Radio Plays XXVI
Radio Plays XXVI
At the Villa Rose by A.E.W. Mason
******When Madame Dauvray is found murdered at her villa, all evidence seems to point
to her young ENGLISH companion Celia Harland. Determined to save her, her fiance tries
to persuade FRANCE's famous Inspector Hanaud to take up the case.
Death in Venice by Thomas Mann
******Thomas Mann's wife Katia recalls that the idea for the story came during an actual
holiday in Venice, which she and Thomas took in the spring of 1911:
"All the details of the story, beginning with the man at the cemetery, are taken from
experience … In the dining-room, on the very first day, we saw the Polish family,
which looked exactly the way my husband described them: the girls were dressed rather
stiffly and severely, and the very charming, beautiful boy of about thirteen was wearing
a sailor suit with an open collar and very pretty lacings. He caught my husband's attention
immediately. This boy was tremendously attractive, and my husband was always watching
him with his companions on the beach. He didn't pursue him through all of Venice
—that he didn't do— but the boy did fascinate him, and he thought of him often …
I still remember that my uncle, Privy Counsellor Friedberg,
a famous professor of canon law in Leipzig, was outraged:
"What a story! And a married man with a family!"
The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial by Peter Goodchild
******In 1925, the same year that Franz Kafka's The Trial was published, one of the most unusual trials
ever seen in a United States courtroom took place. Earlier that year, the state of Tennessee had passed
the Butler Act, which made the teaching of evolution illegal. In the stifling July heat, and in a courtroom
hung with banners proclaiming 'Read Your Bible Daily', 24-year-old teacher John Scopes stood trial.
Adapted from the original trial transcript by Peter Goodchild.
John Scopes ...... Neil Patrick Harris
William Jennings Bryan ...... Edward Asner
Dudley Field Malone ...... Stacy Keach
Clarence Darrow ...... John de Lancie
Keep the Aspidistra Flying by George Orwell.
******First published 1936, a grimly comic novel about a copywriter who embarks
on a new life as a poetry writing bookseller, an action that has disastrous
consequences. Determined to rebel against dull respectability he sets off
on a voyage of discovery, accompanied by a faithful female companion.
Leaving by Vaclav Havel
******The chancellor of an unnamed state is leaving office.
But does he have to leave the state villa as well?
London Assurance by Dion Boucicault
******19th-century comedy of manners in 5 acts.
The Maple Tree Game by Pavel Kohout
******
The Aristocrats by Brian Friel
******A Chekhovian study of a once-influential family's financial collapse and, perhaps,
social liberation from the aristocratic myths that have constrained the children.
Set in Ballybeg Hall in County Donegal, the decaying home of District Justice O'Donnell,
where those who congregate for a wedding stay to attend a funeral. Aristocrats chronicles
the lives of three sisters and their 'peculiar' brother and reveals the way 'in which the ache
of one family becomes the microcosm for the ache of a society'.
A Frozen Stream Called Wounded Knee by John Pilkington
******
The False Servant by Pierre Marivaux
******I may be your servant in the theatre, but in real life, sweetheart,
you are my sex-slave. Just you remember.
Lust and avarice trample on the finer feelings of love in this subversive take
on sexual manners and the cruelties of courtship. The man thinks that marriage
is simply a matter of money and property.
But just how far should the woman go to prove him wrong?
A world of darker meaning lies beneath the wit and verbal exuberance of
Martin Crimp's new version of Marivaux's great comedy.
Feluda - The Golden Fortress by Satyajit Ray
******A boy who can recall his past life. A hint of hidden treasure.
An adventure in the desert of Rajasthan…
In one of their most hair-raising escapades ever, Feluda and Topshe set out for Rajasthan
on the trail of the parapsychologist Dr Hajra and Mukul, a boy who claims he remembers
his previous life. On the way they meet Jatayu, an author of popular crime thrillers,
who decides to accompany them. After numerous adventures, including an impromptu camel
ride across the desert, they reach Mukul's Golden Fortress,
where Feluda unravels the many strands of a complex case.
