Vintage Hitchcock – A Live Radio Play

The Tea Tree Players ‘put murder back in the home - where it belongs’ in Joe Landry’s Vintage Hitchcock - A Live Radio Play. Landry's adaptation condenses three Hitchcock classics, The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927), Sabotage (1936) and The 39 Steps (1935) into a two-act play within a play, a kind of art imitating life.
Set in the studios of radio station WBFR, we watch as an assembled cast of ‘radio’ actors perform the three Hitchcock classics,  grapple with the creation of all of the necessary sound effects from the  golden era of radio and interact with each other ‘out of character’.

TheWBFR Playhouse’s foray into murder, mystery and terror begins with narrator (played by John Hudson in his fun debut performance with TTP) inviting all to “relax, lean back and enjoy - until the coroner comes”. 

In The Lodger we wonder if boarding house proprietors, Mr and Mrs Bunting (Alan Sheply and Tina Hall) have unwittingly put their vivacious daughter Daisy (Hayley Mitchell) in danger? Could their new boarding house lodger, the teetotal, evangelistic Mr Sleuth (played ably by Adrian Ceroni, with a nod to Peter Lorre) in fact be The Avenger, the serial killer stalking the streets of 1888 London?

Sabotage, an explosive drama puts local police to the test when local cinema owner Anton Verloc (Aled Proeve) is suspected of terrorist activities. Are his American wife, Winnie (Hayley Mitchel) and teenage brother, Stevie (Harrison Morris) accomplices to Verloc’s evil intentions, or unwitting dupes? Will Ted the greengrocer (Kieran Drost) be able to defuse the situation before it’s too late?

The 39 Steps, on the other hand, is a potpourri of spy drama, mistaken identity, a romantic caper, murder and a vaudevillian memory act.  Richard Hannay (Kieran Drost) is falsely accused of murder and races across Scotland handcuffed to his unwilling accomplice Pamela (Tina Hall) in a bid to clear his name and stop an international spy ring. As with all Alfred Hitchcock ‘fairytales for grown up children’, nothing is as it seems.

The Tea Tree Players’ production of Vintage Hitchcock - A Live Radio Play manages to seamlessly recreate a classic radio-drama feel despite not having the luxury of a professional foley artist. With over 60 speaking parts and 200 sound effects this is no mean feat. It means an ‘all hands on deck’ approach is required in creating rain, thunder, closing doors, tea pots being poured, blinds being drawn, even a shop full of singing birds. Half of the fun of this was watching what household object they could employ to make the necessary sounds, from metronomes to children’s toys, bread bins to tea pots.

Director Selena Carr is to be commended for her sound design as well as her set design of the WBFR studio, which places the many sound props and costume pieces at the fingertips of the fine cast.

Tina Hall is outstanding in all of her roles, especially as Mrs Bunting and Pamela.  Hayley Mitchell has delightful comic timing and commands the stage as Winnie Verloc in Sabotage. Kieran Drost goes from playing a seemingly hapless greengrocer to the debonair Richard Hannay without skipping a beat. Angus Ceroni’s stage presence, characterisation and diction is also a highlight.

The main characters are backed up with strong performances from the remaining cast members- Harrison Morris, Alan Shepley, Rose Vallen and Aled Proeve-who, incredibly, play 36 characters between them.

Tea Tree Players have delivered a slick, suspenseful and altogether fun night out. Going head to head with State Theatre Company’s current production of The 39 Steps may be considered a brave move, but I strongly suggest you take time to go and see both and make October Hitchcock month in Adelaide.

Jenny Fewster