Radio Plays XIX
Radio Plays XIX
East of Eden 1.3 by Nobel Prize Winner John Steinbeck
East of Eden 2.3
East of Eden 3.3
*******This sprawling and often brutal novel, set in the rich farmlands
of California's Salinas Valley, follows the intertwined destinies of
two families--the Trasks and the Hamiltons--whose generations helplessly
reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel.
Old World by Aleksei Arbuzov
******Rodion is medical head of a sanitorium where Lydia is a patient suffering from arteriosclerosis.
They meet following complaints that Lydia recites poetry through the night and sings at dawn.
The play follows their growing mutual affection for each other with warmth and humour.
Penny Gaffs and Angel Places by Mike Dorrell
******October 1857: as problems in Charles Dickens's marriage come to a head, he feels pressures mounting.
One night, unable to SLEEP, he walks the 30 miles from his LONDON home to Gad's Hill, Kent,
but still can't escape the voices in his head.
People Come Here to Cry by Char March
******A heartening and humorous monologue about the counselling industry. Fortysomething Deborah Smith
comes to an emotional watershed in her life. During the morning vacuuming, a radio chat show mentions
the local crisis centre. Deborah girds up her loins, her stock of handkerchiefs
and her Thermos flask and prepares to get counselled.
The Pattern of Painful Adventures by Stephen Wakelam
******Business is going well, but Shakespeare urgently needs a collaborator for his latest work.
His daughter is getting married, while his brother has a sick child and is in need of a job.
It is 1607 and Shakespeare's life is at a turning point.
Posters Of Montmartre 1.4 - May Belfort
Posters Of Montmartre 2.4 - Footitt and Chocolat
Posters Of Montmartre 3.4 - Casque d'Or
Posters Of Montmartre 4.4 - Aristide Bruant
******Series of stories based on the characters in Toulouse-Lautrec's posters.
The Polish Soldier by Gregory Evans
******based on a man's childhood memory of a man in uniform; he starts looking for the truth
about his childhood, and finds more than he bargained for.
Nothing Personal by Perry Pontac
******A play about the bank manager with links to the eskimo community
Not The End of the World by Simon Smith
******
One Bright Child 1.5 by Patricia Cumper
One Bright Child 2.5
One Bright Child 3.5
One Bright Child 4.5
One Bright Child 5.5
******funny, gripping and inspirational, it contrasts the warm and colourful setting
of Kingston, Jamaica with the grey austerity of pre and post war England...
in which Gloria Carter, the bright child of the title, shines like a beacon.
This is Pat Cumper's first novel and is based on the adolescence and young
adulthood of her mother Gloria Clare Cumper, one of the first black women to graduate
from Cambridge University. ONE BRIGHT CHILD is the inspiring tale of a gifted young
black girl's hard-won fulfilment. From the real-life story and of this award winning
BBC Radio 4 play by the same author.
Pepita's Daughter by Martyn Wade
******The story of Victoria Sackville, the illegitimate child of Lord Sackville of Knole
and Spanish dancer Pepita, who died when Victoria was still a young girl.
Their daughter grew up to be a beautiful and extrovert woman who, because of her origins,
could never be quite respectable and who could never quite decide whether she wished to be so.
A School for Scandal.by Richard Brinsley Sheridan
******The School for Scandal is a comedy of manners first performed in London
at Drury Lane Theatre on May 18, 1777. With principal themes of "the deceptive
nature of appearances, the fickleness of reputation, [and] the often disreputable
guises behind which goodness and honesty can conceal itself," it has been noted that
"The play remains to this day a crowd-pleaser and one of the standard
repertory pieces in our dramatic literature. (90 mins)
Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford
******Set in the privileged world of the county house party and the London season,
this is a comedy of English upperclass manners between the wars.
Like its predecessor, The Pursuit of Love, Love in a Cold Climate is narrated
by Fanny, and covers a similar time period but deals with a different subset
of characters, revealing more about Fanny's own personal life and the early years
of her marriage to Alfred Wincham, an Oxford don.
A Song at Twilight by Noel Coward
*****One of a trio of plays collectively entitled Suite in Three Keys,
all of which are set in the same suite in a luxury hotel in Switzerland.
The play depicts an elderly writer confronted by his former mistress
with facts about his past life that he would prefer to forget.
The Cornish Trilogy 1.3 by Robertson Davies - The Rebel Angels
******Robertson Davies uses his magical touch to weave together the destinies
of this remarkable cast of characters, creating a wise and witty portrait
of love, murder, and scholarship at a modern university.
