Broadway comedy hit starring actors from Fleabag and The Crown coming to Theatre Royal Glasgow

The 39 Steps by Alfred Hitchcock will be coming to Theatre Royal Glasgow this year in the form of a new comedy stage adaptation by Patrick Barlow featuring actors from TV hits The Crown and Fleabag.

Tom Byrne will play Richard Hannay in the UK Tour of the Tony and Olivier Award-winning comedy, The 39 Steps. He played Prince Andrew in The Crown series 4 and appeared in Bridgerton, A Discovery of Witches and Black Mirror. He can currently be seen in BBC 3’s Dreaming Whilst Black and the new film The Persian Version released this month.

He will star alongside by Safeena Ladha as Annabella Schmidt / Pamela / Margaret. Safeena’s recent theatre work includes She at London’s Tara Theatre and on tour, in which she played eight characters, Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby: The Immersive Show, Cassandra, Andromache and Menalaus in Troilus and Cressida (Edinburgh Festival Fringe) and Coriolanus (Rose Theatre Bankside).

Further casting includes Eugene McCoy as Clown 1 and Maddie Rice as Clown 2 – this is the first time this production has cast a female identifying actor as one of the Clowns. Eugene McCoy appeared in the world premiere of American Psycho at the Almeida Theatre, the world premiere of Groundhog Day at the Old Vic Theatre and Legally Blonde at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre.

Maddie Rice took over from Phoebe Waller-Bridge in the stage show of Fleabag. Other recent theatre credits include All My Sons at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre and Michael Grandage’s Henry V at the Noel Coward Theatre. Her TV credits include Fleabag, Stath Lets Flats, Ten Percent, The Other One, I Hate You and the all-female sketch show Flaps. Jacob Daniels and Hannah Parker also join the cast as the understudies.

Patrick Barlow’s hilarious adaptation of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic spy thriller ran in London’s West End for nine years, finally closing in 2015. It won the Olivier Award and What’s On Stage Award for Best Comedy in 2007. It also took Broadway by storm, winning two Tony Awards and a Drama Desk Award in 2008. The play, with its quintessentially plucky spirit and dashing sense of British fun, has toured to 39 countries and played to over 3 million people worldwide.

Follow the incredible adventures of handsome hero Richard Hannay, complete with stiff-upper-lip, British gung-ho and pencil moustache as he encounters dastardly murders, double-crossing secret agents and, of course, devastatingly beautiful women.

This wonderfully inventive and gripping comedy thriller features four fearless actors, playing 139 roles in 100 minutes of fast-paced fun and thrilling action.

The 2024 UK Tour is brought to the stage by UK tour director Nicola Samer, with the original creative team of designer Peter McKintosh, lighting designer Ian Scott, sound designer Mic Pool and director of movement Toby Sedgwick. Casting is by Abby Galvin. The tour is a remount of the award-winning production directed by Maria Aitken and adapted by Patrick Barlow.

The 39 steps will play Theatre Royal Glasgow from Tuesday May 28 to Saturday, June 1 - you can buy tickets by clicking here.