Thrills, chills and dinner will be served by the Bard in the Valley theatre group at this year’s production of After The Thin Man.
The show is the third annual Halloween event put on by the Bard in the Valley and sponsored by the Township of Langley.
Five actors star in the one-night only dinner theatre show at the Langley Events Centre on Oct. 18.
After The Thin Man is a 1940s suspense-filled radio play.
President of Bard in the Valley and producer, Diane Gendron, said the play will take the audience back to a past era.
“This 1940s radio play will take people back to an era when families sat in their living rooms in front of their radios listening to tales being masterfully and magically sent to them over the airwaves.
“One of the exciting things about our production is that the sound effects are live. Audiences get to watch as the Foley artists (the people who created the sound effects for early radio) create the sound effects right there onstage.”
Ken Boyd, who is one of the lead actors in After The Thin Man said he’s been acting for approximately 30 years. Ten years have been spent acting with the Langley Players, and the rest has been in community theatre.
Boyd said the upcoming radio-style production is a reminder of his past.
“When I was a kid I listened to radio with my parents at night and radio is theatre of the mind. I love that stuff, so when they asked me to do this play, staged as a ’40s radio actor it took me back to that experience.”
All five actors in the production are responsible for voicing various characters. Boyd will be voicing the narrator and the lead detective, Charles. Being a Foley artist comes easily to Boyd, who used to work as a radio DJ.
“It’s just practice, like riding a bike. You pick a well-known voice you know and make it different. You practise it and it’s all the other stuff, the emotional world of it as well, which is the other part to keep it real and focused.
Boyd said the Foley play is different from a physical stage play.
“Normally there’s a lot of movement, so the challenge is engaging the audience as well as the voices. You have to sound distinctly different.”
The show features 26 characters that are voiced by five actors. A keyboard artist is responsible for the atmospheric music.
The actors in the play are Ken Boyd, Jacq Ainsworth, Shawn McGrory, Jim Garnett, Shane Rochon, Mathew Strauss and Diane Gendron.
Audience members are invited to join in the imagination and dress up in their best 1940s costumes.
The dinner theatre is on Oct. 18 at the Langley Events Centre.
Tickets are $43.75 and are available on the Township of Langley’s website.
Tickets can also be booked by calling 604-532-3500. Doors open at 6 p.m.