Playgoers of Lethbridge’s February production of “The 39 Steps” requires a multi-talented cast.
Auditions are at 7 p.m. both Wednesday, Dec. 4 and Friday, Dec. 6.
The production takes place at the Yates Theatre, Feb. 12-15. It is approximately 90 minutes long.
“It‘s based on the Alfred Hitchcock movie, ‘The 39 Steps,’” said director Stephen Graham, who has performed in several Playgoers Of Lethbridge productions including The Importance of Being Earnest and How the Other Half Loves. He directed a successful production in this year’s One Act Play Festival. He is excited about directing his first main stage production for Playgoers of Lethbridge. The movie was inspired by Scottish novelist John Buchan’s 1915 adventure novel “The 39 Steps,” which was in turn was rewritten into a 2005 play by Patrick Barlow.
“It’s as much fun as the movie but as a play with four actors,” Graham described.
The hero is Richard Hanney a 40 something man who gets caught in the middle of an adventure and along the way has romantic entanglements with three women all to be played by one actress. The other two actors are a “cast of thousands” who perform everything else from an entire Scottish pipe band to Mrs. Higgins — a Mrs. Doubtfire like character.
While the original novel takes place during the First World War, the Alfred Hitchcock movie is set in the Second World War, which is where the play is also set.
“It is a really fun story,” said Graham, adding the roles require a very talented cast.
“ But Lethbridge has a lot of talent,” he said.
He noted they need a male actor preferably in his 40s to play Richard, while the female lead needs to be able to play a variety of ages, so he suggested she be in her ’30s.
“ She should be beautiful, but 1939 and 1940s beautiful The two utility players are clowns and need to have a pretty diverse skill set.
“But not white make up, Sideshow Bob clowns. They need to be theatrical clowns. They need to be really good physical comedians because there is a lot of physical comedy in the play. They must be able to show multiple personalities during the course of a single scene,” he said.
He said they will start rehearsals after The Lethbridge Symphony Orchestra’s production of Les Miserables finishes their Dec. 16-18 run as Graham is part of that production.
“We’d like to do at least one read through before Christmas and do some rough blocking, but we’ll be rehearsing in January,” he said.
“I’ve been dreaming about doing this for a long time,” he continued.
Rehearsals are at 7 p.m. at CASA, Dec. 4 and 6. He noted actors don’t have to be at both auditions.
