Radio Plays XXXXV
Radio Plays XXXXV
Pollyanna 1.3 by Eleanor H Porter
Pollyanna 2.3
Pollyanna 3.3
******Mawkish tale of an orphan's continued misfortune and
near loss of optimism when a second opinion results in
renewed use of her legs and a refreshed outlook.
The Power of Life and Death 1.5 by Mark Lawson - The Resurrection of Imelda Sharp
The Power of Life and Death 2.5 - A Pill For Everything
The Power of Life and Death 3.5 - The Red Triangle
The Power of Life and Death 4.5 - Nice Distinctions
The Power of Life and Death 5.5
*******When a number of distinguished members of government committees are found dead
in suspicious circumstances, it falls to DCI Kate Duncan of Scotland Yard's Sensitive Cases
Squad to discover what the connecting factor is.
Mark Lawson's deftly plotted murder-mystery gets to grips with a major concern at the heart
of our cash-strapped NHS: the post code lottery and exactly who is to be considered deserving
of the most expensive life saving drugs on the market.
Theremin by Melissa Murray
Spy thriller based on real events. Leon Theremin, inventor of the musical instrument that
bears his name, leads a double life as a Soviet spy and is forced to find a way to bug the
US Embassy in London. Now he has to save himself and his former lover from both the
CIA and the KGB.
The Ballad Of Africa
******The Ballad of Africa’ is a compelling and thought-provoking examination of the highs
and lows of the continent’s post-independence history through the eyes of Africans.
In a specially commissioned programme marking the 50th anniversary of the independence
of many African countries, this extraordinary self-narrating Ballad explores through words
and music issues that have dominated African mindsets for the past half-century.
These include post-colonial development and self-rule, building an African future based on
economic growth and political stability; overcoming apartheid, rebuilding after genocide and
aiming for self-sufficiency.
But one theme running throughout the programme is of independence and freedom, with some
contributors wondering whether Africa really IS free, despite half a century of independence.
Music is the irrepressible common bond, the heartbeat that unites all African nations, and
‘The Ballad of Africa’ offers real insight into their thinking, and their hopes and aspirations
for the future.
The music comes from outspoken Malian singers Ali Farka Toure and Oumou Sangare and Benin’s
Angelique Kidjo with specially commissioned performances by Cameroonian singer and guitarist
Muntu Valdo and Rwandan inanga player Sophie Nzayisanga.
Throughout the Ballad, Africans discuss their lives, history and thoughts on the future despite the
negative chapters in the continent’s recent history.
The Ballad considers Africa’s progress since independence from European powers, and what
resources the continent needs to flourish for the next fifty years. In a continent rich with minerals
and astonishing human resources, one speaker sums up Africa’s post-colonial history of coups,
natural disasters and bad leaders as ‘a struggle in paradise’ but stresses that Africa needs to
become stable to be a driving force for the world.
That Last Summer- Presented by Sean Street
******In 1911 an idealistic literary community was established near Dymock,
Gloucestershire, England. The group became known as 'The Dymock
Poets'. They drifted apart as WWI caught hold.
The group - which included Robert Frost, Rupert Brooke, Lascelles
Abercrombie, Edward Thomas, Wilfrid Wilson Gibson, John Drinkwater,
and Eleanor Farjeon - made a new naturalistic poetic sensibility which
still influences poetry today.
Ed Bishop
Robert Frost
Tom Durham
Eleanor Farjeon
Lascelles Abercrombie
(Ordinarily this would go into the 'Neat Stuff' folder but I wanted to make sure everybody saw it.- Pete)
Goodbye to Berlin 1.2 by Christopher Isherwood
Goodbye to Berlin 2.2
******Isherwood's dramatic eyewitness account of Berlin in the early 30s,
the book that inspired Cabaret.
Living in Berlin as a young man, Isherwood encountered a range of vibrant characters
both ordinary and extraordinary whose daily lives reflect a city and its people at a very
particular time in history. He observed at first hand how ordinary people, at every level
of society, became sucked into the new era of Hitler and his kind.
