Recommended *** Radio! Rememebr radio drama? Well, unless you are of a certain age, you have no idea as to what I am speaking about. There was a time when the radio was not “talk”, or “music” or “news”. There were wonderful radio shows. There were comedies ( “The Great Gildersleeve”, ” Fibber McGhee & Molly”, “Amos & Andy” and a host of others) and musicals with stars of yesteryear, “Perry Como”, “Bing Crosby”, “Rosemary Clooney” and then there were the dramas, stories that we LISTENED to and with our minds ( you all know what those are, right?) we would create the images that the actors made us see. It might be different for uncle Max and for my borhter Marty, but after the show, we would discuss what we “saw” and guess what? We loved it.
During this “Covid 10” thing, the theater companies have worked at becoming more creative. Remy Bumpo , Think Theatre , is one that has gone that extra mile. They have gone to their library shelf, taken the work of Tom Stoppard, and his “Artists Descending A Staircase” and found a way to make it happen. This was written as a radio play in Stoppard’s early days It is a story filled with wit, romance, modern art and some mystery. Please understand that you will view this production , not with your eyes, but with your ears. You will hear the voices of the characters and the sounds that they want you to hear as produced by the Foley ( in this case, the sound engineer and audio producer, Christopher Kriz).
The 90 minute production is directed by James Bohnen and while in this case, we do not see any of the people involved, the stage manager ( I believe) is in charge of letting the sound be heard in each scene.
The cast is made up of Nick Sandys ( if he was reading the phone book for 30 minutes, I would buy a ticket- if the yellow pages, I would buy two), Annabel Armour, Peter A. Davis and Aurora Real de Asua. Four very solid performers bringing a story to life, knowing that we can only feel what the writer and director want felt through their voices. Not an easy task, but one that they handle with great authority.
The story involves a death of one of three very close friends, all artists. They have been friends almost all their lives. The two survivors now begin to examine their emotional and artistic histories, thinking back to their youth- they go from the present (1972) to their childhood (1914) and then return. As they do, they see how their lives and their relationships intertwined. Did their friend die from a fall down the stairs? Did something in their past cause this to take place? Was what they felt a “good life” truly the opposite?
The story unfolds in an exquisite manner, but if you cannot sit and listen with no visual, this may be a shock to your system. If you have other things happening Facebook, social media) while watching, I say, do not even try. You need to get into it! You need to make sure that there are zero conflicts and keep tuned to your “computer/radio).
“Artist Descending A Staircase” is available thru April 18th
The cost is ZERO, yes free, BUT registration is required.
Visit www.remybumppo.org
call 773-244-8119 for more information
To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “Artists Descending A Staircase”.
They will give you all the instructions to make your transition as easy as possible. Try to imagine yo
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