The Cornish Trilogy 2.3 - What's Bred in the Bone
******At once ingenious and powerful, What's Bred in the Bone holds
the usual rich mixture of Davies' delights. Soho prostitutes, secret agents,
Bavarian countesses, and a small-town embalmer people
its pages in Davies' stylish, elegant prose.
The Cornish Trilogy 3.3 - The Lyre of Orpheus
******Composer Hulda Schnackenburg, priest, scholar, and librettist
Simon Darcourt, and director Arthur Cornish work to complete E.T.A. Hoffman's
unfinished opera.
Three novels woven around the pursuits of the spirits and scholars of the
University of St John and the Holy Ghost, this trilogy of novels lures
the reader into a world of mysticism, historical allusion and Gothic fantasy.
Daniel Deronda 1.3 by George Eliot
Daniel Deronda 2.3
Daniel Deronda 3.3
******Only in her final novel, in 1876, did George Eliot turn to
contemporary English and European life as material for the
expression of her own idealism. Daniel Deronda is a psychologically
incisive investigation, probing the egoism of a spoiled girl and her
increasing awareness of conscience through suffering. Gwendolen
comes to regard Daniel as her moral and spiritual mentor, but chance,
the revelation of his Jewish birth, and his practical and sympathetic
identification with his race draw him away from her.
Darkness At Pemberley by T H White
******Darkness At Pemberley was first published in England in 1932, at which time
it received excellent reviews for a book by a then-unknown author. It successfully
combined two important story trends of the period: an intellectual puzzle (one of
the more ingenious locked-room puzzles of the decade) and an action plot that any
of the major mystery story writers of the day would have been proud of. What with
these two themes Police Inspector Buller
soon finds himself in problems far beyond his depth.
Darling Peidi by Shelagh Stephenson
******The true story of Edith Thompson who, with Freddy Bywaters, was charged
with the murder of her husband Percy in October 1922.
The Day King Hammer Fell from the Sky by Gregory Whitehead.
******A headless body falls to earth at the centre of one of America's most prestigious universities.
Fair Stood the Wind for France 1.3 by H E Bates
Fair Stood the Wind for France 2.3
Fair Stood the Wind for France 3.3
******Treacherous mud clutched at the wheels and the Wellington up-ended.
End of mission. The great bomber had been giving the crew trouble since
leaving Italy. Finally over occupied France, it settles like a weary, wounded
edge on what seemed to Franklin a hard, smooth field. The five members
of the crew, already closely bound together that even conversation was seldom
necessary, were welded by the crash into a single whole, one tiny forged weapon
in the vast territory of the enemy--weak and ineffectual yet confident
as only men can be whose minds are free.
The Falklands Play by Ian Curteis
******The Falklands Play is a dramatic account of the
political events leading up to, and including, the 1982 Falklands War.
The Haunting of Frances Child by Richard Cameron
*******Psychological thriller about Frances Child, a young woman haunted by her past.
John, a student, starts to fall in love with Frances but doesn't realise that he's part of a plan;
one that Frances' different personalities are plotting.
The Heart of Midlothian 1.2 by Sir Walter Scott
The Heart of Midlothian 1.2
*******Focused upon the trials for murder of John Porteous and of Effie Deans in 1736
and 1737, this novel also spans the 80 years of the life of David Deans whose death
takes place in 1751. The text raises the problem of a
judicial system that does not produce justice.
The Hubris File by Rod Beacham
******Concerns the disappearance of a junior member of the government, whose personal diary
is sent by post to Intelligence. His political ambitions have left him no time for his wife,
who leaves him for another man; also, he appears to be on the track of a double agent.
Despite his disappearance, he figures in the play by way of a series of flashbacks arising from the diary.
It's a clever piece of work, ingenious and absorbing.
The Expedition of Humphry Clinker 1.4 by Tobias Smollett
The Expedition of Humphry Clinker 2.4
The Expedition of Humphry Clinker 3.4
The Expedition of Humphry Clinker 4.4
******William Thackeray called it "the most laughable story that has ever been written
since the goodly art of novel-writing began." As a group of travellers visit places
in England and Scotland, they provide through satire and wit a vivid and detailed
picture of the contemporary social and political scene.
The Labyrinth Makers by A. Price
******When an RAF Dakota, presumed lost at sea in 1945, is discovered
in a drained lake in Lincolnshire, together with its pilot and a cargo of
worthless rubble, it falls to David Audley of the MOD to puzzle out just
why the Russians are so interested, and what the plane was carrying
that is important enough to kill for.
Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon (2000 - 90 mins)
******The beauty of the child-like Lady Audley would suggest that she has no secrets.
Combining the elements of the detective novel, the psychological thriller and the romance
of upper class life, this sensational novel uncovers the truth about the heroine
in a plot involving bigamy, arson and murder.
