JAMES WALSH is moved by a provocative and original take on the relationship between ecology and architecture, and a plea to work with, not against, the materials and minerals of our world
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Theatre: 39 steps to the funny bone
An immersive, participatory display by a queer Australian Aboriginal performer, and a rebellious unravelling of traditional Scottish dance
EWAN CAMERON witnesses a political farce that lacks a clear message
EWAN CAMERON picks out two fascinating music shows, fusing the Korean, and the Celtic, with the modern
BENJAMIN POTHIER suggests that Palaeolithic cave paintings in Spain point to the ceremonial use of hallucinogenic flora
The bard confirms that the right has a humour bypass, and replays the English Revolution on period instruments
The 39 Steps
West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds/Touring
4/5
FIRST staged 20 years ago, this touring adaptation by Patrick Barlow of John Buchan’s 39 Steps — by way of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 comic thriller — finds plenty to to parody in adventure hero Richard Hannay and his “very attractive pencil moustache.”
Having become embroiled in a WWI spy plot he’s chased across Scotland, encountering love interests and dastardly would-be murderers.
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