encountered on the way. Indeed, leaning in to the extremes and the comedy makes the storytelling and suspense all the more satisfying.

C: I think there’s a lot more overlap in that Venn diagram than is immediately apparent. I’ve been a fan of both Hitchcock and Monty Python for many years. I was very fortunate that one of my first jobs after graduating was in Mike Nichols’ original production of Spamalot in London’s West End, and I got to meet several of the Pythons. I remember very briefly talking to Terry Jones about The Holy Grail and Life of Brian, and how the plot leads the comedy in both. The sketches in Flying Circus are of varying quality, and some of them rather forgettable, but the jokes are so good and memorable in the two films because they help to tell a really exciting story. That’s what we have tried to do in The 39 Steps.

Before any running around and doing silly voices, we went through the script meticulously to make sure we were clear about what the dramatic moments were in each scene. On the other side of the coin, the thing that I enjoy most about Hitchcock is his wonderful sense of humour. Although his films would primarily be categorised as suspense thrillers, he never shied away from the absurdity that occurs when people find themselves in unusual or extreme situations. A lot of the jokes in our version of The 39 Steps are straight out of the film – we have just taken them to a more ludicrous place by trying to do it all on stage with just four actors.

In a show where you juggle outrageous accents and absurd personas in rapid-fire succession, what have you learned about crafting characters on the fly? Did The 39 Steps teach you anything about making even the most ridiculous characters feel real or memorable in a flash?

S: I think the key thing I’ve learned in this style of performance is to really make bold choices and use whatever is in your arsenal to make each character stand out, and then if you use the text and the situation they are in to really commit to the ’truth’ of the character and invest in the storytelling and stakes, then hopefully the outcome is both real (of a heightened sort) and memorable.

C: You never stop learning in this job. We have only just started the run of performances, so it’s a little early to say what I have learned from this show, but it’s safe to say, especially with comedy, that you never stop honing it. Every night the audience is different, and a joke that received belly laughs one night might only get a small titter the next. After a while, you (hopefully) learn what works and what doesn’t, in order to make those big laughs more consistent. As a general rule, the more ridiculous the character, the more you have to commit to playing it truthfully. It’s counterintuitive, but the moment you stop trying to play the comedy of the scene, the more laughs you get.

After racing through this whirlwind of a show night after night, do you have a new appreciation for what makes comedy work on stage? Has your stint preparing for The 39 Steps influenced your own comedic instincts or even the kinds of roles you want to explore next?

C: I love character comedy, so I was really delighted to be asked back to do another rep season at Pitlochry and doubly delighted to be told I was going to be doing The 39 Steps. It’s a bit of a bucket list one for me. So as to the future, anything where I get to be a little outrageous and make people laugh will suit me just fine.

S: I definitely have a new appreciation for what makes this type of comedy work on stage- it is certainly very sweaty and exhausting work! Of course all theatre is aimed at its spectators, but I had the realisation after our first performance that comedy doesn’t really make sense without an audience, and what is so fun about a show like this is that each audience reacts differently in terms of the bits they find particularly hilarious, which really helps to keep our performances fresh every night. I feel like I have definitely developed my comedic instincts, I adore multi-rolling and having the freedom and opportunity to explore such a wide range of characters, and I would definitely love to do more roles in a similar capacity!

Featured Image: From L-R Stephanie Cremona, Alexander Service and Chris Coxon in The 39 Steps – Photo by Tommy Ga-Ken Wan