Recorded on location in East Berlin, this new dramatisation by Tina Pepler has a documentary
feel that vividly evokes the feel of the city and the lives of its inhabitants as the Nazi party slowly
gains credence and ultimate power in the early 1930s.
Christopher Isherwood is played by UK up and coming leading man James Norton in his first radio,
and the Berlin inhabitants by an ensemble of excellent German actors - Leslie Malton (award winning
German/American actress), Nicola Schoessler, Matthias Horn, Tilmar Kuhn and exciting newcomers
Julia Reznik and Andre Kaczmarczyk.
Isherwood arrives in Berlin, and takes lodgings with Fraulein Schroder, a once well off widow, now
forced to take in a motley crew of lodgers. He's enthralled by Berlin's chaotic, hedonist nightlife and
the rich variety of characters he meets: Jewish department store heiress Natalia Landauer, her cousin
the serious and troubled Bernhard, fantastical night club singer Sally Bowles and the freeloading Otto
Nowak. But as Christopher Isherwood grows to love the city and its people he cannot ignore the growing
influence of the Nazi party even in his own carefree circles.
The Great Game (2 hours)
*******A sequence of four plays tracing the history of the war in
Afghanistan from the 1840s to the present day,
introduced by Robin Lustig.
Produced by Jeremy Mortimer
>>>>>>>>>>>>'Bugles at the Gates of Jalalabad' by Stephen Jeffreys
In January 1842 a contingent of British soldiers, 16000 strong, retreated from Kabul. Only a few
stragglers were left alive in the British Army's worst defeat in history. The General's wife, Lady Sale,
documents the battles in the Hindu Kush; whilst four buglers sound the advance at the gates of
Jalalabad as a signal to any survivors.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>'Miniskirts of Kabul' by David Greig
The Taliban are closing in on Kabul: shells and rockets are exploding around the capital.
A woman is interviewing President Najibullah, who has sought refuge in the UN compound.
He talks about fashion, communism, torture and whisky, but time is running out.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>'Honey' by Ben Ockrent
While civil war rages, a lone CIA agent realises the dangers of American disengagement.
He's found an 'in' to persuade Commander Massoud, the Lion of Panjshir, to help them
get back into the game. But with the Taliban closing in on Kabul, will it be enough?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>'Canopy of Stars' by Simon Stephens
In a bunker guarding the Kajaki Dam, two soldiers talk of chips and gravy, football, women and
whether the British should start to negotiate with the Taliban insurgents. A searing insight into
soldiers at war, and what happens when they go home.
'What a day, what a theatre, what a company. This is theatre to be proud of.' >>>Sir Tom Stoppard
'Its scope is unparallelled. It's a fine achievement.' >>>>The Times
Les Parents Terribles by Jean Cocteau
*******Yvonne loves her 22-year-old son with an unhealthy passion, and their
kisses and cuddles make the flesh creep. But the almost equally besotted
Michael has decided he must break free from the suffocating family nest after
falling in love with Madeleine, a girl his own age. Unknown toMichael, however,
his new girlfriend is already his father's mistress. And to further complicate
matters, Yvonne's sister Leo has long nursed an unrequited love for George.
(Opening credits and first few lines of dialogue are missing.)
Rabbit Man by Mel Calman
******A typically quirky piece by cartoonist Mel Calman for Radio 3.
Mel Calman wrote several short plays for radio producer Ned Chaillet.
A man sprouts rabbit ears.
Gridlock by Nigel Gearing
******Long term but intermittent lovers swap life stories.
That Man Bracken by Thomas Kilroy
********
Moby Dick 1.2 (2010) by Herman Melville
Moby Dick 2.2 (2010)
******Stef Penney, author of the critically acclaimed The Tenderness of Wolves,
has adapted this well known American novel by Herman Melville.
