Alan Perrin and Nigel Betts will join the cast of Laurence Olivier Award-winning comedy The 39 Steps on 28 July, to play the character-juggling roles of Man 1 and Man 2.
The pair joins Josefina Gabrielle and Jo Stone-Fewings, replacing Martyn Ellis and Simon Gregor, the only remaining original cast member still performing in the production.
The 39 Steps is a comic adaptation of John Buchan’s novel and Hitchcock’s 1935 thriller, bringing every memorable scene from the classic movie to the stage, including the chase on the Flying Scotsman, the escape on the Forth Bridge and the death-defying finale in the London Palladium.
The show is performed by just four actors, with Perrin and Betts having to play over 100 characters between them in the course of the evening.
Both Perrin and Betts have a history with the Royal Shakespeare Company, where Perrin appeared in Cyrano De Bergerac and Henry V, and Betts appeared in A New Way To Please You, Thomas Moore and Night Of The Soul. Elsewhere, Perrin’s credits include His Dark Materials, Gilgamesh and Richard III (all National Theatre), while Betts’s include the recent Tinderbox (Bush).
Since finding success in the West End, where it has been running at the Criterion since September 2006, The 39 Steps has gone global. There are now productions in Italy, Israel, Australia, Korea, Germany, Greece and America – where it recently won two Tony Awards – with 15 other international productions in the pipeline.
MA