Radio Plays XXIV
Radio Plays XXIV
LA Theatre Works - Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers
by Geoffrey Cowan and Leroy Aarons.
******The fascinating story of The Washington Post's publication of the Pentagon Papers,
a top secret study of U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia.The Nixon Adminstration had
several options when confronted with the Pentagon Papers leak -- and may have chosen
the least productive response possible
Based on the 1971 case in which The New York Times, after being leaked one of fifteen
copies of an official study of U.S. involvement in Indochina, was blocked! from
publishing it by a federal court on the grounds that to do so would be a breach of
national security. The script, which dealt with The Washington Post's decision to
publish the documents, relied on interviews with the participants and trial transcripts
as well as heretofore-undisclosed elements of the proceedings held in camera that
were acquired under the Freedom of Information Act.
The two-hour-long production, which is quite magnificent,
stars Ed Asner, Harry Shearer, Marsha Mason, and Robert Foxworth. --
Birthday Girl 1.5 April in Ljubljana by Dominic Power
******A woman plans to mark her birthday by enjoying a break in Ljubljana, alone.
Unfortunately her commitment-hungry younger boyfriend has other ideas.
Birthday Girl 2.5 by Stuart Morris.
******Ryan and Judy love adventure, so a ride in a hot air balloon seems the ultimate birthday gift -
until Judy goes into labour 1000ft above the ground.
Birthday Girl 3.5 by Anji Loman-Field.
******Jonny is on a gap year in Cambodia. He is miserable about spending his birthday far away from home
until he discovers that his new friend, Amara, has never had a birthday.
Birthday Girl 4.5 by Anji Loman-Field.
******It's Haley's birthday and she wants a special present from her husband; she wants him to talk to her,
to tell her where he has gone to and to find out if there is any hope for them.
Birthday Girl 5.5 by Tanika Gupta.
******Munera is seriously ill. Her husband Nazim wants to celebrate her approaching birthday while they still can,
but Munera is ready to fade away. So,
Nazim struggles to fulfil his wife's wishes while stifling his own.
Bollywood Jane 1.5 by Amanda Whittington
Bollywood Jane 2.5
Bollywood Jane 3.5
Bollywood Jane 4.5
Bollywood Jane 5.5
******Story of a young woman who discovers the magic of Indian cinema
Single mum Kate has done a runner from the bloke next door. After landing up in Bradford with Jane,
her disenchanted 16 year old daughter, it's all looking pretty grim. But when Jane meets local lad Dini,
she's swept into the fantasy world of Shak Ruhk Khan and Bollywood films. Life is more fun in sequins
and saris but Jane, Dini and Kate soon find they can't escape reality forever. The Wizard of Oz meets
A Taste of Honey in this explosive fusion of lip-synched song and gritty drama.
"Wow, wow and wow again! Here is unbridled joy and gloriously entertaining theatre." The Stage
TwilightBaby.com 1.5 by Julie Balloo and Jenny Eclair
TwilightBaby.com 2.5
TwilightBaby.com 3.5
TwilightBaby.com 4.5
TwilightBaby.com 5.5
******Cass and her husband Ken (Kevin Eldon) are 45 and 52. Their middle years are upon them and it's time
to do things 'their way'. The kids have left the nest and after all those years of parenting Cass and Ken are
looking forward to being able to be selfish again. Cass has been a teacher and wants a career change, she wants
to paint and 'be creative' whilst Ken plans to write 'that novel'. Cass gets pregnant, shock horror, they are back
where they started more than twenty years ago, his friends think he's crazy, her friends can't believe they still 'do it',
the kids are horrified, disgusted and jealous. Cass begins blogging in an effort to share her experience with others
who might have found themselves in the same situation,
and ‘Twilight Baby.com’ charts the highs and lows of her pregnancy.
