That's Errol Flynn's career exploding as he portrays the titular character in the 1935 swashbuckling epic "Captain Blood," based on Rafael Sabatini's 1922 novel. The movie was a box office smash. Now, 91 years later, Northwest Arkansas Audio Theater is taking audiences back to the sea.
Captain Blood is someone who was kind of a soldier of fortune, but is also a doctor, and has decided to settle down and just be a local country doctor, says Marshall Prettyman, the director of the upcoming audio production.
Captain Blood's plans are capsized when he tends to someone who is a participant in an ill-fated attempted overthrow of King James II
"And then gets arrested with all the others who really were rebels. Initially they were all going to be hanged, but then they come up with a better way of dealing with them, which is to send them all to the West Indies as slaves."
Eventually, Captain Blood leads an escape — though by this point he has no real employment options outside of piracy.
The 1935 film did migrate to a radio version heard on Lux Radio Theater in 1937, but Prettyman says he warned the company's special effects coordinator, Eden Miller, there would be some challenges bringing the swordfights and such to this audio presentation.
"The one thing I didn't like about the Lux version — they cut out the big battle altogether. They see the bad guys and the next thing you know, the music is da da da da, we won, and nothing."
And so the big final battle is in this production.
"We duel with spatulas because that makes the noise. And drum beats for cannons."
Northwest Arkansas Audio Theater shares much in common with the golden age of radio drama: sound effects created by the company, actors playing multiple roles with different voices, and live music to move the story along. But they go one better — the actors come dressed to the performances in character. Jennifer Martin, who plays Arabella Bishop, daughter of the tyrant Colonel Bishop, will be behind the microphone in a period hoop skirt.
"It's truly a sights and sounds way of experiencing theater. You have the great sound effects and you get to get some insight as to how those can be made — in the audience you can go home and go, 'Hey, I wonder what that sounds like. Oh, that's how they did that.' So they learn and that's the experience. And then yes, whether you're coming in a full costume or you're just changing hats from one character to another to help distinguish which one you are at that point in that scene — it's a lot of fun for the actors when we can. And it helps us to have that little piece of something to become — 'Oh yes, I've got this hat now. I'm this person right now.'"
Jerry Condron, who plays Captain Blood, says watching the production is almost an equal to the story itself.
"People will bring their kids and things like that, and they get to see how sound effects are done. And the sound effects are so important in radio. The clopping of the horse's hooves — she actually has some with her. And so you get to see how Foley is done, how the sound effects folks are doing things. It's just fascinating."
There will be five performances at five different venues: a 2 p.m. matinee Saturday at United Lutheran Church in Bella Vista; Tuesday, March 17, at 7 p.m. at Immanuel Baptist Church in Springdale; Thursday, March 19, at 7 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church in Rogers; Friday, March 20, at 7 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church in Springdale; and Saturday, March 21, at the Fayetteville Public Library.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline and edited for length and clarity. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