The Facts Speak for Themselves by Mark Leech (90 mins)
******"...courtroom drama about a guy who's supposed to have been involved in the robbery of a security van,
who says the police fitted him up. The question is, have they fitted him up?"
As listeners of Radio 4 were to discover when the play was later broadcast, the answer is no.
A Second Summer by Elizabeth Wainwright
******
The Poisoned Chocolates Case by Anthony Berkeley
******In this, the best-known of Anthony Berkeley's novels, amateur detective
Roger Sheringham investigates his most famous case. When Joan Bendix
makes a bet with her husband for a box of chocolates, no one imagines that
winning will cost her her life. The seven she eats poison her and the two her
husband eats nearly kill him. The Sheringham Crime Circle find the unusual
case baffling, but eventually come up with some very interesting theories -
which they then proceed to disprove one by one. Due to a series of false clues
the identity - and motive - of the killer appears to be out of reach...
Love For Lydia 1.2 by H E Bates
Love For Lydia 2.2
******Lydia Aspen, a seemingly shy girl from a wealthy
but isolated background, is encouraged by her aunts,
her new carers, to discover the delights of growing up.
They entrust her education to Mr Richardson, the young
apprentice for Evenford's local newspaper, who is sent
to their house to 'get a story' about the recent death of
Lydia's father. Richardson's access to the Aspens is unusual,
as they are rarely seen by anyone from the town and hide behind
their stone walls and perimeter of trees; introducing Lydia
to the town's inhabitants gives Richardson a great sense of pride.
Visiting the Aspen estate also allows Richardson the chance
to escape from the great engulfing vacuum of Evensford,
with it's endless stretch of factory roofs and back alleys.
As Lydia and Richardson spend more time together, he realises
that his initial concept of Lydia was wrong, that she is far from being shy
and is often impetuous and demanding, and enjoys captivating the
young men who become her companions. Richardson soon
discovers that his promise to love her, no matter what she does
to him, is going to push him beyond the pain and feelings he thinks
he is capable of experiencing. One of Bates' best-loved and most enduring
books, "Love for Lydia" is an extraordinary tale of love and longing, set
against the backdrop of 1920s decadence, and the fall of the English upper classes.
The Power of Darkness by Leo Tolstoy
*******Written in 1886, the play was long-banned in Russia.
The central character is a peasant, Nikita, who seduces and abandons a young girl Marinka;
then the lovely Anisija murders her own husband to marry Nikita. He impregnates his new
stepdaughter, then, under his wife's influence, murders the baby. On the day of his
stepdaughter's marriage, he surrenders himself and confesses to the police.
Quartermaine's Terms by Simon Gray
******The play takes place over a period of two years in the 1960s in the staffroom at a Cambridge school
for teaching English to foreigners. It deals with the interrelationship between seven teachers at the school
in particular that between St John (pronounced 'Sinjon') Quartermaine and the others.
Quartermaine’s Terms is a quintessentially British play and Simon Gray pokes gentle fun at the British
penchant for “muddling through” and “not complaining” – coupled with a tendency not to take firm action
when necessary. Quartermaine is clearly an incompetent teacher but Eddie and his partner Thomas
(who we do not see) avoid the need to get rid of him out of kindness and fear of embarrassment.
The verbal style is characteristically British with form and euphemism dominant and with real issues
constantly being ducked out of politeness. When clouded signals are offered (especially signals that
suggest a character needs help) they are so obscure that it is possible for others to ignore them – and they usually do.
The Queen and the Rebels by Ugo Betti
******
Rogue Herries 1.4 by Hugh Walpole
Rogue Herries 2.4
Rogue Herries 3.4
Rogue Herries 4.4
******1930. Walpole wrote horror novels that tended more towards the psychological
rather than supernatural, with a brooding underlying mysticism. This is the first volume
of the Herries Chronicle, which stand among Walpole's greatest works. Rogue Herries,
they called him, this haughty, swaggering, wenching vagabond gentleman who sold his
mistress for thirty pieces of silver and buried a witch in his garden. But neither the wife
who loved him so mutely, nor the mistresses, nor the son who loved him longest,
understood his utter loneliness nor the dream of a snow white charger and a hill of ice.
They could not guess the fierce longing for an unattainable ideal that sent him bitter
with desire for the world that might be, reeling and carousing through the world that is.
In Rogue Herries Walpole delivers a massive, vital, full-blooded novel, rich in story,
rich in background and incredibly rich in the portrayal of one
of the most fascinating characters in literature.
The Rundle Gibbet by Peter Terson
******A self-opinionated individual starts up his own scandal sheet in an effort to make his voice heard
and to cleanse the town where he lives. He stirs up more than he bargained for....
