The Chilliwack Players Guild will be presenting a special one-night revival of a classic radio play this January with their production of French Poison.
The show will feature an on-stage reading of the play by British crime writer Austin Stone, which was originally broadcast by the BBC in 1956. Viewers will be put in the position of a studio producer or live audience member during a radio broadcast, seeing all the tricks of the trade. The play is about Marie Capelle, a young woman in nineteenth-century France who undertakes a risky marriage that ends in tragedy. Actors will be selected from an open audition held this November, with a goal of highlighting local talent young and old.
The Players Guild has previously produced other works by Stone in the same “radio play” format, including “An Affair of Honour” and “A Pearl in the Hand.” The staged reading will also be looking to raise awareness of the Guild’s upcoming full productions, including a spring run of Matilda the Musical, and the original play Hector, which will be an entry into the Fraser Valley Zone Festival. Local theatrical companies like this often use methods such as poster printing and social media to help raise awareness of their events.
The Chilliwack Players Guild production of French Poison will be staged on January 18, 2025 at the Rotary Hall Studio Theatre.