Moby Dick is a story, she says, that gets its hooks into you, even though it's one
of the strangest books you'll ever read. It has very little narrative, no character
development to speak of, and there's no dramatic conflict for over five hundred
pages. And yet it's completely compelling, like a fevered dream or a horror film,
and, of course, as soon as Moby Dick is mentioned, you know where you're
going to end up. For anyone who has ever longed to escape, it is the ultimate
trip - and the ultimate morality tale of why you shouldn't go! Captain Ahab is
all our darknesses personified; not an evil figure, but a decent, intelligent,
could-have-been-ordinary man who gives in to the tyranny of an obsessive dream,
or in this case, nightmare.
In Episode 1, Ishmael, now in middle age, looks back on his younger self and
remembers how this voyage of a lifetime began.
The Unfortunates by BS Johnson
******BS Johson's infamous book-in-a-box is, if remembered at all, notorious for its
presentation rather than its content. The "book" consists of a first and last section
plus 25 other chapters, each one coming as a self-contained "pamphlet", that can be
read in any order the reader likes. The subject matter concerns a journalist's day
covering a football match in Nottingham, remembering previous times spent in the city
with a lover now gone and a friend now dead. The innovative format permits Johnson to
echo the random thought processes of his protagonist--
the associations and reminiscences bubbling up in no fixed order as he walks through the city,
watches and reports on the match and returns home afterwards.
Stages of Independence - A celebration of 50 years of African drama
******In 1960, 17 African countries became Independent.
To mark the 50th anniversary of this important year, BBC World Drama - in collaboration
with the British African Theatre Company Tiata Fahodzi - presents an evening of African
plays from across the continent from the last five decades.
From comedy to tragedy, the hour includes the Oedipus myth from an African perspective
in Ola Rotimi’s The Gods Are Not to Blame; an ebullient comedy about a young woman's family
trying to get the highest bride-price for her in Guillaume Oyônô-Mbia’s Three Suitors: One
Husband from Cameroon; a seminal lesson on the art of war in The Death of Chaka by
Seydou Badian from Mali; sexual politics in Burkina Faso in Ousmane Sembenè’s Moolaadé
and two plays from Nigeria's Nobel prize-winning playwright, Wole Soyinka, satirising African
Heads of State in A Play of Giants and looking at life in Lagos under military rule in The Beatification
of Area Boy. The programme ends with a scene from the 2007 Olivier Award winning Gone Too Far!
by Bola Agbaje, a British playwright of Nigerian origin.
The host for the evening is the actor Hugh Quarshie (Star Wars, Dr Who, Holby City). Other cast
includes Danny Sapani (Cheek by Jowl, The Oxford Murders) and Chuk Iwuji (Welcome to Thebes; Henry VI).
The Cello And The Nightingale by Patricia Cleveland Peck
******Beatrice Harrison was the leading British cellist from the
1920s to the 1940s. She premiered works for Elgar and Delius.
Her performance of Elgar's Cello Concerto set the benchmark.
Harrison rehearsed in her garden. Nightingales sometimes sang
along with her. In 1924 the BBC decided to broadcast this odd
combination. These broadcasts became an annual event. This play
is about the first of these broadcasts. It includes recordings
that she made with the nightingales.
God's Revolution by Don Taylor
******12 episodes of approx. 1 hour each.
Don Taylor's magnificent twelve part drama series set in the pivotal years 1647 to 1649.
There was a remarkable moment in English history when for a few brief years all things
seemed possible. The power of the king was set aside and for a moment the ordinary
people of England seemed to hold their future in their own hands. With Charles 1st
dispossessed it was uncertain whether control would move to Parliament or the people
themselves as Cromwell's New Model Army showed signs of relishing its new freedoms.
Episode 1 The Fruits of Victory - 1647 - unrest mounts as the Presbyterian government decides to disband the army.
Episode 2 The Soldiers' Voice - Parliament gets tough on army dissenters - but how will Cromwell react?
Episode 3 Insurrection - Provoked by Parliament - the resolute army aim to get higher ranks on their side.
Episode 4 Summer Manoeuvres - A spontaneous revolution in army ranks sees troops heading towards London.
Episode 5 The Power of the Sword - The Model Army easily reaches London, but with sinking confidence in Cromwell.
