It’s A Wonderful Life Radio Show
The latest offering from Pacific Theatre, “It’s A Wonderful Life Radio Show” is pure unpretentious fun.
The classic Christmas film is reimagined as a radio play being broadcast before our eyes in a 1946 radio studio by an ensemble of performers. The synopsis of the film is so familiar that the dialogue required to move the threads of the plot line forward is minimal. The real fun lies in the peripheral features: an array of sound-effects devices – all used to maximum effect; period commercials (mostly sung) and music contemporary to the period in which the action is set.
A minor departure from the radio broadcast template is the provision of a small amount of costuming that would be unnecessary in a real broadcast. This serves to assist the audience in distinguishing characters whose identity would otherwise be ambiguous.
If you are looking for a Christmas show that is a bit out of the ordinary this one is a good bet.
Saturday, December 13, 2014
Wide Awake Hearts
Playing at Little Mountain Gallery is “Wide Awake Hearts”, a production of Twenty Something Theatre and Hardline Productions.
The play revolves around four thoroughly unlikable characters identified in the program only as A, B, C and D. A, a writer for TV and film is married to B, an actress. C is a boyhood friend of A who has beencast in a film (written by A) that also features B. D is the female editor of the film with some sort of link to C.
What transpires on stage is a largely incoherent exploration of their relationships punctuated by soporific monologues by the individual characters. The Director’s Notes were unhelpful and unenlightening.
A particular irritant was the lighting. For most of the action it seemed to be designed to put as little light as possible on the performers while, at the same time, shining what light there was in the eyes of the audience making it even more difficult to see the action.
All in all, it was an evening wasted.
Playing at Little Mountain Gallery is “Wide Awake Hearts”, a production of Twenty Something Theatre and Hardline Productions.
The play revolves around four thoroughly unlikable characters identified in the program only as A, B, C and D. A, a writer for TV and film is married to B, an actress. C is a boyhood friend of A who has beencast in a film (written by A) that also features B. D is the female editor of the film with some sort of link to C.
What transpires on stage is a largely incoherent exploration of their relationships punctuated by soporific monologues by the individual characters. The Director’s Notes were unhelpful and unenlightening.
A particular irritant was the lighting. For most of the action it seemed to be designed to put as little light as possible on the performers while, at the same time, shining what light there was in the eyes of the audience making it even more difficult to see the action.
All in all, it was an evening wasted.
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