Valtemand & Cornelius Are Not Well At All by Alick Rowe
*******In Act 1, Scene 2 of Hamlet Claudius dispatches Valtemand and Cornelius to Norway with a letter
instructing the King to suppress young Fortinbras' advances against Denmark. This play takes up their story...
The Technicolor Time Machine by Harry Harrison
******Why pay for costumes, scenery, props or actors
when the most brilliant drama of all time is unfolding
before your very eyes, in vivid color - in 1050 A.D.?
Just the film crew of that stupendous motion picture
saga Viking Columbus as they journey
back in time to capture history in the making.
The Dig 1.5 by John Preston
The Dig 2.5
The Dig 3.5
The Dig 4.5
The Dig 5.5
******In the long hot summer of 1939, Britain is preparing for war.
But on a riverside farm in Suffolk, there is excitement of another kind:
Mrs Petty, the widowed farmer, has had her hunch proved correct that
the strange mounds on her land hold buried treasure. As the dig
proceeds against a background of mounting national anxiety, it becomes
clear though that this is no ordinary find...And pretty soon the discovery
leads to all kinds of jealousies and tensions. John Preston's recreation
of the Sutton Hoo dig - the greatest Anglo-Saxon discovery ever in Britain -
brilliantly and comically dramatizes three months of intense activity when
locals fought outsiders, professionals thwarted amateurs,
and love and rivalry flourished in equal measure.
To The North 1.5 by Elizabeth Bowen
To The North 2.5
To The North 3.5
To The North 4.5
To The North 5.5
******Portrays the classic romantic entanglement of an honest, well-meaning
young woman who cannot resist becoming involved with a man who is patently
caddish and predatory. This takes place in contrast to the unromantic preoccupations
of the young woman's sister-in-law, who is always near at hand.
Home by David Storey
******First staged in 1970, David Storey's Home was a major critical success. A poignant, often darkly funny play
which looks at the lives of five people. But who are they and where are they?
The Way We Live Right Now 01.15 by Jonathan Myerson
The Way We Live Right Now 02.15
The Way We Live Right Now 03.15
The Way We Live Right Now 04.15
The Way We Live Right Now 05.15
The Way We Live Right Now 06.15
The Way We Live Right Now 07.15
The Way We Live Right Now 08.15
The Way We Live Right Now 09.15
The Way We Live Right Now 10.15
The Way We Live Right Now 11.15
The Way We Live Right Now 12.15
The Way We Live Right Now 13.15
The Way We Live Right Now 14.15
The Way We Live Right Now 15.15
******The Way We Live Right Now was an adaptation of the Trollope novel
The Way We Live Now, re-setting it in the present day. It was written by
Jonathan Myerson for the Woman's Hour serial.
An unscrupulous lady exploits all available means to further the financial
and social aspirations of her knavish son who plans to marry
the daughter of a wealthy swindler.
The Luneburg Variation by Paolo Maurensig
******A man is found shot in his garden, in a village not far from Vienna.
Unable to be defined as either a suicide or a homicide, the death is called
one of "mysterious circumstances." The garden--unlike the prominent
citizen's life--is highly unusual, a "concentric maze of ten-foot-high
hedges leading to a chessboard-shaped clearing paved with squares
of white and black marble." Frisch, the murdered man, was obsessed
with chess, and the novel's chilling first sentence--
"They say that chess was born in bloodshed"--bears this out.
Germinal 1.3 by Emile Zola
Germinal 2.3
Germinal 3.3
******Zola's tale of working life, "Germinal" (1885), exposes the inhuman
conditions of miners in northern France in the 1860s. By Zola's death
in 1902 it had come to symbolize the call for freedom from oppression
so forcefully that the crowd which gathered at his State funeral chanted
"Germinal! Germinal!". The central figure, Etienne Lantier, is an outsider
who enters the community and eventually leads his fellow-miners in a
strike protesting against pay-cuts - a strike which becomes a losing battle
against starvation, repression and sabotage. Yet despite all the violence and
disillusion which rock the mining community to its foundations, Lantier
retains his belief in the ultimate germination of a new society, leading to a
better world. "Germinal" is a dramatic novel of working life and everyday
relationships, but it is also a complex novel of ideas, vigour and power.
Daunt and Dervish s04 e01 by Guy Meredith
Daunt and Dervish s04 e02
Daunt and Dervish s04 e03
Daunt and Dervish s04 e04
******In the new fourth series Josephine's preparations for her marriage to Bill have to take
a back seat when an up-and-coming young British fashion designer reports the theft of her
latest designs. It seems a pretty straightforward case, but before too long Daunt and Dervish
find themselves mixed up in a world of Teddy boys, political chicanery and sudden death.
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