Halloween is upon us once more, that most Bradburyan of seasons.
By way of celebration, here's another chance to listen to the Bradbury 100 podcast episode I put out last Halloween, in which I discuss what October meant to Ray Bradbury, and interviewed the remarkable actor Bill Oberst Jr, the man dubbed "the King of Horror"!
Time for another all-new episode of my audio podcast Bradbury 100. This week I'm joined by filmmaker and visual effects artist Christopher Cooksey to discuss the challenges and joys of bringing Ray's work to life in the visual realm.
Christopher is the co-producer of Bill Oberst Jr's stage production Ray Bradbury - LIVE (Forever). Ostensibly a one-person show, it's really a visual feast. Bill, alone on stage (except for one dance scene), is nevertheless able to walk around Bradbury's world with the aid of visual projections and audio effects. This video, from Christopher's Youtube channel, shows some of the work that went into making the visuals for the show.
To put Bill and Christopher's work in context, in the first part of the podcast I talk about Bradbury's own use of audio-visual elements in his stage plays. You can find Ray's plays in print in a number of books. Dramatic Publishing carries nearly all of them for would-be performers and play producers, and there are some play collections aimed at general readers. The introductions and production notes in these are often as entertaining as the plays.
Find out more about Christopher Cooksey from his extensive Youtube channel and from his website.
And now, enjoy the episode:
Halloween - a fine day to celebrate Ray Bradbury!
In today's new episode of my Bradbury 100 podcast, I talk about Ray Bradbury's use of October and Halloween in his fiction and non-fiction. With three October-based books in his body of work (The October Country, Something Wicked This Way Comes and The Halloween Tree), you'd be right to think that Bradbury loved the Autumn months, and claimed Halloween as his favourite holiday.
To match the frightful Halloween theme of the episode, I have as my interviewee this week the Emmy Award-winning actor Bill Oberst Jr, who has been dubbed both the "King of Horror" and the "nice guy of horror". Bill is renowned for his amazing roles in independent horror films, but has also appeared in a broad range of roles in film and TV.
But the real reason for speaking to Bill is that he plays the part of Ray Bradbury in his one man show Ray Bradbury: Live Forever!
Bill Oberst Jr's website is here: https://www.billoberst.com/
And the website for his remarkable stage show Ray Bradbury: Live Forever is here: https://raybradburyliveforever.com
His achievements are detailed on his Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Oberst_Jr.
His extensive credits in film and TV are on his IMDB page: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2454994/
And his Facebook page is here: https://www.facebook.com/ActorBillOberstJr/
Finally, Bill's own podcast is the glorious Gothic Goodnight: https://bill-oberst-jr-gothic-goodnight.captivate.fm