BEFORE the friends, relations and fans of the late Lord Tweedsmuir, John Buchan, rush to point out that it was he and not Alfred Hitchcock who penned this classic tale of mystery and adventure, it should be pointed out that in their programme Fiery Angel, who present the current touring production of this show, give full credit to Buchan, the former Governer General of Canada, for writing the original book.

The reason that Hitchcock gets top billing is that it is the Charles Bennett and Ian Hay adaptation of his classic 1935 film version on which Patrick Barlow bases this stage adaptation, in which four actors to portray 130 characters. Before you question that statement, it is true – or to be completely accurate, three actors playing 129 roles, because Tom Byrne only portrays our dashing hero Richard Hannay .That leaves Safeena Ladha, Eugene McCoy and Maddie Rice to sort out the rest between them. Improbable as it seems, under the guidance of Nicola Samer (who reinterprets Maria Aitken’s original direction for this new tour), they manage the task without getting into an impossible muddle even when playing more than one character in the same scene.

Unlike the Don Sharp version, starring Robert Powell as Hannay, which takes the story back to the pre-First World War period, the book was written in 1915 and Patrick Barlow has anchored this adaption firmly to the 1930s pre-World War Two period. With some of the original music from the Hitchcock film in the background, there are shadows of the dashing Robert Donat and beautiful Madeleine Carroll as Tom Byrne’s Hannay and Safeena Ladha’s Pamela, (much to their mutual annoyance), found themselves handcuffed together.

Safeena’s timid crofters’ wife also bore images of the young Peggy Ashcroft and John Laurie, (later Private Frazer in Dad’s Army), hove into view in Eugene McCoy’s portrait of her mean scheming husband. But the cameo that took you most firmly into the heart of the 1930s was Maddie Rice, perfectly capturing the voice and vocal delivery of the legendary Pat Hagate, who for more than two decades introduced every championship boxing match in London, as Mr Memory is introduced to the audience.

All the ingredients of that much-loved Hitchcock film are on hand, as well as a great deal of good-natured-but-never-cruel fun at its expense, in this highly enjoyable, extremely well staged and performed adaptation.

On tour until the beginning of August, this production then returns to London’s West End, where it previously enjoyed a nine year run, picking up an Olivier Award for Best Comedy on the way.

GRP