U.K. theatre company Wise Children is working on a stage version of Alfred Hitchcock's 1959 thriller North by Northwest. The production will make a world premiere at York's Theatre Royal (which is co-producing the project along with HOME Manchester and Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse) March 18-Aptil 5, 2025, with opening night set for March 26. Runs at the piece's co-producing theatres will follow, with performances at HOME Manchester April 29-May 10 and Liverpool Playhouse May 20-24.

As adapted and directed by Emma Rice, the project seems to be taking a cue from Patrick Barlow's campy take on The 39 Steps, another Hitchcock thriller. As in that 2005 play (which later played London's West End and Broadway, the latter earning a 2008 Tony nomination for Best Play), Rice's North by Northwest will feature a small cast taking on a myriad of roles to comedic effect. The production will feature six performers, all to be announced.

The original film, released in 1959 and starring Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint, is regarded as one of Hitchcock's finest, following an innocent man as he's pursued cross-country in a case of mistaken identity that threatens to become deadly at any moment. The film is perhaps most famous for its Bernard Hermann score, and for scenes of Grant being chased by a small airplane in a cornfield and a climax that has the characters scurrying down the faces of Mount Rushmore, both of which have proved to be some of the most iconic visuals in cinematic history.

The stage adaptation is being produced by special arrangement with Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures and Kay & McLean Productions.

Also in Wise Children's upcoming schedule is an encore staging of its The Little Match Girl and Happier Tales, performing at Frome's The Lucky Chance in December; a new version of The Ugly Duckling produced with Silent Tide, also at The Lucky Chance in December; and an international tour of Wuthering Heights, now prepping to visit Australia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China.

Visit WiseChildren.co.uk for more details.