Radio Plays VI
Radio Plays VI
F:\Radio Plays VI
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A Craving for Gold by John Naismith
******Eddie Manson returns to London from Australia and is soon brought into the race
to find the loot from a big heist that his father had been involved in. Martin Jarvis as a
hard-boiled detective with a Strine accent.
A Flag Unfurled by Leigh Jackson
******about the life of Erskine Childers.
A Hedge Backwards by Henry Reed
******
A New World in the Morning
******
A Place in the Country by David Pownall
******Set in 1945, towards the end of the war. A girl breaks away from her working class roots to
work for a high class lady.
She exchanges one set of problems for another.
A Question of Attribution by Alan Bennett
******an excellent play about reality and appearances -- very clever, very entertaining
A Question of Attribution has another of the Cambridge spies as its central figure:
Anthony Blunt, who remained in England and whose identity as a spy
only was made public much later.
Blunt was an art historian, director of the Courtauld Institute -- and caretaker
of sorts of the royal art collection (he is "in charge of the Queen's pictures").
The play is set in the 1960s, before Blunt was exposed and disgraced.
A Question of Fact by Wynyard Browne
******
A Question of Proof by Nicholas Blake
******Nigel Strangeways' first case - drawing on the experiences as a
prep-school master of the author, the poet C. Day Lewis (1904-1972).
A Quick Change by Robin Brooks
******Colin rents out his Edinburgh flat to a small theatre company for the duration
of the Festival. Roped in as company dogsbody, and asked to help the actress with
her quick change, he soon finds himself completely out of his depth.
A Slight Ache by Harold Pinter
******A Slight Ache is a tragicomic play written by Harold Pinter in 1958 and first
published by Methuen in London in 1961. It concerns a married couple's dreams
and desires, focusing mostly on the husband's fears of the unknown, of growing old,
and of the "Other" as a threat to his self-identity.
A Suitable Case For Teatment by David Mercer
******Morgan Delt is an artist from a working class background,
married to Leonie, a woman far above him in social standing.
Given to a rich fantasy life to begin with, Morgan goes off the
mental deep end when Leonie informs him that she is asking
for a divorce and taking up with art dealer
A Touch of Slander by James Follett
******The MacBryans are sitting around waiting to inherit grandfather's money
when they each are libelled by the local newspaper. Encouraged to sue, they
emerge with more than they expect- but there's a catch in it ...
A Voice in My Hand by Charlotte Hastings
******A lawyer's wife, (Flora Robson)married for nearly thirty years, and ignored for most of it
by her husband, who has spent his life immersed in legal papers. Even on their anniversary,
his wife comes second to his job. Then she acquires an oddly-crafted walking stick. It seems to speak to her...)
A Walk Across The Green by Colin Haydn Evans
******
A Walk with the Goons by Roy Smiles
******As he was writing a new series of The Goon Show, Spike Milligan had one of many
nervous breakdowns. The cause? Take your pick from pressure of work, Milligan's
experiences in the second world war, or a lifelong predisposition to depression.
Whatever, he ended up in a psychiatric hospital.
That's the setting for Ying Tong: A Walk With the Goons (2.15pm, Radio 4), in which
Milligan is visited by a string of characters both real and imaginary, from
Harry Secombe and Peter Sellers to Neddie Seagoon and Bluebootle.
Stars James Clyde, Kai Owen, Toby Longworth. .......Phil Daoust, Guardian.
A Warning To The Furious by Robin Brooks
******A feminist film-maker and her crew visit the Suffolk coast to make a documentary
about ghost story writer MR James. They hope to discover how an outwardly respectable
bachelor could produce such disturbing horrors.
Adventures Of Superman 1.4
Adventures Of Superman 2.4
Adventures Of Superman 3.4
Adventures Of Superman 4.4
******A radio production of a Superman adventure, in which he pits his wits against
the powerful and amoral multi-industrialist, Lex Luther. The cast includes
William Hootkins, Lorelei King, and Bert Kwouk.
After the Quake by Haruki Murakami
******These elegant, touching stories take a surprising look at the lives of people
affected by the Kobe earthquake of 1995.
