The foyer does need a makeover. I’ve never quite liked the mirrors myself…

The John Bell programme on the wall in the foyer has a bit of history to it. It was a one man Shakespeare recital, various monologues, “This Scepter’d Isle” he self-directed & performed at the Genesian in 1962, and the Genesian then paid for him to tour it. Reading the press clippings of the time raving about it, it seems to have been the show that really launched Mr Bell as a Shakespearean actor.

The old saying is indeed that the Communists go to the New, and the Catholics go to the Genesian. There is truth in it, though increasingly less so. Far as I can work out that saying has been around since the 50s – at the time, the two were pretty much your only serious options if you wanted to get in to theatre in Sydney.

The New is about 10 years older than the Genesian. I was actually quite pleased to see ’39 Steps’ attracting people from the New (mainly drawn by Lib, I expect). I always think it’s a bit of a shame there’s not greater communication between the two companies – far as I know the two oldest theatre companies in inner Sydney, we should talk more.

Minor quibble – it really is far more Hitchcock’s version than Buchan’s. For a start, all of Lib’s three characters were created for the 1935 Hitchcock film, they’re not in the 1915 Buchan novel, which is more of a Boys Own Adventure – no sexy women. Almost all of the script of the play is lifted directly from the Hitchcock film. That’s one thing that’s quite intriguing. You are right that people looking for a thriller won’t find it here, but there’s actually a lot of humour in the 1935 film: I watched it a number of times while in pre-production, and got together with the cast to watch it about half way through rehearsals. You can find the origin of almost every joke in the play in the film. What the play does is take the Hitchcock film and push it all up a notch until thriller becomes farce – it’s basically the old joke of an actor over-acting a dramatic moment to the point that people laugh at it.

You are right that we are serving an audience: going on ticket sales ’39 Steps’ is pretty much the most popular play the Genesian has produced in five years. For myself as director, I’m always pleased to hang out in the foyer as the audience leave the theatre and watch the happy faces – this is by no means the only purpose of theatre, but giving people a few hours of laughter is no small achievement.

It really was lovely to see you again, stay in touch.

I now have a tremendous desire to go see a SUDS show in the Cellar.