FOUR actors, 139 characters and 39 steps - all in just 100 minutes of spiffingly good fun.

That's the promise from the team behind the latest show from Black RAT Productions.

The 39 Steps - Hitchcock’s tale of espionage is brought to the stage in a comic spoof which tours Wales this autumn.

It follows the adventures of a dashing hero, Richard Hannay (Gareth John Bale - most recently seen bringing Welsh rugby legend Ray Gravell to the stage in the Torch Theatre's one man play Grav), complete with stiff-upper-lip, British gung-ho and pencil moustache as he encounters dastardly murders, double-crossing secret agents, and of course, devastatingly beautiful women.

Fast- paced, gripping and full of adventure, this hilarious whodunit offers the chance to see an original version created with the usual Black RAT high energy and gusto.

The 39 Steps is a Black RAT Productions and Blackwood Miners’ Institute co-production in association with RCT Theatres and supported by Arts Council Wales. It will be directed by Richard Tunley.

The cast also features Joanna Simpkins, Robert Hopkins and Sam Davies.

The production is designed by Anna-Marie Hainsworth with lighting design by Robin Bainbridge, sound design by James Marsh and is adapted by Patrick Barlow.

Previous Black RAT productions include Bouncers, Up ’n’ Under, Neville’s Island, Boeing Boeing and Bedroom Farce.

Performances include Aberystwyth Arts Centre on Saturday, October 10, Theatr Mwldan, Cardigan on Thursday, October 22, the Lyric, Carmarthen on October 24, and the Torch Theatre, Milford Haven on Monday November 2, and Tuesday, November 3.

Further information is available at www.blackratproductions.co.uk