Clackamas Repertory Theatre’s 2013 season finale ‘The 39 Steps’

Clackamas Repertory Theatre presents its final production of the season “The 39 Steps,” a madcap farce adapted by Patrick Barlow from John Buchan’s novel and Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 film. The show opens Friday, September 20, and ends on Sunday, October 6.

Barlow turned “The 39 Steps” into a farce by having four actors play the 151 characters from Hitchcock’s thriller. One actor plays the hero, Richard Hannay, who is unexpectedly thrust into a deadly game of espionage. The lone actress plays three characters, leaving the remaining two actors, Clown 1 and Clown 2 to represent all 147 characters, a variety of heroes, villains, men, women, children and the occasional inanimate object.

Lightning-fast costume changes and spin-around character turns abound in a non-stop piece that plays out in a hilarious manner despite the seriousness of the original book and film. Barlow fills the script with puns, innuendoes and jabs at Hitchcock films such as “North by Northwest,” “Strangers on a Train,” “Vertigo,” “Psycho,” and “Rear Window.”

Directed by the company’s artistic director, David Smith-English, the show features Clackamas Rep company members. Jayson Shanafelt (Elwood P. Dowd, “Harvey”) plays Hannay; Jayne Stevens plays three characters, including the German spy who is murdered, leaving Hannay to solve the mystery; Travis Nodurft plays Clown 1; and James Sharinghousen (Emcee, “Cabaret”) plays Clown 2. Nodurft happens to be a real-life clown who toured with Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey.

Pre-show lectures, “Hitchcock Talk,” with Ernie Casciato, take place an hour before performances every Saturday and two Sundays, September 29 and October 6.

“The 39 Steps” runs Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. with Sunday matinees at 2:30 p.m. All performances are in the Niemeyer Center at Clackamas Community College. Tickets may be purchased at clackamasrep.org or by calling 503-594-6047.  The low-price preview is Thursday, September 19.  For more information, contact CRT managing director Cyndy Smith-English at 503-594-3915.