Sunday, October 7, 2012

The Bullies


Misfits Audio Productions are certainly prolific and have created series in many genres as well as individual tales authored by an extensive network of audio writers, producers, and actors.  Still, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from episode 1 of The Bullies by Glenn Hascall:  “Charades, Bologna, and Happier Endings.”  I imagine if it had been a pure (and perhaps twee) audio drama about five bulldogs, I would have chalked it up to audio going where few other genres can convincingly go (in this case, the conversations and hijinks of five young bulldogs).  I was absolutely delighted to discover, however, that The Bullies was much more metafictional than that.  The Narrator (Jack McQuillen) looked on from his omniscient viewpoint for some time regarding the Bullies themselves, but soon enough they interacted with him and didn’t have much liking for him.  They weren’t quite as violent about it as their counterparts in Into the Woods, but there was a similar bashing spirit.  It was more than funny, it was clever and intricate and made me love the Bullies all the more.  The story, then, became quite incidental to the back-and-forth between the Narrator trying to direct the show, and the Bullies, who had independent ideas on their own happy endings.  

The Bullies include Boaz (Tom Chalker), a Marvin the robot-type whose sarcasm knew no bounds, Hobart (Glenn Hascall), a drawling, good-natured Southern boy, Harley (Katie Dehnart), who appeared to have been dropped on the head a few too many times, and the two girls, tough-as-nails Babushka (Marie Kopan) and prissy Mamie (Natalie Stanfield Thomas).  The summary for the play says The Bullies is in the “great tradition of audio animation,” and that is a fabulous way of describing what the play is about.  Even if this is the only episode that ever sees the light of day, it has really wowed me.  

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