Episode 6 Discussions at Putney - The Model Army attempt to bring Cromwell round to their way of thinking.
Episode 7 The Logic of Events - Major Francis White seeks peace with his father before heading into battle.
Episode 8 The Disciplines of the War - Reynolds and Church see some unexpected faces in the midst of battle.
Episode 9 The Man of Blood - Opposition mounts against the King - but is there enough support to depose him?
Episode 10 England's New Chains - Will the execution of King Charles I bring the army its longed for freedom?
Episode 11 The Sea-Green Banner - The soldiers' discontent with their leaders rises - and London women get marching.
Episode 12 For the Agreement of the People - 1649 - Cromwell is determined to foil the soldiers' rebellion.
Cheryl [Charlie Resnick] by John Harvey
******Armed thugs and a meals-on-wheels lady bent on revenge.
Wild Ride To Dublin by John Arden
******To save face and preserve love a man
undertakes a frantic journey across Ireland.
Wax Fruit Antimacassar City 01.10 by Guy McCrone
Wax Fruit Antimacassar City 02.10
Wax Fruit Antimacassar City 03.10
Wax Fruit Antimacassar City 04.10
Wax Fruit Antimacassar City 05.10
Wax Fruit Antimacassar City 06.10
Wax Fruit Antimacassar City 07.10
Wax Fruit Antimacassar City 08.10
Wax Fruit Antimacassar City 00.10
Wax Fruit Antimacassar City 10.10
********Phoebe Moorhouse, aged 10, lives on a farm in 1870s Ayrshire.
But when tragedy strikes the future becomes uncertain
The Little Father by Royce Ryton
******The story of Alexander II of Russia
aka The Little Father.
Alexander II. Emperor of Russia. King of Poland.
Grand Prince of Finland.
Born 1818. Died 1881
Sometime suiter to Queen Victoria. Succeeded to
the Russian thronein 1855. In the aftermath of the
Crimean War, made steps towards theend of autocracy -
reorganised the military, constrained the aristocracy
by liberating the serfs (1861) and economic development of the interior.
There were at least five attempts on his life. In 1881, one organised by
Narodnaya Volya (People's Will - Lenin's brother was a member) succeeded.
The first bomb wrecked his carriage. The second tore him to pieces.
The Jericho Players by Bernard Kops
******Russia 1879, the trials and tribulations of a Yiddish Theatrical Troupe
on the road to Minsk.
"Roll up! Roll up! Bring your cushions and your chairs, come and see a man
betrayed by his daughters, come and see the great Jewish masterpiece King Lear!"
Includes some great Kletzma.
The Jericho Players Part 2, Rogues And Vagabonds by Bernard Kops
******1881 The troupe arrive in London.
It is 1881, and a group of Russian actors fleeing the pogroms arrives in London.
The East End won't know what hit it!
Cavalcade by Noël Coward
******The story of England from New Year's Eve 1899 to the dawn of
1930 seen in the context of the lives of two families. One patrician.
The other plebian. [The model for Upstairs Downstairs]
The play is prefaced with a 1931 recording of Coward talking about
the huge original production staged at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane .
Natural Born Caretakers by Sarah Daniels
******A new play by award winning writer Sarah Daniels that takes us behind the headlines
about social work in 21st century Britain. The writer spent months talking to social workers
and a week shadowing a London social work team. The resulting drama reflects current concerns,
workloads and aspirations for social work teams at all levels.
David Ashton is on the edge of retiring from his hectic job as a social work team manager; his wife
Ann is about to leave him, and he is not sure what his teenage son Oliver does on a daily basis.
Karen his colleague is beginning to doubt her reasons for leaving a successful business career
in order to follow what she thought was her vocation. When Sue, their Team leader, calls them
to her office first thing, they know it won't be good news. Ashley, a 4 year old boy on Karen's
patch, has been rushed to hospital unconscious in the middle of the night. His mother, Nicole,
has no coherent explanation for his injuries. When drugs are found on the premises and the
police inform the social work team that a man was in the house, Karen and the team have to
protect Sophie, Ashley's younger sister; find out what really went on; field press interest;
and prepare a detailed report for their superiors.
