APS is hosting at the Sherborne Studio Theatre this highly popular Dorset folk music and other folk traditions evening. Dorchester-based actor and folk singer Alastair Braidwood is joined by his mentor, esteemed and respected singer and folk musician Tim Laycock, for an evening full of festive cheer, including humorous stories read and acted, traditional songs and carols to be sung along to, poems recited, and folk tunes to tap your foot to. These energetic and knowledgeable entertainers are bringing their Christmas offering to Sherborne, with words and music from Dorset and beyond, all to do with the traditional Christmas known to Thomas Hardy and William Barnes. A homely treat for the season!
The 39 Steps is a parody, adapted by Patrick Barlow from the 1915 novel by John Buchan and the 1935 film by Alfred Hitchcock. The original concept and production of a four-actor version of the story was written by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon, and premiered in 1996. Patrick Barlow rewrote this adaptation in 2005. It is riotous blend of multiple roles, inventive stagecraft, shadow puppetry and physical theatre.
Mix a Hitchcock masterpiece with a juicy spy novel, add a dash of Monty Python and you have this hilarious fast-paced whodunit with well over 50 roles played by three of the cast of four. The main protagonist, Richard Hannay, leads a boring life until he meets a woman with a thick accent who says she's a spy. When he takes her home, she is murdered. Soon, a mysterious organisation called "The 39 Steps" is hot on his trail in a nationwide manhunt that climaxes in a death-defying finale!
Jane McKenna says
"This will be a really challenging production, both creatively and technically, for both actors and backstage crew. Theatrical in its inventiveness, the play asks the audience to suspend belief and use their imagination. The year is 1935. The fast paced action takes us from the London Palladium to the misty Highlands of Scotland with a mutating set and effects. The action includes physical theatre, slick comedy, quick role changes, atmospheric original music, dramatic sound and lighting effects, life-size puppets and shadow theatre. We will need a backstage crew of 3+ people including puppet operators (training will be given). Above all, The 39 Steps is a riotously funny play. All welcome at the reading on Tuesday 10th December at 7.30pm."
