KU’s Crafton-Preyer Theatre is the scene of pre-World War II espionage, beginning Friday night when the curtain goes up on “The 39 Steps.”

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Richard Hannay is a bored, 37-year-old Canadian bachelor living in London in 1935. Looking for a distraction one night, he attends a performance of Mr. Memory – a man with a photographic memory. But the show becomes more diverting than he planned when shots are fired and the beautiful Annabella Schmidt begs him to take her back to his apartment and hide her. She’s a spy, you see, and a mysterious organization known only as The 39 Steps is after her for weaponry secrets that could compromise Britain’s security.

Naturally, our playboy hero agrees to help her, and, just as naturally, she is murdered shortly thereafter. Now, Hannay must go on the run from The 39 Steps to unravel the mystery and clear his own name.

The play is based on the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock film, and, if you don’t think it sounds like a comedy, you could be forgiven. But that’s exactly what it is. Hitchcock’s classic movie is re-imagined as a farce, and it comes off brilliantly.

The show uses only four actors. One man plays Hannay. A woman plays Schmidt as well as femme fatales Pamela and Margaret. Two more actors play Clown 1 and Clown 2, and they have the hardest parts of all. For they play every other character (and there are nearly 150) Hannay encounters, as well as a host of inanimate objects.

Conceived by Patrick Barlow, “The 39 Steps” premiered in London in 2006, where it won an Olivier Award for Best New Comedy. It came to Broadway in 2008, where it won two Tony Awards and a Drama Desk Award.

The show is under the direction of guest artist Alex Espy and features a number of homages to other Hitchcock films, including the famous crop-duster scene from “North by Northwest,” birds perching on a house sign, and Pamela suffering from vertigo.

“The 39 Steps” runs October 12, 13, 14, 18, 19, 20, and 21. Curtain is 2:30 p.m. for Sunday performances and 7:30 p.m. for all others. Tickets are available by calling the box office at 785-864-3982 or online at www.kutheatre.com.