Alfred Hitchcock’s spy thriller The 39 Steps visits the Theatre Royal Bath in an Olivier and Tony Award-winning stage adaptation

From Tuesday 25 to Saturday 29 June, Alfred Hitchcock’s classic thriller The 39 Steps appears at the Theatre Royal Bath, as the smash hit Olivier and Tony Award-winning comedy, brilliantly adapted for the stage by Patrick Barlow, continues to delight audiences nationwide.

With its quintessentially plucky spirit and dashing sense of fun, this hugely popular show returns to Bath as part of a new UK tour after enjoying nearly a decade in London’s West End, taking Broadway by storm and thrilling theatregoers across the globe.

The 39 Steps famously follows the incredible adventures of handsome hero Richard Hannay, complete with stiff-upper-lip, British gung-ho and pencil moustache as he encounters dastardly murders, double-crossing secret agents and, of course, devastatingly beautiful women. Four fearless actors play 139 roles in this wonderfully inventive and gripping comedy thriller, during 100 minutes of fast-paced fun and rip-roaring action.

Patrick Barlow’s hilarious adaptation of Alfred Hitchcock’s spy thriller ran in London’s West End for nine years, finally closing in 2015. It won the Olivier Award and What’s On Stage Award for Best Comedy in 2007. It was also a hit on Broadway, winning two Tony Awards and a Drama Desk Award in 2008. The play has toured to 39 countries and played to over three million people worldwide.

For the 2024 UK tour, Tom Byrne stars as Richard Hannay, joined by Safeena Ladha as Annabella Schmidt, Pamela and Margaret, Eugene McCoy as Clown 1 and Maddie Rice as Clown 2, with Jacob Daniels and Hannah Parker as understudies.

Tom Byrne’s television credits include The Crown, Bridgerton, A Discovery of Witches and Black Mirror. He has also appeared in BBC 3’s award-winning series Dreaming Whilst Black and the new film The Persian Version. His theatre credits include A Christmas Carol and Twelfth Night for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Safeena Ladha’s recent theatre work includes She at London’s Tara Theatre and on tour, in which she played eight characters; Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby: The Immersive Show; Cassandra, Andromache and Menalaus in Troilus and Cressida at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and Coriolanus at the Rose Theatre, Bankside. Eugene McCoy’s recent London credits include the world premiere of American Psycho at the Almeida Theatre, the world premiere of Groundhog Day at the Old Vic Theatre and Legally Blonde at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre. His film credits include Wonka, Matilda and Paddington 2. Maddie Rice took over from Phoebe Waller-Bridge in the stage show of Fleabag, with other recent theatre credits including All My Sons at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre and Michael Grandage’s Henry V at the Noel Coward Theatre. Her television credits include Fleabag, Stath Lets Flats, Ten Percent, The Other One, I Hate You and the all-female sketch show Flaps. 

The current tour of The 39 Steps opened at Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch on 14^th March before appearing at a further sixteen venues nationwide; it will end its 2024 run at the Curve, Leicester on 3^rd August.

The 2024 UK Tour is brought to the stage by UK tour director Nicola Samer, with the original creative team of designer Peter McKintosh, lighting designer Ian Scott, sound designer Mic Pool and director of movement Toby Sedgwick. Casting is by Abby Galvin. The tour is a remount of the award-winning production directed by Maria Aitken and adapted by Patrick Barlow.