Feluda - The Mystery of the Elephant God by Satyajit Ray
******A child who calls himself Captain Spark. The mysterious Machchli Baba.
A stabbing in a dark alley…
In Varanasi during the Durga Puja, a valuable statuette of Ganesh is stolen from
the famous Ghoshal household. Before he can recover it, Feluda has to face the
arch-villain Maganlal Meghraj, solve a murder case, and unmask a fraud sadhu.
One of Feluda’s most hair-raising adventures, this case puts all his skills to the test.
The Mystery of the Mary Celeste by Brian Freemantle
******1872: The Mary Celeste, perhaps the most historically famous derelict,
was found abandoned between Portugal (mainland) and Portugal's Azores
archipelago. It was devoid of all crew, but largely intact and under sail,
heading toward the Strait of Gibraltar. While Arthur Conan Doyle's story
"J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement" based on this ship added some strange
phenomena to the tale (such as that the tea found in the mess hall
was still hot), the fact remained that the last log entry was
11 days prior to the discovery of the ship.
Eroica by Ian Curteis
******Beethoven in Vienna as his hearing deteriorates.
The city empties at Napoleon's armies approach.
Beethoven stays behind - he has work to do!
The Second Holmes - The Case Of The Grandfather's Client
The Second Holmes - The Case Of The Maltese Pearls
The Second Holmes - The Case Of The Missing Link
The Second Holmes - The Case Of The Neglected Farm
The Second Holmes - The Case Of The Reading Undertaker
The Second Holmes - The Case Of The Shadowed Minister.
Trueman and Riley - s02e01 - The Road to Nowhere
Trueman and Riley - s02e02 - The Three Degrees
Trueman and Riley - s02e03 - A Man's World
Trueman and Riley - s02e04 - The Other Chic
Trueman and Riley - s02e05 - Love Bytes
The Hammer by Jonathan Holloway
******Rather frightening thriller; excellent sound effects.
Havisham by Ronald Frame
******a powerful play extrapolated from GREAT EXPECTATIONS and telling Miss Havisham's story
to the point where Estella arrives at Satis House. Emma Fielding plays her most movingly,
encompassing beautifully all aspects of the part - the intelligence, the vulnerability, the pride,
the desperate need for emotional and physical love. The play exposes her to every sort of
betrayal and the tragedy of Dickens' novel becomes inevitable.
Greyfriars Bobby by Ronald Frame
******Greyfriars Bobby's master, John Gray served as an Edinburgh policeman for several years
and like other officers on the beat at the time he had to provide his own police dog. In this
new adventure specially written for radio, Ronald Frame follows the fortunes of John Gray and his dog, Bobby.
With petty thieves at work in the High Street and a gang of ruthless house breakers at work in both
the Old and New Town area of the city, the new recruits have their work cut out.
The Beast of Long Minden by Debbie Cooke
******A writer investigating witchcraft learns a truth.
Dandy Dick by Arthur Wing Pinero
******A dean gambles his parish funds on a racehorse.
Handel's Ghost by Paul Barz
******No-one knows whether J.S. Bach met Georg Frederick Handel. They were almost exact contemporaries.
Paul Barz's play Handel's Ghost assumes that he did. Handel is a man of the world,
well-travelled and wealthy, Bach is only a Leipzig choirmaster. But in their verbal sparring, Handel does not
have it all his own way. Robert Hardy and Richard Briers played Handel and Bach respectively,
John Wells played Handel's servant, J.C. Smith (a good composer in his own right).
John Mortimer's Life, Love and the Law
******The novelist, playwright, QC and Rumpole creator entertains an audience
with his favourite readings, poems and reminiscences.
The Last Castrato by Anthony George
******Premonitory dreams and obsessions draw an ordinary desk sergeant into an extraordinary crime.
A policeman whose inner life means more to him than the mundane business of living and earning a living...
