Arlington Heights Play Analysis

The play that I attended was The 39 Steps at the Metropolis theatre in Arlington Heights is an adaptation of an Alfred Hitchcock movie that was based on a novel written by John Buchan. The play was adapted by Partick Barlow and directed by David Belew. The type of plot that was followed was a cinematic with some presentational elements. Overall, the presentational elements paired with the comical elements of the play worked very well together and created a delightful experience. The play started off with the main character Richard Hannay (Edward Fraim), who was English, sitting on a chair describing how he is bored with his life and looking for adventure. To inject some excitement into his day he decides to go to the theatre that evening. …show more content…
The set was very bear bones and usually only included a table, chairs, and wooden rectangles that represented windows. During the play many of the tables and chairs and windows were shifted around to signal to the audience that the characters were in different rooms or locations. A fun way that the characters used the bare bones set that added comedic value was escaping through windows. Since the windows were only wooden rectangles attached to nothing the actors would have to pick them up and step through them. To add, there was a blank sheet backdrop that was very cleverly used throughout the play. In a scene where there was plane chasing the main character on the opposing side of the sheet a light was shown with a model airplane to give the crowd the idea that a plane was flying. Also, in another scene there was a party and some of the actors were behind the sheet dancing with manicans to give the audience the perception that many people were there. If there were more complex scenes such as a scene on a train the characters used their bodies and motion to signify what was happening and the audience was forced to use their imagination. Many times this was done in a comedic way that also added to the value of the production. Overall, The elements of the minimal set were used flawlessly to add comedic value to the …show more content…
Since the cast had to constantly switch between characters, and genders, the costumes had to be subtly since they had to switch quickly but enough for the audience to understand that the cast member changed character. There were many scenarios were in the same scene the cast members switched costume slightly but enough for it to be easily understood. To add, many of the costumes had comical aspects to them. For example, there was a scene where Richard was staying in Scottish hotel and the characters of the staff of the hotel were dressed in an amplified stereotype of Scottish people. Overall, the costumes added a lot to the production. In conclusion, many elements were used to amplify the presentational elements of the production in a comical way, which was the aim of the production. The production was worth the effort and was very