By Sheila Martindale
You could call this Christmas Classic Radio Series that the Blue Bridge Company puts on each year, their Christmas present to themselves, as well as to their audience. The plays are all about having fun, and the actors are clearly enjoying a good time. The best part of doing an old-style radio show is that no one has to learn any lines – the script is right in front of them. But timing is important, as well as voice inflections, so definitely some talent is required here.
It is worth the price of admission to watch the sound effects man do his stuff – picking up hammers, slamming a special door built into his booth, and manufacturing footsteps. Sometimes I think he delays a sound deliberately, leaving the actors hanging on until it comes, and making those on stage and off it, laugh out loud.
The 2017 offerings are Shop Around the Corner, which played last night and which will be repeated December 16 at 8:00 pm and December 17 at 2:00 pm. It alternates with It’s a Wonderful Life, playing December 15 and 17 at 8:00 pm and December 16 at 2:00 pm at the Roxy Theatre. It’s what you call a very short run, so you don’t have much time to get your tickets, but if you’d like to give yourself a Christmas treat, you might want to make the effort to buy your tickets and head out to the Roxy on Hillside at Quadra without delay. At the same time you can check out the 2018 playbill, where you can save 20% on a subscription if you purchase before December 23. Call 250-382-3370.