The Middle by Amelia Bullmore
******Clare is the golden middle sister in a family headed by a formidable matriarch, Luca.
Clare meets and quickly marries Martin, who falls just as much in love with her fun, sparky family.
But Martin makes a mistake and sets in train a series of events which brings the family to its knees.
Our Country's Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker
******1988 Laurence Olivier/BBC Award for Best New Play.
Our Country's Good is the story of convicts and Royal Marines sent to Australia in the late 1780s
as part of the first penal colony there. It follows Second Lieutenant Ralph Clark's attempts to put on
a production of George Farquhar's restoration comedy The Recruiting Officer with a cast of male
and female convicts. The play shows the class system in the convict camp and discusses themes
such as sexuality, punishment, the Georgian judicial system, and the idea that art can act as an ennobling force.
Pavilion on the Links by Robert Louis Stevenson
******The story was considered by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in 1890 as "the high-water mark
of [Stevenson’s] genius" and "the first short story in the world’"[2]. Along with a number
of other stories it was collected in a volume entitled The New Arabian Nights in 1882.
This collection is seen as the starting point for the history of the English short story
The Wrong Box by Robert Louis Stevenson
******The Wrong Box (1889) is one of Stevenson's strangest works. Written with his stepson
Lloyd Osborne, it is a masterpiece of black comedy, turning on mistaken identity,
the disappearance of a corpse, and several makeshift coffins. V.S. Pritchett described it as
"a farce that slips down the throat with the nicety of an oyster," and, according to E.F. Benson,
it is "perhaps the most superb extravaganza in the language." In this intriguing work,
the Finsbury family has long been involved in a Tontine--a scheme in which subscribers
invest money in a fund which them falls to the last survivor. Now there are only two aged
uncles between Morris and John Finsbury and their fortune. A railway accident appears to
dispose of one, and then the farce begins. In this eccentric and brilliantly plotted story,
the authors not only extended the boundaries of good taste, but also satirized the popular
Railway Novel genre, perplexing many Victorian readers.
Russia by John Fletcher
******An apt choice for 11th Nov; a group of soldiers return from Flanders mud and realise
there's no longer a welcome for them in England, despite what the politicians say.
So they enlist again, to fight in Russia in a struggle they don't understand.
Their experiences are no better than they were in the trenches.
This play contains harrowing scenes involving civilians being treated brutally by soldiers.
A late friend who served in the British army in central Europe witnessed similar atrocities.
The play is a powerful anti-war statement, in a similar vein to Hasek's "Good Soldier Schweik".
Shirleymander by Gregory Evans
******Tragic comedy depicting the principal events of Shirley Porter's time as
leader of Westminster city council in the 1980s
Piaf and Cocteau by Annie Caulfield
******We often associate Edith Piaf with the streets and dingy clubs of Pigalle. But her most enduring
friendship was with one of FRANCE's most respected artists and aesthetes, Jean Cocteau, author of
'Les Enfants Terribles'. Annie Caulfield's touching play charts their relationship
until their deaths, within hours of each other.
Stanley by Pam Jones
******
The Stalin Sonata by David Zane Mairowitz
******Black comedy about the dilemma of a Russian broadcaster after Stalin requests a record
by a pianist long since forgotten in a prison.
Steak and Microchips by Geoffrey Beevers
******science fiction satire.
The 21st Century. The microchip has taken over and humans rely totally on their computers.
But do the computers need the humans?
A Stuggy Pren 1.5
A Stuggy Pren 2.5
A Stuggy Pren 3.5
A Stuggy Pren 4.5
A Stuggy Pren 5.5
******Poems, songs and relaxation tips from Ivor Cutler and friends
The Changeling (2009) by Thomas Middleton and William Rowley.
******There are two parallel plots. The main plot involves Beatrice-Joanna, Alonzo,
to whom she is betrothed, and Alsemero, whom she loves. To rid herself of Alonzo,
Beatrice uses De Flores — who loves her — to murder him. This, predictably,
has a tragic outcome.
