REVIEW: Black Box offers 3 killer radio plays in one
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The innovative Black Box Theatre, 1623 5th Ave., Moline, was the first in the area to reopen for an indoor production during the COVID pandemic, in July 2020 with Jeffrey Hatcher’s adaptation of “The Turn of the Screw,” starring Matt Walsh and Kayla Jo Pulliam (wearing clear face shields), with Walsh playing four different characters.
The Black Box went on to make the talented, solid Walsh – and radio plays – a fairly regular feature during the pandemic, including his appearing in “Hate Mail,” “Dick Tracy: A Live Radio Play,” “A Christmas Carol: On the Air,” and last fall’s “Suddenly Last Summer.”
Walsh returns to make an impressive impression in the Black Box’s latest radio play — Agatha Christie’s arresting “Murder in the Studio,” which is comprised of three radio plays (where actors perform holding scripts, in front of three mock microphones):
Personal Call sees James Brent haunted by his dead wife when he receives a mysterious telephone call, seemingly from beyond the grave.
Yellow Iris marked Hercule Poirot’s debut appearance on radio in which the famous detective is called to the hotel Jardin des Cygnes to solve an old case in which a cold-blooded killer escaped justice and slipped through his fingers.
Butter in a Lordly Dish sees eminent prosecution barrister Sir Luke Enderby get his comeuppance in one of Christie’s most gruesome and horrifying murders.
Walsh stars in “Personal Call” — which premiered in 1954 — as the upright, uptight Brent, who gets the titular phone connection (multiple times) from Fay (Andrea Moore). He initially is very shaken and denies knowing her to his wife Pam, also played by Moore.
We learn that Fay is his dead first wife, and she demands that he meet her at the train station where she died. James thinks this is a very cruel practical joke.
In the radio play, Moore ends up having a solo conversation between Fay and Pam (in slightly different voices), turning her body back and forth, in front of the microphone stand.
“Yellow Iris” (which again features Walsh prominently) also concerns a dead wife, and first published as a short story in 1937. It’s set in a French restaurant, and the BBC commissioned an hour-long adaptation, marking the iconic Poirot’s first appearance in a radio play. It is not an hour in the Black Box version (which is just 90 minutes, without intermission, for all three stories).
Jason Platt is also a solid delight as the Belgian detective, complete with mustache and a slight, pronounced accent. He nails the very controlled, authoritative character, and Scott Tunnicliff is strong as the loud American protagonist (the wealthy Barton Russell), who mangles Poirot’s name.
Denise Yoder, Tyler Henning and Max Robnett play colorful characters in the story. The production’s props are all on a table at the back center of the stage (which has a BBC backdrop), but we never meet the performers as actors — they all simply play their parts, and make effective use of clinking glasses, cups and plates and other props for radio sounds.
“Butter in a Lordly Dish” wraps up the sophisticated trio, starring Robnett as the attorney and womanizer Sir Luke, and Moore as his mysterious mistress, Julia.
This rare, unpublished radio play (first broadcast in 1948) has been credited for exploiting the world-famous author’s known skill at twisting expectations just before the final curtain. The title is a Biblical reference and Robnett looks and performs like he could have stepped out of a 1940s film – very slick, dramatic and passionate, after his more comic turn in the middle play here.
In a scene before a crackling fire, Matt Walsh achieves the ideal sound effect by crinkling a paper bag, and Moore is absolutely chilling.
The well-dressed, dependable Black Box cast also includes Michelle Bailey. Performances will continue just this week on May 2, 3 and 4 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $16, available HERE.
Auditions for ‘All Is Calm’
Black Box Theatre will be holding auditions for the all-male a cappella musical “All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914.” Music directing will be Ron May with direction and design by Lora Adams.
“We produced the piece in 2022 and so many people asked us to do it again,” said Adams. “It is a truly unique and beautiful story that stirs the soul,” added May.
“All Is Calm” features nine men (all dressed in varying kinds of black uniforms), representing over 30 British and German soldiers in December 1914, in the first part of World War I. The special evening depicts a real-life extraordinary night of camaraderie (among British and German soldiers in a “No Man’s Land” in Belgium), music, and peace.
Auditions will be Saturday, May 4 from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the downtown Moline theater. Auditionees should be prepared to sing a Christmas song without accompaniment.
The rehearsal schedule is: June 22 (10 a.m.-1 p.m.), July 13 (10-1), Aug. 3 (10-1), Aug. 17 (10-1), Sept. 7 (10-1), Sept. 28 (10-1), Oct. 19 (10-1), Nov. 9, 16, 23 (10-1), Nov. 12, 18, 19 (6-9), Dec. 7 (10-1), Tech week Dec. 9, 10, 11, 12 (6-9), with performances Dec. 13, 14, 19, 20, 21 at 7:30 p.m. and Dec. 15 and 22 at 2 p.m.
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