The 39 Steps: Hitchcock, Monty Python and a Turbo-Charged Comedy Classic Returns to Australia

Alfred Hitchcock may not have imagined his taut 1935 espionage thriller The 39 Steps reborn as a Monty Python-flavoured stage spoof, but that is exactly what Patrick Barlow’s Olivier and Tony Award-winning adaptation delivers.

Now, in 2025, Australian audiences are once again flocking to the show in a star-studded new production directed by Damien Ryan. After opening at the Sydney Opera House to rave reviews, the tour continues to Newcastle (from 2 September), Melbourne’s Comedy Theatre (from 10 September), and Brisbane’s Playhouse Theatre (from 7 October).

The recipe is simple but irresistible: take Hitchcock’s landmark spy film, pour in a dash of British farce, and let four actors loose on 130 characters across 100 minutes. The result is a turbo-charged evening of theatrical mayhem that critics and audiences alike have hailed as “theatrical magic” (Sydney Morning Herald) and “a rip-roaring night of belly laughs” (The AU Review).

This revival is powered by four of Australia’s most beloved talents. Lisa McCune and Ian Stenlake bring movie-star gravitas to the romantic adventure roles, while The Umbilical Brothers, David Collins and Shane Dundas, showcase their trademark physical comedy in a whirlwind of split-second transformations.

Ryan’s direction embraces Barlow’s quick-change mechanics, aided by a slick creative team: James Browne (set and costume design) provides a visually witty playground; Matthew Marshall (lighting) ensures noir atmosphere shifts into slapstick in the blink of an eye. The show, licensed by ITV Global Entertainment and originally conceived by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon, has already played to over three million fans in 39 countries since its 2005 premiere, from London’s West End to Broadway.

This isn’t the first time Australian audiences have thrilled to Barlow’s spoof. Over nearly two decades, major companies around the country have staged their own acclaimed productions:

2008 – Sydney Opera House (Playhouse): The first major Australian staging featured Mark Pegler as Richard Hannay, joined by Russell Fletcher, Jo Turner, and Helena Christinson. It introduced local audiences to the show’s fast-paced comic formula.

2008 – Melbourne Theatre Company (Arts Centre, Playhouse): Directed by Maria Aitken (who also helmed the Broadway version), MTC’s production starred Marcus Graham, Grant Piro, Helen Christinson, and Tony Taylor. It cemented the play’s reputation in Australia as both a critical and box-office hit.

2016 & 2019 – State Theatre Company South Australia: In Adelaide, director Jon Halpin led a production starring Nathan Page, Charles Mayer, Tim Overton, and Anna Steen. Its popularity was such that it returned in 2019 before embarking on a national tour to Wollongong, Canberra, and Geelong.

2018 – Queensland Theatre (QPAC, Cremorne Theatre): Featuring Hugh Parker, Bryan Probets, Leon Cain, and Liz Buchanan, this Brisbane season was praised for razor-sharp timing and inventive clowning.

2025 – National Tour (Sydney Opera House, Newcastle, Melbourne, Brisbane): The current high-profile production with Lisa McCune, Ian Stenlake, and The Umbilical Brothers brings a fresh star power to the show.

Across these seasons, one constant remains: the delight in watching a handful of actors conjure a whole universe with hats, coats, ladders, trunks, and an impeccable sense of timing.

Barlow’s play is adapted not only from John Buchan’s 1915 novel but, crucially, from Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 film. The movie’s plot centres on Richard Hannay, a Canadian visitor to London who becomes entangled in an espionage conspiracy after a mysterious woman is murdered in his apartment. Falsely accused, he flees to Scotland to clear his name, dodging both police and enemy agents.

Along the way, Hannay encounters train escapes, political rallies, moorland chases, and a frosty romantic foil, most famously handcuffed to him against her will. The spy ring, known as “The 39 Steps,” becomes the puzzle he must unravel to prove his innocence.

Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps was a game-changer. It combined taut suspense with witty romantic banter and established what would become one of the director’s signature motifs: the “innocent man on the run.”

The 39 Steps sits squarely in Hitchcock’s early British period, following The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) and preceding Secret Agent (1936) and Sabotage (1936). Alongside The Lady Vanishes (1938), it marked the peak of his UK career and made him an international name.

When Hitchcock moved to Hollywood in 1939, he brought with him the techniques he honed on The 39 Steps: brisk pacing, witty use of romance, and action sequences staged with breathtaking clarity. The DNA of this film can be traced directly to later classics like North by Northwest (1959), another “wrong man” thriller that riffs on the same formula.

In other words, The 39 Steps was not only a box-office smash of its day but also a pivotal stepping stone in the evolution of Hitchcock’s style.
The brilliance of Barlow’s stage version lies in its transformation of a taut thriller into a high-wire farce. Every chase scene, train escape, or romantic entanglement is recreated with minimal props and maximum imagination. Four actors embody policemen, spies, innkeepers, salesmen, and villains at a dizzying pace.

For audiences, the joy comes from watching the mechanics: a single actor flicking between roles mid-sentence, a ladder becoming the Forth Bridge, a trunk doubling as a train carriage. The suspense of the original is preserved, but it is overlaid with laughter as the “serious” genre is sent up with affectionate parody.

This duality, respect for Hitchcock’s narrative spine combined with Monty Python-style lunacy, is what makes the play endlessly successful.
The 39 Steps has been hailed as one of the greatest comedy successes of the 21st century, and its latest Australian revival shows why. It’s a production that marries Hitchcock’s suspense with music-hall farce, performed by a quartet of performers at the peak of their craft.

With Lisa McCune and Ian Stenlake as the romantic leads and The Umbilical Brothers unleashing their comic fireworks, Damien Ryan’s 2025 staging is both a tribute to Hitchcock and a masterclass in theatrical invention.

From Sydney to Brisbane, Australian audiences are being invited to laugh, gasp, and marvel at a century-old spy story given new comic life. As the Sydney Morning Herald put it simply: “Theatrical magic.”

For tickets and tour information: www.the39steps.com.au

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Tagged as: Alfred Hitchcock, Australia, Damien Ryan, David Collins, Ian Stenlake, Lisa McCune, Shane Dundas, The 39 Steps, theatre, Umbilical Brothers