Albertina by Howard Barker
******The Bishop of Albertina proposes that all undesirables should be put on a Ship of Fools.
Alice of Kilkenny by Ian Rodger
******Dame Alice le Kyteler was put on trial in Kilkenny, Ireland in 1324, accused of witchcraft
(one of the first "cases" of European witchcraft). She was the wealthiest woman in her town,
had inherited substantial wealth from her four deceased husbands, and enjoyed the wealth
of her current husband. The trial of Alice Kyteler was initiated by the stepsons she had from
her former marriages, who believed that they, not a woman, should receive all of their father's
inheritance. There were political interests also; Ireland's Celtic population had strong matrifocal
origins, and this was a threat to Catholic authorities, who believed that "Property is power
that belongs in male hands only".
All In Good Time by Bill Naughton
******The famous medical man and author T. Van der Velde wrote ...."After the bridal night
comes the honeymoon. Quite erroneous beliefs are current about this stage of married life,
especially among young bachelors. Just as they depict or describe the bridal night as a riot
of supreme pleasure, so they anticipate a ceaseless succession of unrestrained sexual enjoyment,
from the first weeks of conjugal life. They are gravely mistaken............." This is what Bill Naughton's play is about.
Back of the Tiger 1.2 by Jack Gerson
Back of the Tiger 2.2
******
Bad Dad by Colin Howe
******
Beast At Bay by Robin Glendinning
******Robin Glendinning's play recalls the publication of Boris Pasternak's classic Dr Zhivago.
Behind the Scenes of the Museum by Kate Atkinson
******By interspersing flashbacks with the narrative of Ruby's own life,
the story chronicles the lives of four generations of women from Ruby's
great-grandmother Alice to Ruby's mother's failed dreams.
Birdsong 1.3 by Sebastian Faulks
Birdsong 2.3
Birdsong 3.3
******Set in France before and during World War I, this is the story of
a young Englishman who is impelled through a series of extreme
experiences, including a traumatic love affair which tears apart the
bourgeois French family with whom he lives.
Black Chiffon by Leslie Storm
******On the eve of her beloved son's society wedding, the highly respected Alicia Christie
makes one defiant criminal gesture - a cry for help - when she steals a black chiffon nightdress
from a reputable department store. This play is a psychological study of a woman driven finally
to the edge due to the accumulative stresses and strains placed upon her by her demanding
and divided family. The results are absorbing and deeply moving to witness.
Black Dirt by Nell Leyshon
******Written in a lyrical yet spare style, "Black Dirt" explores the
guilty silences that bind family members together - and sometimes
keep them apart. It is the tale of a father and his family told, like the
layering of the earth, in different tones and textures.
Black Plumes by Margery Allingham
******The slashing of a valuable painting at the renowned Ivory Gallery
in London, followed by the murder of the proprietor's son-in-law, Robert,
sets the stage for another finely tuned Allingham mystery. The proprietor's
mother, 90-year-old Gabrielle Ivory, holds the key to the web of
intrigue and danger that permeates the gallery.
Brother Cadfael - One Corpse Too Many by Ellis Peters (90 mins)
******In the summer of 1138, fighting engulfs Shrewsbury as King Stephen
battles the Empress Maud for the throne of England. When Shrewsbury Castle
falls, and its 94 defenders are hanged as traitors, Brother Cadfael is called
upon to administer last rites to the dead. But his careful count reveals 95 corpses,
and once again the sleuthing monk is on the trail of a murderer
-- this time aided by a lovely young fugitive.
Crane by Joel Burns
******
Famous Five - Five Go Adventuring Again 1.2
Famous Five - Five Go Adventuring Again 2.2
******The Famous Five have discovered a thief at Kinin Cottage -
but when they start looking for proof, they find an old map and an unusual hiding place!
Famous Five - Five On A Treasure Island 1.2 by Enid Blyton
Famous Five - Five On A Treasure Island 2.2
******The very first Famous Five adventure, featuring Julian, Dick, Anne,
not forgetting tomboy George and her beloved dog, Timmy! There's a
shipwreck off Kirrin Island! But where is the treasure? The Famous Five
are on the trail - looking for clues - but they're not alone! Someone else
has got the same idea. Time is running out for the Famous Five,
who will follow the clues and get to the treasure first?
Girl at the Lion D'Or 1.5 by Sebastian Faulks
Girl at the Lion D'Or 2.5
Girl at the Lion D'Or 3.5
Girl at the Lion D'Or 4.5
Girl at the Lion D'Or 5.5
******A story of love and conscience, will and desire, which begins when
a mysterious young girl arrives to take up a post at the seedy
Hotel du Lion D'Or in a small French town in the mid-1930s.
Hum by Laura Wade
******A contemporary drama about the insidious presence of noise in our lives.
Emma is part of a team in Bristol who are called out to cases of noise pollution.
