Murder On The Wireless
Theatregoers from the age of 12 should be mesmerised by this very original stage play, as they’re transported back to the 1950s watching the recording of a radio play.
This format will be the world premiere of these two self-contained radio plays collectively entitled Murder On The Wireless. The Divorced Detectives In The Deadly Wives Club which is written by Mark Kilmurry will provide high-speed action and The Solitary Cyclist adapted for the stage by Mark Kilmurry is a Sherlock Holmes thriller.
“It will make you nostalgic I think for the world of a radio play, where you will be transported into the recreated dramatic world that plays on your senses,” explained Georgie Parker, one of the vocal actors along-side Mark Kilmurry and Daniel Mitchell. Audiences should be enthralled as an actress (Katie Fitchett) playing the role of a Foley artist creates all the sound effects on stage. “She has to do all the running, all the shooting and the wind, the birds, doors opening and shutting, curtains being drawn – it’s very funny! This is a comedy but it’s also definitely a thriller and a drama. Beautifully written and quite elaborate, it’s penned in a very particular style.”
Each vocal actor plays multiple characters. “In the first one I play the ex-wife, she’s very smart, the better fighter, quite eccentric and in the second one I’m the young woman working for a music teacher and there’s a strange mystery happening around her. They’re very different characters, but the great thing about radio plays is that you only have your voice to communicate the different characters so you have a whole range of things that you can do.”
Parker explained that this play should appeal to older audiences as they have grown up with radio plays, but also to younger audiences as it’s the thrill of stepping back in time. “Also seeing how they used to do it because it’s so visually interesting. When you look back radio plays were very powerful – when Orson Welles did his War Of The Worlds everyone thought the aliens had landed!” (MMo)
Jun 7-Jul 13. Ensemble Theatre, 78 McDougall St, Kirribilli. $38-$80+b.f. Tickets & Info: www.ensemble.com.au
