Cascades Theatre hosts fast, funny whodunit ’39 Steps’

Cascades Theatre hosts fast, funny whodunit ’39 Steps’

Published 7:00 am Thursday, March 19, 2026

In her program note for Cascades Theatrical Company’s latest stage play, “The 39 Steps,” director Desi Thrower calls the madcap journey “a theatrical love letter to suspense, cinema and the joy of pure storytelling. Our production embraces the play’s unique blend of high-stakes espionage and low-tech theatrical invention; with some Monty Python-type humor thrown in.”

The play is rooted in a 1915 spy thriller by John Buchan, which Alfred Hitchcock adapted for the 1935 film. However, Patrick Barlow’s stage adaptation is not merely a film on stage, but rather a celebration of what only live theater can do, Thrower said.

“Rather than grounding the play in gritty realism, we lean fully into its theatricality.”

When everyman Richard Hannay (played by John Alan Hulbert) is caught up in extraordinary circumstances and the plot unfolds at a rapid pace, he goes from boredom to breathless adventure.

“Hannay’s confusion about whom to trust mirrors our own modern uncertainty in navigating news, narratives and authority. The play’s heightened paranoia may be comic, but its foundation resonates in an age of cyber-espionage and information warfare,” Thrower said. “In today’s world, where misinformation spreads rapidly, surveillance is a constant topic of debate, and global tensions simmer, the idea of shadowy organizations and unseen threats feels familiar.”

Small cast, many roles

The show’s four cast members — Hulbert, Whitney Garner, Don Delach and Daniel Witty — play dozens of roles, using minimal props and maximal imagination.

“My guiding thought throughout rehearsals has been: How can we make the audience complicit in the magic? The humor lands best when the mechanics are visible — when steamer trunks and ladders become a train, when a singular door frame opens to many adventures, when a single lighting shift transforms London into the Highlands,” Thrower says in her director’s notes.

Physical comedy plays a major part in the show. Delach and Witty, who play all supporting characters, “operate with choreographic precision, often switching roles in a split second,” according to Thrower. “Timing is everything.”

A simple set

A few trunks, ladders and platforms constitute the world of “The 39 Steps.” The spartan set is by design, intended to flexible and suggestive. Thrower suggests audiences put their imaginations to work and suspend disbelief.

“When you see an actor sprint in circles to suggest a chase, or diving through a window that doesn’t exist, you are witnessing theatre in its purest form — collaborative, inventive, alive,” she writes.

In a time when theater is saturated with high-budget digital spectacle, Thrower said, “‘The 39 Steps’ offers something radically refreshing: imagination over technology. … In an era of streaming platforms and CGI-heavy blockbusters, the play reminds us that storytelling does not require elaborate effects — just human connection and shared imagination. That communal experience feels especially valuable after years of social isolation and digital fatigue.”

Audiences should buckle up for a fun, swift-moving ride, Thrower said.

“The play’s fast-paced humor provides catharsis. It allows audiences to laugh at danger, poke fun at authority, and momentarily escape the weight of reality. Comedy becomes not trivial, but therapeutic. By parodying the thriller genre while honoring it, the play suggests that even in tense times, wit and creativity endure.”

If You Go

What: “The 39 Steps”
When: Opens 7:30 p.m. Thursday; performs 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sundays, through April 5
Where: Cascades Theatre, 148 NW Greenwood Ave., Bend
Cost: $45, $39 students and seniors
Contact: cascadestheatrical.org