The sub-plot involves Alibius and his young wife Isabella. Franciscus and Antonio
are in love with her and pretend to be madmen in order to see her. Lollio also wants her.
This has a comic outcome.
The Real Dennis Truelove 1.5 by Dave Sheasby
The Real Dennis Truelove 2.5
The Real Dennis Truelove 3.5
The Real Dennis Truelove 4.5
The Real Dennis Truelove 5.5
******A bank employee escapes his job to head off on an adventure, hoping the police don't catch him.
Stars Fine Time Fontayne.
Someone Like You 1.5 by Roald Dahl - Man from the South.
Someone Like You 2.5 - Skin
Someone Like You 3.5 - Lamb to the Slaughter
Someone Like You 4.5 - Dip in the Pool
Someone Like You 5.5 - Nunc Dimittis
******There's the gambler who collects little fingers from losers...there's the lady
who murders her husband with a frozen leg of lamb...not to mention the man who
has made a machine that can hear grass scream...Roald Dahl's particular brand of
bizarre, alarming and disturbing story-telling has already attracted a huge following
which can only be more disturbed,
alarmed and - thankfully -
amused by 'Someone Like You'.
Mr Harrison's Confession by Elizabeth Gaskell
******
The Wild Party by Joseph Moncure March
******Published in 1928, this racy prose poem follows a night in the life of a vaudeville dancer
that includes everything from hot sex to cold murder. Banned in Boston when first published.
Design for Living by Noel Coward
******It concerns a trio of artistic characters, Gilda, Otto and Leo,
and their complicated three-way relationship.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (2009) 90 mins
******A parable of commitment, loneliness, hope and loss, OF MICE AND MEN
is a powerful and moving portrayal of two men striving to understand their own
unique place in the world. Drifters in search of work, George and his simple-minded
friend Lennie have nothing in the world except each other - and a dream. A dream
that one day they will have some land of their own. Eventually they find work on a ranch,
but their hopes are doomed as Lennie - struggling against extreme cruelty,
misunderstanding and feelings of jealousy - becomes a victim of his own strength.
Tackling universal themes, friendship and a shared vision, and giving a voice to America's
lonely and dispossessed, OF MICE AND MEN remains Steinbeck's most popular work.
The Winter of Our Discontent 1.2 by John Steinbeck
The Winter of Our Discontent 2.2
******Steinbeck's last great novel focuses on the theme of success and what motivates men
towards it. Reflecting back on his New England family's past fortune, and his father's loss
of the family wealth, the hero, Ethan Allen Hawley, characterises success in every era and in
all its forms as robbery, murder, even a kind of combat, operating under
'the laws of controlled savagery.'
272 Attempts by Bryony Lavery
******A gripping thriller fuelled by the current debate surrounding the cloning of human tissue.
The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie
******Hercule Poirot's mastery of detective skills is tested by a mysterious
correspondent who predicts and then executes alphabetical murders.
The River by Rumer Godden
******Harriet is between two worlds. Her sister is no longer a playmate, her brother is still a child.
The comforting rhythm of her Indian childhood - the noise of the jute works, the festivals that
accompany each season and the eternal ebb and flow of the river - is about to be shattered.
Viva Zapata by John Steinbeck
******(Charlton Heston, Jean Peters)
Steinbeck's screenplay about the role of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata.
When the Barbarians Came by Don Taylor
******A very unusual political thriller.
Tunnel Under The World by Frederik Pohl
******Déja vu: as Guy Birkett goes through the day he has a nagging feeling that he's been here before,
experienced this already; except the details are always different. Is it conceivable that he is merely
a simulacrum, the ultimate in consumer market surveying? He finds there is a reality behind the reality
he knows; but for a pawn to question the reality of the chessboard is a perilous undertaking.
