The 39 Steps, Lighthouse, Poole

FORGET the films, forget even the book - this crazy, romping stage adaptation gets to the heart of John Buchan's thriller and finds rip-roaring comedy.

The cast of four hurtles along at breakneck pace through a story of spies and betrayal, murder and unexpected romance. But best of all, it is a cracking comedy, sending up pre-war British stoicism something wicked.

Here is the hero, Richard Hannay, complete with matinee-idol good looks and a pencil moustache, plunged into adventure and intrigue in a bid to stop an evil foreign power being perfectly beastly.

After all, what's a chap to do except his level best to save his country in the nick of time and try to win the heart of a pretty gal along the way?

Hannay, played by a suitably dashing and energetic Dugald Bruce-Lockhart, does just that, staying one step ahead of a collection of oddball yet instantly familiar characters conjured up from nowhere by Richard Braine, Dan Starkey and Katherine Kingsley.

Using an almost bare stage, a quirky collection of props and costumes and boundless imagination they summon up everything they need – a cross-country chase, the whole Forth Bridge, the London Palladium, a big hoose in Scotland, a thrilling train journey – and all at top speed.

With its knockabout humour and tee-hee visual gags this production is a firecracker of fun and surprises. It is certainly very silly but it is also top-notch West End theatre, playing at Poole until tomorrow.

You'd be crackers, old bean, to miss it. DA