A number of cases defy explanation. Can an inexplicable 'hum' be to blame?
Killing Mr Mort by Peter Sansom
******Peter Sansom's modern take on Chaucer's The Pardoner's Tale, in which three workmates
mourn their dead friend in the pub. But when it transpires he had slept with all their wives and girlfriends,
they begin to suspect he was murdered and that one of them did the deed
LA Theater Works - The Lion in Winter by James Goldman
******Back stabbing, double crossing, and rampant infidelity - a typical family Christmas.
typical, that is, for the Plantagenets. James Goldman's brilliant historical drama pits
King Henry II of England against the strong willed Eleanor of Acquatine.
LA Theater Works - The Third Man 1.2
LA Theater Works - The Third Man 2.2
******a thriller set in Vienna after World War II. Somewhere in
shadowy post-war Vienna, where everyone has something to
sell on the black market, lurks "the third man," who witnessed
the murder of Harry Lime. The police don't care to investigate,
but novelist Holly Martins is haunted by the death of his friend.
His search for the killer makes electrifying drama.
LA Theater Works - Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose
******Reginald Rose's landmark American drama was a critically
acclaimed teleplay, and went on to become a cinematic masterpiece
in 1957 starring Henry Fonda, for which Rose wrote the adaptation.
A blistering character study and an examination of the American
melting pot and the judicial system that keeps it in check,
Twelve Angry Men holds at its core a deeply patriotic belief in the
U.S. legal system. The story's focal point, known only as Juror Eight,
is at first the sole holdout in an 11-1 guilty vote. Eight sets his sights
not on proving the other jurors wrong but rather on getting them to look
at the situation in a clear-eyed way not affected by their personal biases.
Rose deliberately and carefully peels away the layers of artifice from the
men and allows a fuller picture of America, at its best and worst, to form.
Loaded by Daniel Brocklehurst
******Interesting play about the conflict between two ways of living: career go-getters
and less ambitious, family types who want a quiet life ("losers", as some of the career
men will have it). A young man and his wife go to Australia to visit his dying father.
His brother, a high-flying salesman, shows him what he could do if he put his mind to it.
An unexpected twist at the end, some strong language, but a first class piece of writing
and an excellent production.
NHS at 60 - Stuffing Their Mouths With Gold by John Buchan
******Aneurin Bevan, Minister of Health in post-World War Two Britain, endeavours to create
a free health service but must persuade the Royal College of Physicians and Labour Party
dissenters to help him bring about the revolution. Drama, marking the 60th anniversary
of the founding of the NHS in July, 1948
No Man's Land by Harold Pinter
******No Man's Land is a ingenious mix of the comical and the disturbing which looks at the
ultimate emptiness that can accompany old age and asks what is to be done when there is nothing left to do.
Nobody by Daniel Brocklehurst
******A man gets back from the office, but finds his home occupied by another family, and no-one recognizes him.
Noisy Bodies by Claire McIntyre
******
Not Like Enid Blyton by Val Sims
******
NZ Radio Drama - Raft by Carl Nixon
******In a lakeside settlement on the West Coast, Mark and Tonia retreat to Mark’s family bach
in a last ditch effort to rescue their troubled marriage. But when Mark’s estranged parents arrive
unannounced, memories flood back and threaten to drown them all.
Oblomov 1.2 by Ivan Goncharov
Oblomov 2.2
******Oblomov's distinguishing characteristic is his slothful attitude
towards life. While a common negative characteristic, Oblomov
raises this trait to an art form, conducting his little
daily business apathetically from his bed.
Olalla by Robert Louis Stevenson
******Olalla is the tale of an Englishman's search for romance
in distant lands, by the author of Kidnapped.
Old Times 1.2 by Harold Pinter
Old Times 2.2
******The play begins with married couple Kate and Deeley discussing Kate's old friend Anna,
who is coming to visit them. Kate says that Anna was her only friend, but Anna had many friends.
Deeley says he's never met Anna, and is surprised to hear that Kate and Anna roomed together
20 years ago. Kate says that Anna occasionally stole her underwear.
Operation Lightning Pegasus 1.2 by Alick Rowe
Operation Lightning Pegasus 2.2
******What's the truth behind the Fall of Troy? Was Homer's Iliad a cover-up, a PR job,
for what was in fact a military fiasco?
Our Man in Athens by Tom Holland
******Thucydides' history of the Peloponnesian War is not an obvious candidate for radio dramatisation,
but Tom Holland's Our Man in Athens (R4 1415 30 Jul 01) made it accessible to the ordinary listener.
