The Houston Critic

The AD players “39 Steps”

By: Austin Green
The A.D. player’s theatre was an experience to say the least. Upon arrival, everything was as expected.
The staff was welcoming, the theatre had a definite “historical” feel to it. Tonight, I was in for a treat seeing as the person
Who gave the introduction to “The 39 steps” was, to my surprise, the founder of The A.D. Players Theatre, Jeannette Clift George herself.
She spoke of her aspirations for the theatre over 48 years ago and how the joy and excitement she felt back then has echoed
Through the halls of time until now. It was nice to see how proud she was of her theatre.
The play I was about to watch was called “The 39 Steps”. It’s an adaptation for the stage of an Alfred Hitchcock original.
It was also being attempted by only 4 cast members and one very awkward projection screen. It opened to a crowd of about 60
Audience members, this being its first run of the season. The crowd was introduced to the first two of the four cast members about ten minutes
Before the beginning of the play itself. They were out strolling the aisles on the boundaries of the audience masquerading as some sort
Of Theatre security team. It was weird. The lights were dimmed and they jumped up on stage and made the proper, no “Edison devices”, no
Loud candy announcements and then nothing…….. After about ten seconds of pure pitch blackness, they cut the confusing audio from the
Screen that no one could see to throw the lights back up. The dreaded curse of opening night technical difficulties. The projector wasn’t
Projecting! The project was in danger! But after a short, sweat-drenched address from the Director, the show was saved!!
From the beginning, it took some getting used to. There were only 3 actors and one actress to play the parts of over a dozen. With that being said,
There were lots of fade to black, rehearsed stage handlings with the props. Some were clever and funny, others were awkward and cumbersome.
The actors were spot on. Alexis German did a wonderful job playing the three women that she did although her Scottish accent could use some fine tuning.
The main character, Kevin Dean was superb in his ability to play the cunning and candidly handsome role of Richard Hannay. Craig Griffin and Jeff
McMorrough were outrageous in their respective roles. Those two will almost fool you into believing there are two sets of themselves on stage at once
By changing wardrobes numerous times throughout the play.
All in all, it was a delightful experience, not perfect by any means but at the same time that imperfection added to the charm of the show. It was a
Valiant effort by four unique actors to pull off an entertaining production. So for that, I thank them