By Ann McCreary
Back by popular demand, Madcap Melodrama will present The Vampire, or The Bride of the Isles, a wacky interpretation of a 19th-century melodrama, at The Merc Playhouse in Twisp this weekend.
An experienced cast of Seattle-based voice-over actors will perform in a radio drama-style production complete with an array of sound effects on Friday (Sept. 5) and Saturday at 7 p.m., and on Sunday at 2 p.m.
“It’s funny and nutty. Actors play all sexes, make live sound effects, plus our sound designer is onstage working the effects as we perform live,” said Ki Gottberg, artistic director of The Merc Playhouse.
An added feature will be headphones available to people in the first two rows of the theater “for those who want to get super intimate with the sound of the show,” Gottberg said.
For the production, Gottberg adapted a melodrama set in the Scottish Hebrides that combines vampires, an innocent young maiden and a British lord.
Though not performed as a traditional stage play, The Vampire includes plenty of theatrics by the actors as they employ an array of objects to create sound effects.
“All the actors, four of us, are super experienced voice-over actors”, said Gottberg, who worked for eight years in the past as “the voice of the Bon Marche: ‘Tube tops, nine-ninety-nine, in the Cube at the Bon!’”
Gottberg and her melodrama troupe presented The Vampire last year at The Merc as a benefit for the theater. “We got such a good response, we are coming back to do three shows,” she said.
Cost is $15 for general seating, and $20 for head phones — first come, first served. The play is recommended for age 12 and above. For more information, call 997-7529.
