Christopher Hunt (left), John Ullyat (centre) and Andy Curtis in Vertigo’s 39 Steps.

DETAILS

The 39 Steps presented by Vertigo Theatre
Vertigo Theatre
Saturday, November 13 - Monday, December 13

More in: Theatre

Vertigo Mystery Theatre’s latest production, The 39 Steps, is a spoof of the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock film of the same name. Patrick Barlow adapted the work based on the film and the original novel by John Buchan. Four actors act out the entire film onstage, nearly verbatim. One actor plays Richard Hannay, the cast’s sole female portrays three different women, and the two “clowns” in the show are responsible for 150 ancillary characters. Yes, 150.

The story follows Hannay, who is on the run from the police after he is accused of murdering beautiful spy Annabella Schmidt (Adrienne Smook). While on the run, he encounters several people, including a jealous farmer and his young wife, an attractive but spirited young woman, a professor who is not what he seems, a vaudeville performer with a photographic mind, and a whole host of other characters.

When Deitra Kalyn began to design the costumes for The 39 Steps, outfitting the show’s main character — Hannay (John Ullyatt) — seemed like it would be straightforward. The script even provides details of what the suit looks like: a light-brown, three-piece, Harris Tweed. As the story takes place in pre-Second World War Europe, Kalyn knew she was also looking for a suit reflective of the 1930s. Furthermore, Ullyatt has to cartwheel and somersault in the suit, so it couldn’t be too tight.

Description and sketch in hand, Kalyn contacted the various sources Vertigo Theatre mines to find the necessary costumes for its shows, but to no avail.

“Between all of those places, I couldn’t find what I wanted,” says Kalyn. She came close with a 1970s hounds tooth from Mount Royal University, but, as Kalyn explains, the cut wasn’t period appropriate.

Thankfully Ullyatt, who works frequently with the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton, saved the day. He contacted the head of wardrobe and Citadel came through with several possibilities, which Ullyatt delivered personally to Kalyn.

“It all came together at the 11th hour on the last possible day,” she says.

That said, however, the suit that made the final cut still isn’t identical to the one described in the script; it’s not tweed, but it looks tweedy, and it’s not a three-piece, but Kalyn borrowed a vest from another suit to make it one.

“Thank goodness for the 10-foot rule in theatre. If you squint in row three, it looks awesome,” she says.

While it’s unlikely the average theatregoer would notice such period details as lapel size, the line of the vest or the rise of the pant, this is the level of detail Kalyn considers when costuming a show.

While historical accuracy is one of the things Kalyn has to deal with in The 39 Steps, the other is quick costume changes… changes that have to happen in as little as five seconds.

Andy Curtis and Christopher Hunt are the lucky actors who play men, women, children and even landscape features, including a bog, thorn bush, cleft and waterfall. (Look for a shower curtain for the waterfall and a shiny plastic rain slicker that works as a bog.)

“It’s all about layering,” says Kalyn. That, and 15 to 20 hats, wigs, lots of hidden Velcro and false shirt fronts sewn into cardigans so shirt and sweater can work as one piece.

Curtis and Hunt wear the same costume throughout the entire show: tuxedo pants, shirt, suspenders, vest, bowtie, socks and sock garters. They switch into different characters with a new hat or a new sweater thrown over top.

Kalyn says part of the humour comes from the awkwardness of it all. For example, the two men will roll up their pant legs when they slip on skirts, but socks and their garters remain beneath the skirt’s hem. In one scene, Hunt juggles three different hats onstage to play a bobby, a train porter and an underwear salesman. “It’s like choreography,” says Kalyn.

She says accommodating such a wide range of characters also involves honing in on the “iconic imagery,” which communicates a character to an audience in the simplest way possible. A bobby, for example, needs only a bobby hat and a cape for audiences to understand.

Perhaps the “unsung heroes” in a show with so many quick changes are the backstage crew. “The actors rip off costume pieces and the assistant stage manager has to find the various bits,” says Kalyn. “There’s an amazing amount of choreography backstage to remember who wears what, where and when.”

In one brief scene, costumes even become their own characters — members of a Highland band — which Curtis and Hunt carry out on rods. It seems like a lot of extra work (and fabric) for a scene that lasts 30 seconds, but Kalyn says a costume designer can’t think like that.

“You can never think, ‘Oh, that scene is only 30 seconds, so I don’t need to put as much work into it,’” she says. “Everything is written for a reason.”