THE West End's long-running show, The 39 Steps, is at the Nuffield Theatre, Southampton from Tuesday 3 to Saturday 7 May as part of a UK wide tour to mark the Olivier Award-Winning Comedy's 10th anniversary.

Based on Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 movie and John Buchan's 1914 spy thriller The Thirty Nine Steps and adapted for the stage by Patrick Barlow, The 39 Steps follows dashing hero Richard Hannay - complete with stiff upper lip, British gung-ho and pencil moustache - in a dangerous tale of cat-and-mouse from London to the Scottish Highlands.

In this hilarious production four actors play over 130 characters in 100 minutes. The cast for this touring production are Richard Ede (the eponymous hero Hannay), Olivia Greene (the three women in Hannay's life, Pamela, Annabella and Margaret) and the myriad of other roles are played with breath-taking speed and dexterity by Andrew Hodges and Rob Witcomb.

Patrick Barlow's adaptation of The 39 Steps opened at the Tricycle in 2006 and the same year transferred to the Criterion Theatre in Piccadilly Circus where it played for nine years and won the Olivier Award for best new comedy. In 2008 The 39 Steps was produced on Broadway where it was nominated for the Tony Award for best play.

The Thirty Nine Steps was also famously adapted for the screen by Alfred Hitchcock in what is widely regarded as one of the best films from his early period. The stage production references a number of the legendary scenes from this 1935 classic movie thriller of the same name, including the chase on the Flying Scotsman train, the escape on the Forth Road Bridge and the controversial 'stocking and suspenders' scene.

Tickets are available for most performances from the Nuffield Box Office 023 8067 1771 or online at nuffieldtheatre.co.uk.