Spellbinding Hitchcock radio play delights
The Barn Theater is presenting “Vintage Hitchcock: A Live Radio Play,” a drama consisting of three early Alfred Hitchcock movies that audiences will enjoy.
Charles Hickinbotham directs a cast of 14 actors who use their voices and live-action sound effects to create the scenes of “The Lodger,” “Sabotage,” and “The 39 Steps,” in an old-fashioned radio play presented by the KBRN Radio Players.
Performances are 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, June 8 and 9, with performances the first three weekends in June, including two Sunday matinees at 2:30 p.m. on June 10 and June 17.
The cast consists of both veteran Barn actors and first-timers to the stage.
Bill Warner has never been in a play and was thrilled, “Because you can read a script and use your voice to act.”
Warner has a deep and sonorous voice, which he uses to perfection announcing the plays on the radio, and reading the advertising jingles like a classic radio or television announcer.
Warner announces, “Bringing murder back into the home where it belongs,” in the first of the radio plays, “The Lodger,” from 1888, in White Chapel, London, England.
Joan Givan says the radio plays bring back memories of when she was growing up at her grandmother’s listening to radio with her family. They could relate to the characters in the weekly serial radio dramas.
The plays are complete with radio announcements and advertisements, and Jip Woudstra says the performance is a departure from a traditional play and what people are used to, and that’s what makes the “radio” play so unique. “You have to rely on your voice inflections to act. It’s tough,” Woudstra said.
One of the radio jingles is about the Bates Motel, “With the latest improvements, and oldfashioned hospitality.”
A newcomer to the Barn Theater, Rick Alanis has only been in small church plays. But he loved listening to the home collection of radio broadcasts by Gene Autry from the 1940’s and learned to mimic accents by watching TV and movies.
“It has been very inviting here at the Barn Theater to anyone who wants to be in a play or volunteer,” he said. “The veteran actors are welcoming and helpful and there is something for everyone in a Hitchcock play.”
Warner added, “This is called old-time radio now, but in my day it was just ‘radio’ and everyone listened to the shows because that’s all there was.
“It’s the theater of the mind,” he said.
For Aaron Nucum, “It was the passage to the rest of the world.”
Nucum said this type of live theater is a rush.
“There is no editing,” he Nucum said. “You’ve got to think on your feet, and ad-lib. You’ve got to pay attention and stay in character.”
The sound effects were hard at first says Nucum, but once you get them working “it is cool. You get the perfect sound out of something not related to the sounds. It’s unusual.”
The mix of stage veterans and rookies is something that Hickinbotham welcomes.
“I’ve got a really cool cast,” says Hickinbotham. “They are very diverse. We have teenagers in the cast and people up into their 80’s who remember radio.”
Hickinbotham said he chose this type of play because it is something different.
“It’s been a unique challenge bringing a radio drama to the stage,” he said. “I hope we get plenty of people to come and see something different.”
The Hitchcock radio plays portray murder, espionage, and romance, everything that you would expect of vintage Hitchcock.
Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, June 8, 9, 15, 16, 22, and 23, and Sunday matinee’s June 10 and 17 at 2:30 p.m. Ticket prices are $15 Adults, $10 seniors and students, $5 kids under 12.
A special Sunday matinee Brunch is set for June 17, at 12:30 p.m. Brunch is $15 per person, and reservations are required by Wednesday, June 13.
Call or text 310-7046 for ticket and brunch reservations or visit www.barntheater.porterville.com.