Williamston’s ‘39 Steps’ is a joyride through a classic thriller

There may be no better balm from the heat domes and smoke-filled skies of July in Greater Lansing than Williamston Theatre’s production of “The 39 Steps.” The company closes out its 19^th season with the kind of fast-paced, hilarious farce it does so well.

The play itself has as frenzied a history as the performance. Playwright Patrick Barlow adapted Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 film, which was adapted from a 1915 novel by John Buchan. The witty stage show utilizes a cast of just four actors, requiring all but the lead to portray multiple characters to pull off the complex spy story.

Bored bachelor Richard Hannay (Ryan Patrick Welsh) meets a mysterious woman named Annabella Schmidt (Caitlin Cavannaugh) at the theater. She confides in him that she is a spy protecting British secrets and asks him to hide her. When he finds her murdered, Richard must go on the run to avoid arrest and expose the spy ring. Along the way, he is helped by a beautiful young farmer’s wife and hindered by the icy Margaret, both also played by Cavannaugh.

The cast is rounded out by Emily Sutton-Smith and Patrick Loos, who tirelessly play over 50 characters throughout the show. Billed as Clown 1 and Clown 2 respectively, Sutton-Smith and Loos are a joy to watch, expertly confident despite the physical energy of their roles and the whiplash-fast pace of character and accent changes, often done mid-scene. 

Compared to the heavy lifting of the character swaps the rest of the cast must make, one might assume that Welsh has it easy by playing a single character. Poppycock. As the one constant figure, Welsh drives the entire play and also makes believable Richard’s transition from a man hopelessly mired by ennui to a desperate man on the run to a passionate hero. It doesn’t hurt that Welsh has the good looks and great hair — as well as a killer pencil mustache — of a leading man.

Cavannaugh has great fun with her portrayals of the sultry Annabella and the lonely and randy Pamela, but she really shines as Margaret. At first cold and emotionally impenetrable, when Margaret warms up to Richard, the chemistry between Cavannaugh and Welsh is electric. 

The play was imagined as a low-tech affair, and action scenes such as Richard jumping from a train trestle, running from airplanes or losing the cops in a crowd are represented through ridiculously goofy projections by Dustin D. Miller. 

I had the privilege of seeing “The 39 Steps” during its run in London’s West End in 2009. I can say with confidence that Williamston Theatre’s production is as funny and possibly more creative than that version, utilizing every inch of its physical space and depth of its incredible acting and production talent to give audiences a joyride through a classic thriller.