ROWNTREE Players will hold auditions for Patrick Barlow's whodunit spoof The 39 Steps on Monday at 8pm at Door 84, Lowther Street, York.
Director Gemma McDonald is seeking three men and one woman for a fast-paced play that brings wildly inventive stagecraft to re-creating Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 British film, based loosely on John Buchan's 1915 adventure novel The Thirty-Nine Steps.
In The 39 Steps, Richard Hannay, a man with a boring life, meets a woman with a thick accent who says she is a spy. After he takes her home, she is murdered. Soon, a mysterious organisation called The 39 Steps is hot on Hannay's trail in a nationwide manhunt that climaxes in a death-defying finale.
A bi-plane crash, a chase scene on the Flying Scotsman, handcuffs, missing fingers and good old-fashioned romance all feature in a thriller that combines comedy, farce and adventure with betrayal, death and love.
"Mix a Hitchcock masterpiece with a juicy spy novel, add a dash of Monty Python and you have The 39 Steps, a whodunit for anyone who loves the magic of theatre," said Players' publicist Caroline Heppell.
One actor will play Hannay, and another his three love interests, leaving the other 135 characters to the two remaining cast members, who must execute lightning-fast costume and accent changes in the 100-minute performance. Monday's auditions are open to all for a production that will run from March 5 to 7 at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York.
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