<\/p>\n
Ema Zivkovic and Michael Stewart Allen account for 50% of the cast of \u201cThe 39 Steps<\/a>,\u201d the thriller\/mystery\/spy-story spoof playing through November 9 at Syracuse Stage, yet collectively the two play 95% of the roles.<\/p>\n Within the first 15 minutes of the show, audiences will see Zivkovic and Stewart Allen\u2014described as simply \u201cClown 1\u201d and \u201cClown 2\u201d in the script\u2014portray a West End compere, a variety show performer, a milkman, a pair of seedy gangsters, two traveling salesmen, a newspaper boy, and a train conductor. Before the evening\u2019s through, they\u2019ll each add dozens more characters to that list. <\/p>\n \u201cThe 39 Steps\u201d comically remixes Alfred Hitchcock\u2019s classic film into a full-fledged theatrical hurricane, filled with quick changes and even quicker banter. The show requires athletic performances from all of its actors (J\u00fcrgen Hooper is leading man-on-the-run Richard Hannay; Tyler Meredith does triple-duty as a trio of romantic interests), but Zivkovic and Allen carry a good share of the weight\u2014sometimes literally, as is the case with the inventive, DIY set pieces\u2014of this fleet-footed tale. <\/p>\n From afar it might look like the pair is just clownin\u2019 around, but ask Zivkovic and Allen to recount their lighting-fast work on the show and they\u2019ll admit astonishment at their ability to pull it all off. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s wild stuff, and you\u2019re amazed that you\u2019re actually doing it,\u201d Zivkovic said.<\/p>\n This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.<\/i><\/p>\n Syracuse Stage:<\/b> Between rehearsals, running the play at Indiana Repertory theatre, and now here in Syracuse, you\u2019ve been with this show for almost two and a half months. What\u2019s that been like?<\/p>\n Michael Stewart Allen: <\/b>I think it\u2019s been good. Moving the show from Indianapolis to Syracuse, you get to see what jokes land, what jokes are regional, and how people respond. You also get to live with the show for a while, which is not something you usually get with regional theater. It\u2019s normally three weeks, and then it\u2019s over. But this time, there\u2019s a chance to try it again, and to sort of reinvent and grow the show in a different city.<\/p>\n Ema Zivkovic: <\/b>Yeah, I fully agree. It\u2019s so exciting to know that it\u2019s just gonna keep getting better, and that you have the time for that to happen. And because we trust each other as actors, I can\u2019t wait to see what little changes happen within the smaller moments of the play, where we figure out a new rhythm to something, or a new way to say something. And then we go backstage and we say, \u201cThat was good, right?!\u201d Or, it\u2019s like, \u201cOh, that won\u2019t work at all. No, definitely not.\u201d<\/p>\n MSA: <\/b>There was a moment the other night that I told my wife about, and it was when your fake mustache flew off, and we had the exact same response at the exact same time, and the audience loved it\u2014you couldn\u2019t have planned it any better. The audience roared. It was just an impulse moment, because we had been able to work so long together.<\/p>\n EZ: <\/b>And even J\u00fcrgen, who plays Richard in the show, said, \u201cI thought that\u2019s something that you staged!\u201d Because we did it so perfectly.<\/p>\n SS: <\/b>And that\u2019s not something you could recreate.<\/p>\n MSA: <\/b>We could never recreate it!<\/p>\n EZ: <\/b>The mustache got sweaty, and it flew in a beautiful trajectory down to the floor.<\/p>\n MSA: <\/b>And we did the exact same thing at the exact same moment\u2014it was really great.<\/p>\n SS:<\/b> So for your roles, especially, there\u2019s so much physicality, so much comedy, so much slapstick, so much movement. I just wonder, what is your background? I believe you\u2019re a dancer, Ema?<\/p>\n EZ: <\/b>Yeah, I started off with music and dance back in Croatia, and then started doing theater later in life when I moved to America. So everything that I do in theater is so deeply informed by rhythm and by physicality. <\/p>\n During my audition for this show, the director Ben Hanna asked me about myself as a performer, and I said, \u201cEverything starts from the toes and ends at the top of the head, and every single inch of my skin and my bones is included in every character, every decision that I make.\u201d And that\u2019s where I always start from, because English is not my first language\u2014so I\u2019m not starting from language, because I need to work to get there. <\/p>\n SS: <\/b>And Michael, you come from a classical background?