Hooked by Nick Darke
*******Comedy drama-documentary in which a Cornish
couple show a Londoner how to fish for sea-bass,
who then decides to cash in on his new knowledge.
The Vanishing by Tim Krabbe
*******Petrol gauge broken, anxiety and tempers flaring, young lovers Rex and Saskia
pull in at a service station on their way to a holiday the South of France to refuel.
As soon as they stop the tension is relieved. Rex buries two coins in a crack at the
base of fence post as a secret sign of their love: Saskia goes off to buy a couple of
cold drinks and vanishes. Eight years later Rex is still haunted by her. Then one day
he sees scrawled in the grime on the roof of a yellow car parked below his window two
lines: REX YOU ARE SO SWEET SANDRA and
WHEN I WRITE THIS IT SHOWS THE PAIN...
And the obsession rages in his blood again.
The Pope's Brother by Steve Walker
*******Brother of newly elected English pope becomes
unwittingly involved in a plot to get rid of him.
Dinsdale Landen is superb as the pope's
low-life gluttonous nun chasing brother.
Mercury, Sulphur And Salt by Beatrice Colin
*******1527. Basle. Paracelsus experiments while
his lover, Sybille, lives in the shadow.
The Ramayana 1.2 by Amber Lone
The Ramayana 2.2
*******A distinctive modern version of an ancient Indian epic and one of the world's most popular
love stories. Teenage Sita sees the most beautiful stranger in the street. She'll marry him or die.
He is Prince Rama, heir to the throne but his stepmother wants Rama sent into exile.
The ancient Indian epic The Ramayana is one of the world's most popular love stories. The separation
and reunion of two lovers gives it perennial appeal but Rama's jealousy and Sita 's metamorphosis
into a strong independent woman gives the story a contemporary feel. "Be as Rama," young Indians
have been taught for 2,000 years, "be as Sita." but Rama is an interestingly flawed character, driven
by powerful emotions in a world where monkeys can be gods, and gods can be as fallible as humans.
Amber Lone's modern version of this Indian epic is scheduled to coincide with Divali, the festival of
Lights, which celebrates Rama and Sita's return to their kingdom.
Outstanding composer Niraj Chag creates original music.
Say Goodbye Twice by Oladipo Agboluaje
******To mark the 50th Anniversary of Nigerian Independence from Britain, a rollicking new Peckham-set
comedy by acclaimed young playwright Oladipo Agboluaje.
British Nigerian Noelle's son wants to move to Nigeria with his father, a Nollywood producer, for a taste
of the good life he's been denied growing up on their Peckham estate. The fact that Noelle's a disgraced
ex-copper with criminal past and a severe lack of money isn't helping her hang on to him. But when she
takes one more dodgy job for cash, Noelle's pulled into a conspiracy which will finally force her to negotiate
between her dual identities, and find a way of living with them both.
This Lime Tree Bower by Conor McPherson
*******1980s. Irish Republic. The sleazy side of a small seaside
town is revealed through a series of connecting monologues
delivered by three brothers - respectively a teenage school
boy, a waiter in their father's fish & chip shop, and a
local college lecturer.
So Much For That 01.10 by Lionel Shriver
So Much For That 02.10
So Much For That 03.10
So Much For That 04.10
So Much For That 05.10
So Much For That 06.10
So Much For That 07.10
So Much For That 08.10
So Much For That 09.10
So Much For That 10.10
******From the acclaimed author of the New York Times bestseller The Post-Birthday World
comes a searing, ruthlessly honest new novel about a marriage both stressed and
strengthened by the demands of serious illness.
Shep Knacker has long saved for "The Afterlife": an idyllic retreat to the Third World
where his nest egg can last forever. Traffic jams on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway
will be replaced with "talking, thinking, seeing, and being" - and enough sleep. When
he sells his home repair business for a cool million dollars, his dream finally seems
within reach. Yet Glynis, his wife of twenty-six years, has concocted endless excuses
why it's never the right time to go. Weary of working as a peon for the jerk who bought
his company, Shep announces he's leaving for a Tanzanian island, with or without her.
