Review: Hyde Park Theatre’s Radio :30

Ironically, Airheads (1994) and Pump Up the Volume (1990) – two films about the now-antiquated mass medium of radio – are streaming somewhere.

The first finds three aspiring rockers (a really young Brendan Fraser, Adam Sandler, and Steve Buscemi) holding an L.A. radio station hostage in order to get their music some airplay. The other features an introverted teen (a really young Christian Slater) in a Phoenix suburb who uses his pirate radio station to rant against injustices and hypocrisies. Despite the diminished appeal and relevancy of terrestrial broadcasting amidst an abundance of digital media platforms, these films are still remarkably watch-worthy. The reason is the evergreen nature of the raw, relatable desperation that drives their characters.

The same is true for Radio :30, Chris Earle’s award-winning dark comedy that saw the light of day at the 1999 Toronto Fringe Festival when radio was still a thing. The one-act play received a 2006 staging at the Hyde Park Theatre, where it now returns for a revival production featuring many of the same creatives, including its two actors and director Ken Webster.

Radio :30 is a portrait of a veteran voice-over artist named Ron (Mical Trejo), who is recording an inane half-minute ad at a local radio station. He may be an anonymous voice to his listeners, but he is revered as a true professional and “one-take wonder” by his offstage sound engineer, Mike (Robert S. Fisher), and is in high demand by sponsors.

Too much of the dated script is devoted to admiring the power of radio, deconstructing the nature of what is now considered low-tech advertising, and explaining the impact of a calm and friendly voice – referred to as “The Ron Thing” – when pushing a product over the airwaves. But all this eventually leads to the good stuff: Ron’s deconstruction and self-destruction. Behind his personable and superficial facade we find festering guilt, a debilitating fear of failure, and the source of his desperation, the pressure of looming obsolescence, which results in 17 takes, an emotional meltdown, and an absolutely riveting theatrical production.

Onstage is just a guy in a chair behind a music stand and a microphone. But Mark Pickell’s set design surrounds Ron in darkness and layers of suspended soundproofing panels that create a claustrophobia-inducing isolation. Adding to the sense of Ron’s seclusion is Gavin Kenter’s lighting, which contains the character within subdued studio illumination when he’s recording the spot and casually chatting it up with Mike. The lighting abruptly shifts in tone and intensity every time Ron removes his headphones for self-disclosure asides with the audience, which progressively reveal the turmoil and desperation going on in his head.

Trejo is, once again, pitch-perfect as Ron, due in no small part to his having served as a drive-time deejay for what was Austin’s Jammin’ 105.9FM well before it became a contemporary Christian station. It’s his voiceover chops that reel in the audience, but it’s his post-radio experience as a stage actor – much of it at HPT in marvelous productions that include the recent Running Bear – that holds our attention. He is a pleasure to watch. Fisher also returns as the unseen sound engineer, Mike, a role informed by his years as a sound engineer. Fittingly, he also doubles as this production’s sound designer.

Lightning strikes twice for Webster, for his seamless direction once again results in something most certainly worth seeing.

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Hyde Park Theatre’s Radio :30

511 W. 43rd, 512/479-7529
hydeparktheatre.org
Through July 15
Running time: Approx. 1 hr.