<\/p>\n MSA: <\/b>I do a lot of Shakespeare, and I think it lends itself to this process, because you have to be so facile with the words, and use the language to find the clues in the text to figure out certain things. That\u2019s the way I\u2019ve approached a lot of these characters, by finding the words that activate something in me. For every one of these characters I play in this show, I have to create a new voice, a new dialect, a new everything. <\/p>\n EZ: <\/b>Yeah, and what\u2019s so fascinating to me is having Michael, with such a strong understanding of the language and such a clear focus and minute things in the text and the way that he approaches it. That compliments my way of working, because I\u2019m like, \u201cOh, that\u2019s so helpful. I wasn\u2019t thinking about it. Okay, I\u2019ve got this physical stuff, but I really need to listen here.\u201d <\/p>\n MSA: <\/b>Yeah, and I had the exact same experience in rehearsals, thinking, \u201cOh, I gotta step up my game. I gotta do more with this!\u201d<\/p>\n SS:<\/b> It\u2019s like you\u2019re two halves of the same brain\u2026<\/p>\n EZ: <\/b>And then we go onstage, and we sweat a lot!<\/p>\n MN: <\/b>So, the audience sees this mayhem on stage that\u2019s obviously very precise and calculated. But what\u2019s it like backstage?<\/p>\n MSA: <\/b>There\u2019s a whole other show taking place backstage. Onstage, it feels like we\u2019re in control of something. Offstage, it\u2019s like complete chaos. When we were building the show in Indianapolis, we were just creating what had to happen in the moment. You know, if a police jacket comes off and a sweater goes on, we had to create the formula for that. <\/p>\n I equate it to a NASCAR race. It\u2019s like, you pull into a pit stop and there\u2019s a system. It\u2019s all timed out. We know where we can breathe. We\u2019ve gotten so good and so fast that we are actually able to sit down now. We were sitting next to each other the other night, and I said, \u201cDid you ever think we\u2019d have time to sit?\u201d<\/p>\n EZ: <\/b>Yeah, we were able to actually chill for a few seconds! And the NASCAR reference is so on point. We\u2019ve gotten so much faster and more specific through just having conversations with the crew. <\/p>\n When you\u2019re in that chaos, you have to find that person and say, \u201cThe way that we put that sleeve on, it wasn\u2019t working. Can we do it the other way?\u201d Or, \u201cI\u2019m in that corner, and I can\u2019t do that because I\u2019m going to hit a light!\u201d <\/p>\n I have five costume changes in the last 10 minutes of the show, and they used to be absolute hell, to be honest. I was dreading it, but now we know exactly what to do: \u201cWhat about this snap on this shirt? Are we going to skip that snap? We\u2019re not going to do that snap, ok, cool!\u201d So it\u2019s very, very prescriptive. But it\u2019s fun. It\u2019s like an amusement park ride.<\/p>\n Show details:<\/b><\/p>\n What: <\/b>\u201cThe 39 Steps,\u201d a play adapted from Alfred Hitchcock\u2019s 1935 film<\/p>\n Where: <\/b>Syracuse Stage, 820 E. Genesee St., Syracuse<\/p>\n When: <\/b>October 22 through November 9. Tickets at SyracuseStage.org\/39Steps. <\/p>\n Length of performance:<\/b> 1 hour, 45 minutes, including a 15-minute intermission<\/p>\n Family guide:<\/b> Nothing objectionable, but suited to mature high school students due to rapid pace and dialogue.<\/p>\n Tickets and information:<\/b> 315-443-3275 and syracusestage.org<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.syracuse.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ema Zivkovic and Michael Stewart Allen account for 50% of the cast of \u201cThe 39 Steps,\u201d the thriller\/mystery\/spy-story spoof playing through November 9 at Syracuse Stage, yet collectively the two play 95% of the roles. Within the first 15 minutes of the show, audiences will see Zivkovic and Stewart Allen\u2014described as simply \u201cClown 1\u201d and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2133269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2133269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2133269"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2133269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2133270,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2133269\/revisions\/2133270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2133269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2133269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2133269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}