A veteran war reporter finds himself under siege in the studios of Radio Free Athens, under attack by Sparta.
John Simpson, the BBC correspondent, played Thucydides, and the cast included Tim Piggott-Smith,
Sean Barratt and Bill Wallis...
Package from Berlin by Simon Masters
******Graham Collier calls at a boarding house at 28 Nadine Gardens asking for a 'Mr. Shapiro.'
But the lady of the house says that he must have the wrong number - all his lodgers are regulars
but there was no one by that name. Collier has a package for him. As he leaves the lady asks
him that if she ever comes across Mr. Shapiro, where can he be reached. He say to reach him
at the Euphradis Hotel up until the following day. After that he's back up north so Mr. Shapiro can stuff it.
It just so happens that 28 Nadine Gardens is a British safehouse though 'Mr. Shapiro' is a password,
up until two months ago, for their Berlin safehouse.
Carter of British Intelligence tries to find out what Collier is doing going to a safehouse using an old
password from another distict. He calls Toby Lizmore back from holidays to call on this 'mark' and
ask him all the questions he's so good at asking. He finds out that Collier got this package in a
German bar from a gentlemen who's name he didn't ask for.
The package contains film of highly sensitive political documents from East Germany though the
final picture is double exposed with a man's face.
Carter asks Toby to help him to find out who is in that 'mug' shot and why.
Papa's Clean Suit by Tim Jackson
******The eminent Austrian physicist Ludwig Boltzmann commits suicide.
Does his death embody his famous entropy principle, and does his daughter's love affair -
an affair that grows out of the tragedy - transcend it?
Paradise and No Adam by Keith Goodall
******
Perfume of the Lady in Black by Gaston Leroux
******Joseph Rouletabille, the young journalist tu rned detective,
is once more pitted against his arch-enemy, Frederic Larsan.
The mysterious crime committed in the Square Tower tests
even Rouletabille''s powers of logic and deduction '
Pericles by William Shakespeare
******The play opens in the court of Antiochus, king of Antioch,
who has offered the hand of his beautiful daughter to any man
who answers his riddle; but those who fail shall die.
I am no viper, yet I feed
On mother's flesh which did me breed.
I sought a husband, in which labour
I found that kindness in a father:
He's father, son, and husband mild;
I mother, wife, and yet his child.
How they may be, and yet in two,
As you will live, resolve it you.
Pericles, the young Prince (ruler) of Tyre in Phoenicia (Lebanon),
hears the riddle, and instantly understands its meaning: Antiochus
is engaged in an incestuous relationship with his daughter.
If he reveals this truth, he will be killed, but if he answers incorrectly,
he will also be killed. Pericles hints that he knows the answer,
and asks for more time to think. Antiochus grants him forty days,
and then sends an assassin after him. However, Pericles has fled the city.
The Permanent Way 1.2 by David Hare
The Permanent Way 2.2
******"David Hare's brilliant docudrama about the state of Britain's railways . . .
provides a gripping account of what has gone wrong since privatization . . .
[The Permanent Way] captures the greedy, shoddy spirit of our times with
devastating clarity, but its portrait of individuals, particularly the survivors of
rail crashes and those left bereaved by them, is . . . deeply moving."
--Charles Spencer, The Daily Telegraph (London)
Phallus in Wonderland 1.2 (2 hours)
Phallus in Wonderland 2.2
Pick-Up by Ken Blakeson
******A pickup truck is stolen by a stranger, who promptly crashes it and dies, unrecpgnisable in the ensuing fire.
The truck's owner, who no longer loves his wife, now has an opportunity to disappear and make a fresh start
somewhere else. The story is told with Ken Blakeson's customary realism, and it's an absorbing listen.
Pied Piper by Jacques Demy
******Imagine a musical The Pied Piper with Donovan and Spike Milligan. 'nuff said.
Polaris by Fay Weldon
******Now to the wilds of Scotland in Polaris where Timmy, sub-mariner and
one fifteenth of Britain's nuclear Attack Team conducts his uneasy marriage
Sargasso by Simon Bovey
******Elver season on the River Severn - a time of mystery and danger. The wrong
time and place for
a young man to be searching for his place in the world.
Siege of Krishnapur 1.2 by J G Farrell.
