@ Brunton Theatre, Musselburgh, on Sat 31 Oct 2015 (and touring)
Frank Capra‘s iconic 1946 film It‘s A Wonderful Life gets a fresh and unusual rendition as an authentic, heart-warming radio play in this Bridge House Theatre production. With its highly inspirational, life-enhancing message, the magical story of idealist George Bailey is turned into a beloved family Christmas classic.
Adapted by Tony Palermo and directed by Guy Retallack, this stage adaptation is constructed as a delightful radio play which takes the audience time-travelling back to 1950. The experience begins before the actual start of the “radio programme” with a highly amusing interlude by the “radio host” which aims to get the public adjusted to the era and introduced to the use of the “ON AIR” and “Applause” signs. The resulting peculiar sense of time-space duality continues throughout the whole performance, as it gets intensified with hilarious ad-filled intermissions between the three acts, also serving as counterpoints to the seriousness and melodrama.
The whole show is performed by only six actors who have the uneasy task of impersonating the whole range of peculiar, idiosyncratic Bedford Falls citizens. Luckily, this challenge is effortlessly accomplished by the strikingly talented cast whose members often undergo several metamorphoses within seconds. Augustina Seymour and Oliver Stoney impress as a truly convincing and equally original Mary and George Bailey. The only disappointment is the fact that the seventh person who is present on the stage throughout ends up slightly unappreciated; the lady who creates all the special, live sound effects has a significant input in creating the authentic atmosphere of the pre-war small american town, thus paying homage to Hollywood’s Golden Age.
Speaking of atmosphere, it is craftily rendered all the way through to the tiniest details, magnifying the illusion. Some truly inventive quirks, such as the scene when George and Mary are riding in a cab, or the specific interruptions on the phone line, bring a feeling of nostalgia for the glamour of the Hollywood studio system. The vintage costumes, hairdos and accessories, the cinematic music, the minimal, but carefully selected props like the retro microphones, the performers’ attitude and body language – it is all there, creating a unique mixture of art forms interjecting with one another at a fast-moving tempo in this wonderful Christmas tale.