Stage Fright by Gillian Linscott
******Although she has spent two terms in Holloway Prison for her suffragette activities,
it is amateur sleuthing that's gaining Nell Bray a reputation. She has already solved two
murders, and tales of her success are spreading throughout London - and reaching the
ears of none other than George Bernard Shaw. The formidable playwright approaches
Nell with a case: His leading lady is in danger, and Shaw wants to ensure she makes
it safely to curtain time. For the new play, Cindrella Revisited, Shaw has reworked the
classic into a scathing attack on English marital law. The plot bears more than a passing
resemblance to the life of its star, Bella Flanagan: Like her character, Bella is trapped in a
loveless marriage to a man interested only in her money. It seems that her husband,
Lord Penwardine, is no more willing to allow his wife to tread the stage than to give her her
freedom. Threats and sabotage have followed the actress throughout rehearsals. With Nell's
help the play does finally open - but hardly without a hitch. Penwardine's cronies are out in
full force, heckling, rioting, doing just about anything to get the production stopped. But
would a hateful husband resort to murder? Someone does, and it's up to Nell Bray,
indomitable and irrepressible, to find out who.
I, Claudius by Robert Graves
******first published in 1934, I, Claudius deals sympathetically with the life of the
Roman Emperor Claudius and cynically with the history of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty
and Roman Empire, from Julius Caesar's assassination in 44 BC
to Caligula's assassination in AD 41.
The Hole In The Top Of The World by Fay Weldon
******Walter Matthau plays a renowned and much-married scientist, presently working in Antarctica
with his latest mistress. Complications arise when one of his former wives comes knocking on his igloo door.
Witty, provocative and very funny!
Educating Rita by Willy Russell
******The story centres on a working-class Liverpudlian woman's hunger for education.
Daisy Miller by Henry James
******American, Daisy Miller, visits Europe with her mother and finds
that her freshness and innocence are misinterpreted as immodesty
and forwardness. This brings her into conflict with the differences
in the two cultural traditions, inviting shock and disaster.
Claudius The God by Robert Graves
******Robert Graves begins anew the tumultuous life of the Roman who became emporer
in spite of himself. Captures the vitality, splendor,
and decadence of the Roman world at the point of its decline.
Challenged by Don Haworth
******The story of a Pennine farm owned by a widow (played by Brigit Forsyth), and the
hostility between her teenage son (Matthew Booth) and a hired worker.
Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
******When an accident occurs on a road near their castle, Laura and her father take in
the stranded survivor. Carmilla and Laura both appear young, beautiful, and innocent.
But one is an ageless vampire; the other, an unsuspecting victim. True to vampire rituals
involving blood, fear of dying, and obsessive eroticism, Carmilla herself
falls victim to the "rapture of cruelty that is love."
The Amazons by Arthur Pinero
******gently spoofing the "independent woman" then emerging on the social scene.
All the ladies in the cast bear masculine names: Tommy, Willie, Noel etc. Tommy decides
at the end that she'd sooner be a female in love than a lonely "man-woman".
Death At Broadcasting House 1.2 by Val Gielgud & Holt Marvell
Death At Broadcasting House 2.2
******Set in a BBC radio studio, the story gets under way when a much-despised airwaves personality
is murdered in the middle of a live broadcast. Scotland Yard inspector Gregory (Ian Hunter) shows up
to piece together the clues and sift through the suspects. The solution of the mystery hinges on the fact
that the victim insisted upon broadcasting in a private room, far removed from his fellow actors.
Days And Nights In Bedlam by Fred D'Aguiar
******When Otis is taken to the closed ward of a London mental hospital, he is desperate to return
to his Queen Penelope, and his Kingdom. Whilst the staff diagnose him as delusional,
fellow patients Larry and Harry plot to reach this Kingdom first and take his queen for their own.
Mad Money by Alexander Ostrovsky
******
News At Bedtime
******Twin presenters John Tweedledum and Jim Tweedledee present in-depth news analysis
covering the latest stories happening this 'once upon a time'.
News At Bedtime - s01e01 by Ian Hislop and Nick Newman
:::::::The scandal of Jack and his genetically-modified beanstalk.
