THE 39 STEPS - WOODWARD / NEIL GOODING PRODUCTIONS 2025
SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE, NEWCASTLE CIVIC THEATRE, COMEDY THEATRE MELBOURNE & PLAYHOUSE QPAC BRISBANE
photo Cameron Grant
photo Cameron Grant
photo Matthew Marshall
photo Cameron Grant
photo Cameron Grant
photo Cameron Grant
photo Cameron Grant
WRITER
Patrick Barlow
DIRECTOR
SET & COSTUME DESIGN
LIGHTING DESIGN
Matthew Marshall
COMPOSER & SOUND DESIGN
Brady Watkins
CAST
Lisa McCune
Ian Stenlake
David Collins (The Umbilical Brothers)
Shane Dundas (The Umbilical Brothers)
Lib Campbell (understudy)
Berynn Schwerdt (understudy)
“The production is visually striking, with James Browne’s sets and costumes impressing through their ambitious scale and refined aesthetic. Lights by Matthew Marshall are commensurately sumptuous, and highly evocative in this monochromatic tribute to early filmmaking.”
“The designs stuns. James Browne’s set and costumes takes us into the world of film noir and graphic novels with grayscale and moving set parts which create frames not unlike that of filming techniques of Hitchcock. It serves the action by creating a series of frames which move rapidly. Reinforced by some excellent lighting and AV projection (Matthew Marshall) and SFX (Brady Watkins) this is what a show looks like when design, cast and crew truly work cohesively to coalesce a director’s vision.”
Kate Stratford, theatrenow.com.au
“Visually stunning, The 39 Steps set and costumes by James Browne and lighting design by Matthew Marshall is a feast, big, iconic, geometrical, all done with a greyscale colour palette. We are whisked from apartments to mansions, train compartments to bicycle tracks, aerial attacks and hotel rooms with remarkable finesse.”
Richard Cotter, australianstage.com.au
“Just when I thought I couldn’t be impressed any further, the lighting design is arguably the best I have seen. Matthew Marshall has done a phenomenal job to light the stage in a way that savours the black and white feel of the costuming. But what impressed the most was the shadow play. Like the classic noir detective thrillers mixed with some clever shadow puppet like comedy, I was thoroughly impressed. Matthew Marshall’s design really brought The 39 Steps to life.”
Grant Alexander, lilithia reviews
“Lighting from Matthew Marshall makes the most of the expressionist set and is seamless in its ability to accommodate the many quick scene changes.”
“High contrast lighting from Matthew Marshall complements this aesthetic perfectly. Marshall’s use of strobe effects during slow-mo action sequences and his shadow play is beautifully realised.”
“Matthew Marshall’s lighting design punctuates the comedy with cinematic flair, nodding knowingly to Hitchcock’s moody aesthetics”
Rohan Shearn, artsreview.com.au