KARACHI: In 1915, John Buchan published a novel The Thirty-Nine Steps. It was an actionpacked story. In 1935, the legendary filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock made a movie based on the book. It is now deemed a classic, a trailblazer of sorts for the `mistaken identity`spy stories.

Decades later, playwright Patrick Barlow paid a tribute, a kind of parody, to the story by turning it into a comic thriller.

Directors Mazhar Suleman and Syed Muntazir tipped their hat to Barlow`s version on Wednesday evening at the Arts Council of Pakistan by putting up The ThirtyNine Steps, and adapting it in the Urdu language.

The storyfocuses on the character of Mirza Baig (Ahmer Hussain) who runs into a woman Erum (Sara Taqi). She cajoles him into takinghertohishouse.There she behaves strangely and makes a mysterious reference to `The 39 Steps`. In a strange turn of events, she dies which puts Baig in trouble. He becomes the obvious suspect.

But it all begins at a show where the host (Hammad Khan) has a character alongside him named Memory (Zohair Zubair) asking the latter to answer the questions put to him by members of the audience.

The story catches pace when Baig, in order to protect himself from wrongly being charged as a murderer, runs away, and during that period his journey makes him confront multiple characters, including a professor (Zain Qureshi), the villain, who runs a secret organisation that transfers one country`s vital information to other countries.

On the whole, The Thirty-Nine Steps was an entertaining play, thoroughly enjoyed by the audience.

The stagecraft used was good whichcreated the right kind of spoofy atmosphere, ably helped by the actors who simulated the car ride and train journey, etc, nicely. Since the tale was told in a fast-paced manner, a few overlapping (or fumbling) of the lines didn`t matter.

One was especially impressed with Sara Taqi`s performance. She didn`t come across as someone who was a part of a comedic effort, and yet she was. This means she`s a natural talent. She contributed immensely, apart from the directors, to the success of the play.

A slight observation: one has noticed that the younger lot working in theatre, in order to make fun `contemporary`, uses a lot of local political references. Perhaps it has something to do with the Anwar Maqsood school of writing.

Although it does elicit laughter, it takes away the originality of a writer. Something to mull over.

The play was part of the council`s ongoing World Culture Festival.