WONDERFUL RADIO PLAY FOR HOLIDAY
Lunchbox Theatre brings back Christmas classic as radio play
A wonderful thing is happening for Calgary actor Devon Dubnyk. Lunchbox Theatre is remounting its hit production of It’s a Wonderful Life, which means Dubnyk gets to revisit one of his favourite characters.
In Lunchbox’s radio play version of the Christmas classic, Dubnyk plays George Bailey, the character Jimmy Stewart created for the 1946 film.
When George Bailey’s life begins crumbling around him, he begins to feel like he’s lived a meaningless life. As he contemplates his demise, George is saved by an angel assigned to try to stop him.
“George Bailey is such a wonderful character to play because we get to see him during the most extreme days of his life. We get to see his highest highs and his lowest lows. It’s such a great acting exercise,” says Dubnyk.
“Even more exciting for all the actors in our play is that we start out in the radio world playing radio actors and then we have to dive into the characters in It’s A Wonderful Life. We’re playing actors playing characters.”
Dubnyk says what he likes most about Bailey is “the man has such a passion for his dreams. He’s so dialed up and, as an actor, I love going big, but then the play also demands a subtlety because George also has his introspective, gentle moments.
George is saved by Clarence, an angel second-class, who still doesn’t have his wings. It turns out that Clarence, who’s played by Kevin Rothery, and George need each other.
“George needs Clarence to show him what a wonderful life he has led and how he really has been important to family, friends and his community. George needs to take back his life in order for Clarence to finally get his wings.”
Lunchbox’s version of It’s A Wonderful Life is set in a radio studio on Christmas Eve 1946. The audience gets to see the actors creating the characters and all the sound effects, doubling the fun of the story as it unravels.
Lunchbox Theatre first presented It’s A Wonderful Life in 2016, and it received such glowing wordof-mouth recommendations, the final 14 performances sold out. People kept asking Lunchbox to make this production the company’s annual holiday offering as Theatre Calgary did with A Christmas Carol.
This is certainly not the reception that greeted the original release of the film version of It’s A Wonderful Life. It opened to lukewarm reviews and failed to recoup its $3.5-million investment. It was not until it was released to television in 1976 that the tide turned for this Frank Capra movie which is now considered one of the top 20 American films ever made and one of the top three most inspirational American movies.
Last year at this time, Dubnyk played the disgruntled department store elf in Lunchbox’s The Santaland Diaries.
“The only similarity between these two characters is that they both feel trapped in their lives, so there’s no chance of a crossover for me.”
Shortly before performing in Santaland Diaries, Dubnyk became a father for the first time. Before beginning rehearsals for It’s A Wonderful Life this year, he took his daughter down to the new library and checked out a DVD copy of the film.
“It’s a great reminder of the dynamics of this character I get to play,” he said.
Joining Dubnyk and Rothery in this remount of It’s A Wonderful Life under Craig Hall’s direction are Arielle Rombough, Katherine Fadum, Neil Minor and Connor Pritchard.
George needs Clarence to show him what a wonderful life he has led and how he really has been important.