Siege of Krishnapur 2.2
******A darkly humorous picture of the follies of empire,
still as relevant as ever, The Siege of Krishnapur is thought
by many to be J. G. Farrell's finest book. Set in India in 1857
(the year of the Great Mutiny, when the Indian sepoys rose
in bloody rebellion against their complacent British overlords),
Farrell's novel concerns a remote Victorian outpost in the
subcontinent. Rumors of strife filter in from afar, but the colonial
community remains confident of its superior values, culture, and,
of course, military strength - that is, until it is actually under siege.
Then gaping cracks begin to open in the veneer of civilization.
The Airmen Who Would Not Die by John G Fuller
******John G. Fuller investigates the extraordinary circumstances surrounding
the historic crash of the great British airship R101. Thel uxury lighter-then-air
behemoth that was to revolutionise travel in the 1930s
The Beetle by Richard Marsh
******The Beetle (1897) tells the story of a fantastical creature,
"born of neither god nor man," with supernatural and hypnotic powers,
who stalks British politician Paul Lessingham through fin de siecle
London in search of vengeance for the defilement of a sacred tomb
in Egypt. In imitation of various popular fiction genres of the late
nineteenth century, Marsh unfolds a tale of terror, late imperial fears,
and the "return of the repressed," through which the crisis of
late imperial Englishness is revealed.
The Brothers Karamazov 1.5 by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Brothers Karamazov 2.5
The Brothers Karamazov 3.5
The Brothers Karamazov 4.5
The Brothers Karamazov 5.5
******This turbulent story centers on the murder of
Fyodor Pavlovitch Karamazov, a corrupt, loutish
landowner, and the aftermath for his sons:
the passionate Dmitri, the coldly intellectual Ivan,
the spiritual Alexey, and the bastard Smerdyakov.
The Elephant Man by Bernard Pomerance
******The story is based on the life of Joseph Merrick
who lived in Victorian era and is known for extreme
deformity of his body.
Frederick Treves, a surgeon at the London Hospital, discovers
John Merrick in a Victorian freak show in London's East End,
where he is managed by the brutish Bytes. Merrick is so
deformed that he must wear a hood and cape when in public.
Bytes further claims that his "exhibit" is an imbecile.
Treves is professionally intrigued by Merrick's condition and pays
Bytes to bring him to the London Hospital so that he can examine him.
He then presents a lecture to his colleagues on Merrick's disability,
dispassionately displaying him as a prize physiological curiosity.
Treves draws attention to the oversized deformities of Merrick's
skull: it is his most obvious disability and (as he was so informed
by Bytes) also the most life-threatening, as he is compelled to
sleep sitting with his head resting upon his knees, as the weight of
his skull would cause a fatal constriction of his windpipe (asphyxiation)
if he were to ever lie down. On Merrick's return, Bytes beats him so
severely that a sympathetic apprentice alerts Treves, who attempts
to take him back to the hospital. Bytes confronts Treves, accusing
him of likewise exploiting Merrick for his own ends, which leads the
surgeon to resolve to do what he can to help the unfortunate man.
The Exorcism 1.2 by Don Taylor
The Exorcism 2.2
******A sinister tale of a group of friends trapped in a cottage at Christmas.
The Face of the Enemy by Emilie Napole
******
The Madness of George III by Alan Bennett
******a fictionalised biographical study of the latter half
of the reign of George III of Great Britain, his battle with
mental illness and the inability of his court to handle his
condition. It was adapted for film in 1994 as
The Madness of King George.
The Master And Margarita 1.4 by Mikhail Bulgakov
The Master And Margarita 2.4
The Master And Margarita 3.4
The Master And Margarita 4.4
******Written during the darkest period of Stalin's repressive reign
and a satire of Soviet life, this book combines two parts: one set
in contemporary Moscow and the other in ancient Jerusalem,
each full of incident, and with historical, imaginary,
frightful and wonderful characters.
The Omega Point by Bruce Stewart
******Superb science fiction story beginning with the decoding of an electronic message from a remote transmitter.
Tragedy A Tragedy by Will Eno
******The sun has set over the neighborhoods, government buildings
and American backyards everywhere. A news team is on the way.
Their report: someone left the lawn sprinklers on; someone's horse
is on the loose; a seashell is lying in the grass; dogs run by.
The Governor appeals for calm. Everyone doesn't know if the sun,
once down, will ever rise again. But there is a witness, and the witness will speak.
Victory by Guy Meredith
******
Where Three Roads Meet by Don Taylor
******A priest loses his faith and wants to make an issue of it. His wife is more pragmatic.
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