Mrs Pepperpot 1.4 by Alf Prřysen
Mrs Pepperpot 2.4
Mrs Pepperpot 3.4
Mrs Pepperpot 4.4
******Mrs Pepperpot, title character in the fairy-tale collection by the
Norwegian writer Alf Prřysen, published in 1956–66 and translated
into all major languages. Mrs Pepperpot (‘Teskjekjerringa’ in Norwegian,
literally ‘Teaspoon Lady’), an old farmer's wife, turns into a lilliputian
the size of a pepperpot at whim, and in this shape experiences all sorts
of funny adventures, acting as a magical helper and assisting both people
and animals. In a true fairy-tale spirit, she is able to understand the language
of animals when she turns small and loses this ability upon regaining her normal size.
My Uncle Freddie 1.3 by Alex Ferguson
My Uncle Freddie 2.3
My Uncle Freddie 3.3
******Award-winning hilarious and heartwarming comedy series about a boy and his uncle, set on 1930's Jarrow
New Found Land
*****A comedy. Live. No credits given.
A Harlot's Progress 1.5 - by David Dabydeen - Moll Arrives in London
A Harlot's Progress 2.5 - Moll the Harlot
A Harlot's Progress 3.5 - The Harlot Apprehended
A Harlot's Progress 4.5 - The Harlot Does Bird
A Harlot's Progress 5.5 - The Harlot's End
******A Harlot's Progress reinvents William Hogarth's famous print of 1732, which tells the story
of a prostitute, a Jewish merchant, a magistrate, and a quack doctor bound together by sexual
and financial greed. David Dabydeen's novel endows Hogarth's characters with alternative lives,
redeeming them from their status as predators or victims. The protagonist—in Hogarth,
a black slave boy, in Dabydeen, London's oldest black inhabitant—tells his story to the Abolitionists
in return for their charity. But instead of embarking upon yet another fictional journey into the dark
nature of slavery, he spins a tale of myths, half - truths, and fantasies: recreating Africa and 18th - century
London in startlingly poetic ways.
The Bandit Queen
******The true-enough story of Phoolan Davi, who went on a spree of killing,
revenge and robbery after a terrible life of severe oppression and inexcusable
sexual abuse from a man three times her age. From being violated in unspeakable
ways to be “put in her place” because she was considered too aggressive for a child,
especially a female one, the constant rape, abuse and servitude continued for years
until she was unjustly banished from where she lived.
One Damn Thing After Another 1.2 by Nicolas Freeling - A Long Silence
One Damn Thing After Another 2.2 - The Widow
(aka Arlette)
******A Van der Valk Thriller - Running a one-woman agency in Strasbourg, Arlette Van der Valk
sets out to uncover an illegal fur-trader's activities and ends up in the Argentine searching
for a runaway. What ensues is a chilling warning from a mysterious voice on the telephone.
It seems that one of her murdered husband's rivals has finally caught up with her.
Life for Arlette is just one damn thing after another.
Captain Brassbound's Conversion by G B Shaw
******BRASSBOUND. Nervous, sir! no. Nervousness is not in my line. You will find me
perfectly capable of saying what I want to say--with considerable emphasis,
if necessary. Sir Howard assents with a polite but incredulous nod.
Enter A Free Man by Tom Stoppard.
******George is determined to follow his unrealistic dreams,
despite the fact that his behavior becomes a problem for his wife
Persephone and his daughter Linda. He even has to borrow money
from his daughter, money which he spends at the local pub. George believes he has
found a great new idea in reusable envelopes, but of course his plans do not come
to fruition. He continues to put his family under pressure just as his daughter has
begun searching for her own independence in the form of men. While George
threatens to leave and Linda tries, the play concludes with everyone in the same
position in which they had begun the story.
Stoppard implies that perhaps this is actually, for all of its pitfalls, the best situation.
The Promise by Aleksei Arbuzov
******As Russians fight off the Nazis in the savage 1942 siege of Leningrad, three
teenagers are thrown together in a war-torn apartment block. Having lost everything,
they forge relationships that bind them together and a new hope that keeps them
alive - the promise of a better future.
