KINKONAUTS TUNE INTO THE GOLDEN AGE OF RADIO
Calgary’s Lougheed House is currently featuring an art deco exhibition and has invited The Kinkonauts comedy improv group to help liven things up on Thursday and Friday.
The Kinkonauts, who specialize in long-form improv, have dabbled in everything from Shakespeare to musical theatre. This time they are challenging themselves to improvise a 30-minute radio show in the style of vintage radio shows of the 1920s and 1930s.
The Kinkonaut performers will be in character when the audience members arrive. They will be wearing 1920s costumes and will be discussing events of that day. Using a suggestion from the audience, the Kinkonauts will build their story on the spot.
The Lougheed House is encouraging guests to dress up as well and will provide prizes for those who do.
As was common in the golden age of radio, audiences watched as performers created radio dramas and radio comedies. The difference with the Kinkonaut show is there will be no script for the improvisers to consult.
One of the essential elements of the old radio shows was the foley artist who created all the sound effects for the shows. If someone was walking down a gravel road, the foley artist provided the sound of those footsteps and everything else from slamming car doors to rattling cutlery.
Michael Harvey will be the foley artist for the Kinkonaut radio show at Lougheed House and, like the improvisers, he won’t have a script to work from. He will have to provide sound effects on the fly.
“Because I don’t have a script of any kind, I can’t plan the effects I will have to use. I have to build a repertoire of common sounds and use them as they are needed,” says Harvey, who has been a sound technician for more than 30 years at both Theatre Calgary and Alberta Theatre Projects.
Harvey joined Kinkonauts four years ago and has been providing sound for their shows since.
“Sounds for the regular shows are all produced digitally as they are now for all the theatre companies in Calgary.
“When I started working with Theatre Calgary and ATP, we did all the sound using tape. That meant I would be splicing sound tapes using razor blades. The things I can do these days on my phone would have taken me forever in the old days,” says Harvey.
Harvey has to be prepared for anything.
“I will be prepared for things like gunshots, doors opening and closing, telephones, storms, rain and creaking floorboards. It’s the unexpected that will be the real challenge.
“My fellow Kinkonauts are notorious for messing with each other, so I fully expect they will be messing with me for these radio shows. Then again, I fully intend to mess with them. At any time, I can throw in a sound effect which they can’t ignore. I could send their show in new directions anytime I want.”
To replicate the vintage radio shows, Harvey had to build a foley table and a wind and storm machine. After the performances, audience members will be able to try their hand at creating a few effects.
Also following the show, audience members will be taken on a guided tour of the art deco exhibit and there will be an opportunity to sample such art deco cocktails as the Violent Femme and the Hanky Panky.
Tickets for this two-hour evening are $25 and can be reserved at lougheedhouse.com.