39 Steps to a good time

When asked to describe his adaptaption of the 1915 play, ‘The 39 Steps,’ the show’s producer, director, and “rock number four” Cameron Gray Lee, an ARHS senior stopped and took a breath. “It is a murder mystery, spy espionage thriller, and an action comedy that features a cast of only four actors to play upwards of forty characters, which is accomplished with a variety of fast costume, accent, and prop changes making for an amazingly entertaining watch for audiences of all ages,” he said.

“The 39 Steps” was the latest student-run play at ARHS this year, and it took place from April 27-29, with showings at 7 p.m. each day, plus a 2 p.m. matinee on the 29th.

The play showed four times to audiences of around 40 people, according to Gray-Lee, with everyone watching the play actually sitting onstage.

“The 39 Steps” starts in London, where Briton Richard Hannay is watching a man named Mr. Memory perform. There he is accosted by Annabella Smith, who describes a plot against the British Air Force, led by a group known as The 39 Steps. She is subsequently murdered. The show then follows Hannay’s hero’s journey to stop The 39 Steps at any cost to save his beloved country, with an extra dose of comedy to keep the audience entertained.

“The 39 Steps” produced by Gray-Lee had much more comedy than the original. “The original script of the 39 Steps didn’t really have that many jokes,” said Gray-Lee. “ I didn’t like that.” Gray-Lee decided that he needed to write some of his own jokes and gags into his own abridged version.

 In the original script, there is a “fight scene” between Hannay and the main villain that fades to black. In Gray-Lee’s rewrite, the fight is drawn out, with a variety of jokes. Hannay and the villain fight with lightsabers, and Hannay is lifted off his feet and force-choked by the villain. Overall, these rewrites seemed to leave a positive impression on the audience.

“A lot of people came back for a second night, like [performing arts department head John Bechtold],” said Gray-Lee, along with the actors’ parents. Gray-Lee said he got a lot of “positive reactions from the audience.” 

Jackson Aller-Cohen, who played Hannay agreed. “The audience seemed to love it,” said Aller-Cohen. He said he was “a little daunted at first”, especially given that the play was student-run.  But in the end, he said that “even though it was exhausting, it was so much fun.”

In fact, Aller-Cohen said it “was one of the best performances [he’d] ever been a part of.”