The Real Inspector Hound by Tom Stoppard
******The Real Inspector Hound is the ultimate country-house whodunit.
White Jazz by James Ellroy
******Los Angeles in 1958 is a city on the make; a boom town
at the edge of a new era ripe for plunder. Lieutenant Dave Klein -
in turn lawyer, bagman, slum landlord and mob killer - stands at
the centre of a complex web of violence and death.
This is the final part of Ellroy's "LA Quartet".
The Making of a Marchioness 1.2 by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Making of a Marchioness 2.2
******A 1901 novel for adults about a young woman who married a Marchioness
and the melodrama that follows.
Mansfield Park 1.3 by Jane Austen
Mansfield Park 2.3
Mansfield Park 3.3
******At the age of ten, shy, vulnerable Fanny Price leaves behind her impoverished family
in Portsmouth to go and live with her rich relatives at Mansfield Park.
Growing up with her cousins Tom, Edmund, Maria and Julia, she is aware that she is different
from them and that her place in society cannot be taken for granted, although she is not treated
unkindly. A dashing couple from London, Mary Crawford and her brother Henry, enter this stable,
rural world. They succeed in dazzling everyone ant Mansfield Park, except for Fanny, who sees
through their shallow veneer. Throughout the dramatic events that follow it is she who is able
to bring back some stability to the ruptured lives of those around her.
One of the great novels of the nineteenth century, Mansfield Park echoes Jane Austen's fears
and awareness of the dawn of a modern age, which was to bring about
a complete break from the old country traditions and way of life.
Martyr of the Hives by Peter Redgrave
******
Between the Lines by Neil Brand
******Part of the life of Siegfried Sassoon was examined in Between the Lines.
In 1924, Sassoon was suffering from depression and mourning for friends lost in World War I,
and unable to write poetry. A wealthy friend bought him a car, and he immediately went on an
800 mile trip to see writer friends including Thomas Hardy and T.E.Lawrence. As his spirits
lifted he realised that could write things other than poetry, and his fortunes improved.
Sassoon was played by James Fleet and George Baker took the part of Hardy
The Great Subterranean Adventure 1.2 by Joe Turner
The Great Subterranean Adventure 2.2
******about an amusement park built in a disused mine.
The Misanthrope by Moliere
******A 17th century comedy of manners. One of the best of Moličre’s plays—
and one of the greatest of all comedies—spotlighting the absurdities of social
and literary pretension, focusing on a man who is quick to criticize the faults
of others, yet remains blind to his own. First performed in 1666, when the
King of France himself had assumed patronage of Moličre’s company,
and the actor/playwright was at the height of his career.
Posters of the Moulin Rouge 1.4 by John Peacock - Yvette Guilbert
Posters of the Moulin Rouge 2.4 - The Boneless Wonder
Posters of the Moulin Rouge 3.4 - La Goulue
Posters of the Moulin Rouge 4.4 - Jane Avril
******Toulouse Lautrec's characters come to life
Postcards from the Swamp
******
The Guide by R K Narayan
******NY Times: "The latest of R.K. Narayan's pensive comedies.." tells the story of the rise,
fall & sublimation of Railway Raju, a tourist guide & minor crook who stumbles into sainthood.
Told with Narayan's trademark gentle humor & insight.
Beware the Kids by Karen Laws and Fiona Evans.
******A fictional story, developed with a community group in Byker, Newcastle,
takes a journey into the reality of neglect as one child's life spirals out of control.
Recorded in front of an audience as part of the Free Thinking Festival in Gateshead, this hard-hitting
play explores how a tragedy can unfold right before the eyes of a child's family and carers.
The Sisterhood by Ranjit Bolt
******from a play by Moličre.
farce indicting the intellectual ladies of the salons is full of contemporary allusions,
quirks of the cultural snobs are ridiculed as Henriette gets her man
The Small Print by Jerome Vincent
******An ordinary man fights back against the oppressive small print which dominates our lives.
Le Grand Meaulnes 1.2 by Alain-Fournier
Le Grand Meaulnes 2.2
******Fifteen-year-old François Seurel narrates the story of his relationship with seventeen-year-old
Augustin Meaulnes as Meaulnes searches for his lost love. Impulsive, reckless and heroic,
Meaulnes embodies the romantic ideal, the search for the unobtainable, and the mysterious world
between childhood and adulthood. It is considered one of the great works of French literature.
