The Gallery Players' The 39 Steps is like really entertaining clockwork. The talents of the cast and the production team combine to keep this fast-paced comic whodunit moving without a hitch.

In fact, some of the funny moments of the cast "breaking character" (per the script) to look for something that should be there is made all the funnier because everyone in the play in reality never misses a cue.

Alister Austin plays Richard Hannay, a bored 37-year-old fop who believes an evening at the theatre will liven up his dull life. And he is right! While watching a play (comprised of Whit Leyenberger and Kayla Ryan Walsh, in the first of many roles under the umbrella of Clown 1 and Clown 2), he encounters Annabella Schmidt (Amanda Baxter, in the first of three roles). There is a gunshot in the theatre, Annabella convinces Richard to let her stay with him for safety from murderers, a crime ensues and from there the madness begins.

Austin as the wrongly-accused Richard is hilarious. He loves the ladies though the ladies don't always love him and gets into even more trouble along the way as a result. His command of physical comedy while being dressed in a proper suit is absolutely amazing. Baxter as Annabelle (and later Margaret and Pamela) is phenomenal with accents and postures as she styles her characters as a mysterious German agent, a bored Scottish wife and an affected leading lady a la the silver screen of the 1940s and '50s. And the combination of Leyenberger and Walsh is nothing short of legendary. Each is an amazing comic in their own right but for this comedy to work, they had to reply on each other to keep up the pace, like a great tennis match. These two are the Grand Slam champions of comedy. They never let a single line or bit drop, no matter how many accents or costumes they have to adopt, sometimes while on stage as two different characters at once.

Everyone both in the lighting booth and backstage is on point. The actors often disappeared backstage for a few seconds and reappeared, fully dressed as another character in a completely new outfit, hats, beards and everything. I was continually amazed at how quick and seamless it all was. The work of Laura Drucker (Scenic Design), Julie Epstein (Props Design), Tony Johnson (Costume Design) and Emily La Rosa (Dresser/Wardrobe) is evident on stage at all times, and the quick shifts between scenes is fantastic. In fact, a play about how they all organize and dress all the sets and actors that quickly would be a hit in itself.

It s a tech-heavy show, which really sells a lot of scenes. Savannah Bell as Lighting Designer and Ian O'Loughlin as Sound Designer are flawless. Due to them, I bought that the actors were hanging on to a moving train when they were in reality holding up a ladder and wiggling and shouting. That's true theatre magic!