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War of the Worlds
Reviewed by Jessica Salans
Fake Radio and Trepany House
Through Oct. 31.
RECOMMENDED:
It’s 1938. No internet, no TV, just a large radio the size of a microwave. Orson Welles directs an radio adaptation of H.G. Wells’s (no relation) novel The War of the Worlds.
The 1938 radio ensemble performed the work sincerely and sensationally, leading to panic that aliens had landed.
The original adaptation of the novel into radio drama by Howard E. Koch was presented as a Halloween special on October 30, 1938, the 17th episode of the CBS series The Mercury Theatre on the Air.
The adaptation begins with a series of simulated news reports that are convincing newscasts. The broadcast unfolds with repeated interruptions of the Raymond Rocello & his Orchestra by newscasters sharing that there have been repeated sightings from astronomers of “astrological disturbances” on Mars. The broadcast turns to Carl Phillips interviewing famous astronomer, Professor Pierson, at the Princeton Observatory. The catalyst of the story in then handed to the professor in the form of a note, stating a seismographic shock the size of earthquake intensity occurred within 20 miles of Princeton. And then the news breaks. A large, flaming object of some kind has landed in Grover’s Mill, New Jersey. “Someone, or something, is coming out,” Professor Pierson says after he and news castor Philips chase to the scene. The rest of the act unfolds in a similar way, with the addition of new voices but always in the style of real-life interviews. By the time Act 2 arrives, anyone who was seriously worried about the reality of what they were hearing would have, understandably, freaked out. Which would account for the police that visited the radio room upon the close of the show, with reports of panicked phone calls, fatal stampedes and traffic deaths.
The presentation in 2015 by Fake Radio in 2015, though an artifact, is similarly terrifying, the only difference being that we’ve heard the story before.
The troupe, lead by Artistic Director, David Koff, is riveting in its commitment and vocal variety. The show begins with a short, funny sketch about Orson Welles titled “The Nearly 100% Accurate Portrayal of the Life of Orson Welles.”
Fake Radio at Trepany House, Steven Allen Theater, 4773, Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood; Sat., Oct. 24 and 31, 8 p.m. https://trepanyhouse.org/ Running time: One hour hour, 40 minutes