Letter to Lorenzo by Amanda Prantera
******Amanda Prantera's new novel, ''Letter to Lorenzo,'' opens with a bang -- a man is killed
by a bomb that detonates in his car. For the rest of the narrative, we listen to the man's wife,
an intelligent but nave Englishwoman named Juliet Gherardi, try to make sense of what has
occurred. (Was her husband the victim of a neofascist attack, or was he secretly transporting
explosives for a terrorist group?) Interviewed by a stern magistrate for signs of complicity,
Juliet realizes how little she knew about her husband, a wealthy Italian named Lorenzo who was
noted for his leftist politics. And though she has lived in Rome for seven years, she must come
to terms with the Italian politics that color everything from courts of law to her child's education.
Mandragola by Niccolo Machiavelli
******A naughty comedy by that great Italian Renaissance guy, Machiavelli...
performed with great flair and precision...a very funny, bawdy play...a farce
about lust, both physical and financial... A hilarious and lively visit to the
streets and gutters of 16th century Florence. --Jane Horwitz, WTTG TV, Washington, DC
Machiavelli's realistic and unflattering opinion of human nature, expressed most
notably in his classic The Prince, is given full voice here,
but to obvious farcial effect. --American Theater
So you don't think Machiavelli had a sense of humor? Then go see the rolicking
production of his comedy MANDRAGOLA at the Shakespeare Theater... MANDRAGOLA,
adapted by Peter Maloney, is filled not only with Machiavelli's rather questionable wisdom,
but with a surprising amount of wit... If comedy seems an unlikely metier for Machiavelli,
the action of MANDRAGOLA is of the any-means-to-an-end variety... These days,
when Machiavellian strategy is being taken all too seriously,
it's refreshing to laugh at the old boy. --J. Wynn Rousuck, The Sun, Washington, DC
The Listening Room by Steve Gough
******Psychological thriller set in the year 2036, exploring truth, confidentiality and morality.
Underworld by Don Taylor
******An out-of-work ad man is escorted on a special journey by the poet Milton.
Violent Shore by Ian Cullen
******A thriller set at sea. A tale of big money, a disappearance, and murder.
The Vortex 1.2 by Noel Coward
The Vortex 2.2
*******Noël Coward's notorious 1924 drama lifts the lid on the lives of the country house set.
Uncertainty by Mike Walker
******Carly's adoptive mother is worried about her relationship with one of her teachers.
But in Carly's world, governed by the laws of physics, everything is uncertain....
Uncle Happy by Michael Mears
******a one-man play, the author playing an amazing variety of voices as Bob Jones, a middle-aged Maths teacher,
searches for an Italian ancestor he sees in an old wedding photograph. The story line was well worked out;
Mears has made a speciality of these one-man productions, and readers may remember "A slight tilt to the left",
"Tomorrow we do the sky" and "Slow Train", all broadcast in recent years. Enyd Williams produced,
Mears doing everything else.
Underneath The Lintel by Greg Berger
******quirky and touching one-man play. A lonely Dutch librarian tells the poignant story of his quest to justify his life.
Voices in the Room by Bonnie Greer
******Angela refuses to acknowledge that her son is schizophrenic. When Misha, a psychiatric nurse,
offers the family support, Angela is reluctant to accept help....
Voss 1.2 by Patrick White
Voss 2.2
******in 1845 Voss sets out with a small band to cross the Australian continent for the first time.
The tragic story of their terrible journey and its inevitable end is told with imaginative
understanding. The figure of Voss takes on superhuman proportions, until he appears to those
around him as both deliverer and destroyer. His relationship with Laura Trevelyan is the central
personal theme of the story. The true record of Ludwig Leichardt,
who died in the Australian desert in 1848, suggested Voss to the author.
