Author: Lawrence C. Connolly
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This Week on Mystery Theatre:
Going Up in “The Play’s the Thing”It’s opening night. You make your entrance, hit your mark, and then – silence. Your mind goes blank. You can’t remember your first line. It’s called “going up” on stage – a reference to the reflexive way people have of looking up and to the side when they can’t remember something. According to actor John…
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Who’s listening?
Advantages and Pitfalls of Wireless Audio“I do community theater, and all muting and unmuting is done from the tech booth. Well, every once in a while, if the tech person can’t mute an actor’s mic right away when they leave the stage, the audience catches them saying something like, ‘Well, I really f****d THAT up!’” The above account, courtesy of…
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The Sound’s the Thing:
Audio Clues on Mystery TheatreIn Francis Ford Coppola’s film The Conversation (1974) surveillance expert Harry Caul (Gene Hackman) becomes obsessed with a cryptic recording that he believes suggests a young couple is in danger. Similarly, in Brian De Palma’s Blow Out (1981), sound engineer Jack Terri (John Travolta) investigates a mystery by listening to a recording made at the…
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Prime Stage Mystery Theatre:
“What’s the alternative to looking?”The image at left is from the recently restored film Sherlock Holmes (1916), starring William Gillette in the first-ever screen portrayal of the master sleuth. The film is currently streaming on Apple TV. There’s more than one way to find a missing person, but could you do it without actually looking? This week’s episode of…
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Nightmares and Mysteries:
Prime Stage Mystery Theatre – Season TwoHeard about the actor’s nightmare? It’s a variation of the dream in which you find yourself completely out of place and unprepared for a given situation. You know, like being in the produce section of a grocery store, standing behind a stack of vegetables and hoping no one notices your naked. Or perhaps it’s the…