Radio :30

Actor, comic and former ad announcer Chris Earle takes you inside the hell of a 30 second spot.

From March 11 - 15, during the SPARK Festival, the Belfry Theatre will present the night kitchen's production of Radio :30, written by Chris Earle and performed by Chris Earle and Lee Smart. Directed by Shari Hollett, Radio :30 won the Outstanding New Play (Dora Mavor Moore Awards, Toronto) and Chalmers Award for Best New Play.

"If you've ever wondered who the person is behind the smooth-talking radio voice that is urging you to stop by that fast-food restaurant --''C'mon in, the price is right'' -- chances are you've conjured Ron. Ron is nothing if not smooth; a pleasant-faced, seasoned radio-ad Everyman created and performed to unsettling perfection by Chris Earle, a Canadian comic, writer and actor who is an alumnus of Chicago's Second City. He also served time as a radio-ad announcer long enough to know the ropes.

In Mr. Earle's masterful portrait, directed by his partner and fellow Second City alum, Shari Hollett, we meet Ron sealed off in a sound booth with just a set of headphones, a microphone, a script stand and a folding chair -- the tools of his trade -- to create his seemingly banal, mendacious message. Ron is confident he'll quickly nail the 30-second spot he's working on. But along with his sound engineer, Mike (a disembodied voice played by Robert Smith), and the unseen agency people, the audience soon realizes there's something wrong. And, it's not just that Ron's honey-toned voice that needs a tune-up.

Radio :30 starts out with what the audience warmly accepts as a jokey how-to on hawking hamburgers and fries, but ends in finely wrought tragedy. Mr. Earle's Ron is a 21st-century Willy Loman, who has traded passion for a paycheck and truth for a Teflon conscience. Masterfully related in the in-between moments of Ron's recording session is a powerful tale of betrayal and deceit." New York Times

Performances (March 11 - 15)
March 11 - 14 at 8 pm
March 14 at 4 pm
March 15 at 2 pm

Tickets
250-385-6815
info@belfry.bc.ca

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• radio 30
• belfry theatre
• belfry theater
• victoria
• bc
• fernwood