News At Bedtime - s01e02
::::::::A festive hamper of treats including the Queen of Hearts' traditional Christmas message.
News At Bedtime - s01e03
::::::::Food campaigner Jack Spratt and the Tooth Fairy debate the nation's nutrition.
News At Bedtime - s01e04
::::::::Jim reports live from the launch site of the Nurseyland space programme as preparations
are finalised to put a cow over the moon.
News At Bedtime - s01e05
::::::::Mary Mary reports on a medical mystery involving an old woman who swallowed a fly.
News At Bedtime - s01e06
::::::::Mary Mary has shocking news of an egg on a wall.
News At Bedtime - s01e07
::::::::It's New Year's Day and riot police are called in as the Teddy Bears try to have their picnic.
Victorville by Marcy Kahan
******Three actors recreate a crucial hour in cinema history...when Orson Welles delivered his verdict
on the screenplay for "Citizen Kane"...at stake is the credit for the film, being written by Herman Mankiewicz
and overseen by John Houseman. Stars Stanley Kamel, David Ogden Stiers, William Hootkins;
Everybody Comes to Schicklgrubers by Marcy Kahan
******Comedy starring Clive Swift as Hitler’s brother, a pastry chef
1997 Silver Sony / Society of Author’s Award for Best Radio Play
The Emperor Jones by Eugene O'Neill
******Powerful drama, rapidly shifting scenes describe fall of Brutus Jones,
the self-proclaimed, plundering monarch of a West Indian island, whose
flight into the jungle from rebellious subjects is plagued by ghosts and
visions. Bold, expressionistic work established O’Neill as one of
America’s most important dramatists.
Wit by Margaret Edson
******Based on the 1999 Pulitzer Prize-winning play.
The play, which is set in a hospital, focuses on an English Professor who is dying of cancer and details
her personal journey as well as her interactions with various medical professionals as she lives out her final days.
Witch Wood by John Buchan
******Set amidst the religious struggles of the 17th century, this is the story of a
young minister's return to the town of his birth. There he finds a coven of Satan
worshippers and falls deeply in love with one of their victims in a struggle for right
and wrong.In The Witch Wood (1927) John Buchan brings all the tension of his
wartime thrillers to a complex story of witchcraft in the ancient Wood of Caledon
in the Scottish Borders. It is a stirring and challenging tale of seventeenth-century
devilry, combatted in vain by David Sempill, the parish minister, who is hindered by
the hypocrisy of his parishioners and his fellow-ministers' cant. In the background,
meanwhile, the civil unrest of the Scottish Wars of the Covenant tears David's
loyalties between his love of his calling and his admiration for the Marquis of Montrose,
the leading opponent of the extreme Covenanters. Witch Wood also tells a love story that owes
much to the ballads Buchan learned from his father and is infused with a subtle, other-worldly
longing, nourished by the author's knowledge of Dante, Plato, and Virgil. The Dark Wood is not
merely Scottish: it is the classical and medieval symbol for the subliminal powers which challenge
reason in every age. This book is intended for general readers, Buchan fans, readers of Scottish fiction.
The Price Of Light by Hilary Mantel
******he story of musical prodigy Maria Theresa von Paradis, who lost sight in early life, was taken
to Anton Mesmer and under his treatment began to regain vision but found her musical talent deteriorating.
Subsequent scientific and public scandal forced Mesmer out of Vienna and
Marie Theresa remained, losing her sight, retaining the musical ability.
Lady McBeth of Mtsensk by Nicolai Leskov
Adapted by Stephen Mulrine from the 1865 Nicolai Leskov novel "Lady MacBeth of the Mtsensk District".
Part-based, and introduced with a short extract from, the 1934 Dimitri Shostokovich opera of the same name,
from whose libretto this adaptation takes its inspiration.
The Schoolmistress by A.W. Pinero
******
The Dark Windows of a Room by William Keenan
******Murder mystery
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