CEDAR CITY – “Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps” at the Utah Shakespearean Festival is quick, clever and creative, taking the audience on a wild ride that is an obvious product of talent on all levels at the festival.

Brian Vaughn plays the main character, Richard Hannay, Carol Linnea-Johnson plays three women, and Clowns 1 and 2, David Ivers and Aaron Galligan-Stierle, portray about 150 different characters.

Hannay is a bored Englishman, tired of life, who decides to spend an evening at the theatre and ends up on a wild ride to uncover a German plot against England. Throw in a wide array of accents and locations and you’ve got a whirlwind adventure that showcases the amazing range and talent of the four actors.

The creative use of props is delightful, as a square frame held by Johnson and Vaughn becomes a window to be climbed through, and large trunks simulate a train, inside and out. The train scene is particularly impressive and the cast and lights move so fast there is no time for anything but pleasure and entertainment.

Effects like fog, sounds and lighting transform the stage from minute to minute, leaving the audience convinced that Hannay is running all over the countryside of 1930s Great Britain.

The acting is very physical, with Hannay hopping from train car to train car, sliding down a rope in a theatre, running through the bog dragging and carrying the woman, and hilariously wriggling out from under a dead body.

The play is adapted by Patrick Barlow and based off a combination of an earlier adaptation by Nobby Dimon and Simon Corble, the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock Film, and John Buchan’s 1914 novel.

There is little thought required to enjoy this show – in fact, thinking too much could cause you to be left behind. Though we do see some character development in Hannay, “Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps” is meant to be light-hearted entertainment, and it certainly is.

It is surely extra enjoyable for Hitchcock fans, with several cheesy references to films like “The Birds,” but it is an entertaining romp for anyone willing to let go and just enjoy it – Hitchcock enthusiast or not.

Costume Designer David Kay Mickelsen provides fairly simple (and sometimes highly amusing) costumes that keep us very clear on which character the clowns are playing at the moment, and Linnea-Johnson is beautiful in the costumes of each of her three characters.

Director Eli Simon and the four actors provide a fun and fast-paced tale that shines with talent and imagination, and the props, set, lighting and sound staff are certainly not lost in the background.

“The 39 Steps” runs through Aug. 27 in the Randall L. Jones Theatre. For more information on the play or the Utah Shakespearean Festival, visit www.bard.org.