Vox Bopp by Lesley Bruce
****** A wry tribute to the Hale-Bopp comet. Humanity scrambles to prosper under the beauty of the heavens.
The Voyage of the Demeter by Robert Forrest
******'Chilling tale of the supernatural, set on a schooner sailing from Bulgaria to England in 1867.
Something very unpleasant is lurking aboard the ship, and the voyage becomes a terrifying ordeal.
National Theatre of Brent's Messiah
******For those of you not acquainted with NToB, they are Desmond 'Olivier' Dingle (played by Patrick Barlow),
and Raymond Box (John Ramm): two of the most inept thespians (not to mention dodgy historians) you've
ever come across. Oh, and they are hilarious
Nasser's Eden by Howard Brenton
******Nasser's Eden is an unusually concentrated, fast-moving radio play, jumping between London and Cairo
with an almost stroboscopic speed, never letting its two central figures out of earshot.
The Napoleon of Notting Hill 1.2 by GK Chesterton.
The Napoleon of Notting Hill 2.2
*******A comical futurist fantasy, first published in 1904, about a tradition-loving suburban
London community of the 1980s at war with its modernizing neighbors. Chesterton's
splendid storytelling gifts, his love of medievalism and heroism, and his sympathies
for the plight of small nations trying to remain independent are strongly in evidence.
No Defense Against Demons 1.2 by Brian Lee
No Defense Against Demons 2.2
******A thriller.
No Background Music by Normi Noel
******about events in Vietnam 30 years ago. A monologue, delivered by Sigourney Weaver, a hospital nurse trying to
patch up men who had been subjected to unspeakable brutality.
There is nothing left to the imagination.
The Walnut Bureau 1.5 by Ellen Dryden
The Walnut Bureau 2.5
The Walnut Bureau 3.5
The Walnut Bureau 4.5
The Walnut Bureau 5.5
******Story following the lives and secrets of one family from Victorian times to the present day.
Waiting in The Wings by Noel Coward
******Bickering of old actresses at a retirement home, ex luvies eventually unite.
Whose Sari Now 1.5 by Rani Moorthy
Whose Sari Now 2.5
Whose Sari Now 3.5
Whose Sari Now 4.5
Whose Sari Now 5.5
******Rani Moorthy's tale of human relationships, set in a sari shop
Wild Honey 1.2 by Anton Chekhov
Wild Honey 2.2
******An unfinished Chekhov play translated and adapted (and apparently finished) by Michael Frayn.
The New Party by Martyn Wade
******
A Wizard of Earthsea 1.2 by Ursula K. LeGuin
A Wizard of Earthsea 2.2
******A boy grows to manhood while attempting to subdue the evil he unleashed on the world
as an apprentice to the Master Wizard.
The Wooden Overcoat by Pamela Branch
******Much to his surprise, Benji Cann has got away with murder. He gravitates to the Asterisk Club,
a place of refuge for those who have strayed beyond the pale and not paid the ultimate price.
But then Benji turns up dead. Who killed him and
how will they be able to get rid of the body without the neighbours noticing?
The Wolves of Grapenose Point by David Hopkins
******
Wit by Margaret Edson
******Adapted from Margaret Edson’s 1999 Pulitzer Prize winning play, Wit tells the tragic story
of Professor Vivian Bearing (Emma Thompson). Vivian, a ruthless scholar of 17th Century English
poetry, is diagnosed with advanced stage 4 metastatic ovarian cancer. Dr Harvey Kelekian
(Christopher Lloyd), Vivian’s consultant physician and leading figure in this area of medical research,
explains that the most effective treatment option she has is an aggressive experimental chemotherapy at the full dose.
Woe Alas The Fatal Cashbox by John Arden
*******Julius Applewick has no intention of taking part in a trial for a new drug, but in hospital,
recovering from a heart attack, he has a number of visitors, some real, some imaginary,
who take him on a journey back to his school days.
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