Just returned from a doctor's appointment, Glynis has some news of her own: Shep can't
go anywhere because she desperately needs his health insurance. But their policy only
partially covers the staggering bills for her treatments, and Shep's nest egg for The Afterlife
soon cracks under the strain.
Enriched with three medical subplots that also explore the human costs of American health care,
So Much for That follows the profound transformation of a marriage, for which grave illness
proves an unexpected opportunity for tenderness, renewed intimacy, and dry humor. In defiance
of her dark subject matter, Shriver writes a page-turner that presses the question:
How much is one life worth?
The Gold Bug by Edgar Allan Poe
******'Irreverantly' adapted by Gregory Evans
A bite from a gold coloured insect leads
to a coded message and a treasure hunt.
Well made. Good fun too. But not, perhaps,
for Edgar Allan Poe purists
The Shadow Lines by Amitav Ghosh
******Love, lust, and murder in London and Calcutta.
A boy conjures up a picture of London so vivid in his imagination that he recognizes it
when he visits years later and learns that real places can be invented inside your head.
From Dhaka to London, this novel contains a wealth of characters and colour.
By the same author, "The Circle of Reason".
Tales from the Arabian Nights 1.7 - Ghanin - The Thrall of Love
Tales from the Arabian Nights 2.7 - The Ebony Horse
Tales from the Arabian Nights 3.7 - The Three Suitors
Tales from the Arabian Nights 4.7 - The Ninth Pedestal
Tales from the Arabian Nights 5.7 - Hamza's Dance
Tales from the Arabian Nights 6.7 - The Hunchback
Tales from the Arabian Nights 7.7 - The Dream of Baba Abdullah
******Starring Derek Jacobi 
Between The Acts 1.2 by Virginia Woolf
Between The Acts 2.2
*******Outwardly a novel about country-house life, set in a house in whose grounds there
is to be a pageant, this is an evocation of English experience in the months leading up to
World War II. Through dialogue and humour, the author explores how a community is
formed and scattered over time.
Five Days in May by Matthew Solon
****** Play telling the story of the tense negotiation that followed the 2010
general election leading to the country's first post war coalition.
Based on interviews with those who were at the meetings, political journalists
and on published material - and using actors to play all the key characters -
this is a compelling account of those five momentous days in May.
Under extreme pressure and suffering from lack of sleep, the politicians argued
and negotiated. There was nothing inevitable about a Conservative Liberal Democrat
coalition. Revealing key moments of the negotiations, the drama unpicks what went on
behind closed doors and shows how an alliance between the Conservative and Liberal
Democrat gradually formed, and how it withstood the resignation of Gordon Brown.
Based on pain-staking research, this is a must-listen 60-minute play - a compelling and entertaining
account by award-winning writer Matthew Solon of the most extraordinary British election outcome in 70 years.
Free Thinking 2010 Vultures by Roy Williams
******Sean wants to prove that he is more than" just one of the Bishop's", that his anger has a point.
That he does matter and that just this once he can make everyone, particularly Yvette, listen to him.
Sean Bishop has something to say.
BAFTA Award-winning Roy Williams is one of Britain's finest contemporary playwrights, often putting
on stage in gritty and eloquent dialogue stories set on the fringes and amongst the underclass of our
society. Vultures is a new work specially written for Free Thinking.
Over The Rainbow by Humphrey Carpenter
******1943. San Bernardino. California.
Judy Garland and arranger Roger Edens decide
the set she's to perform on air that night.
The Mermaids Tail by Lucy Gough
******The myth of the mermaid ...
... explored through the wants of a youngish girl.
The Twyborn Affair by Patrick White
******Eddie Twyborn is bisexual and beautiful, the son of a Judge and a drunken mother.
His search for identity, self-affirmation and love takes us into the ambiguous landscapes,
sexual, psychological and spiritual, of the human condition.
Writing the Century 15 A Desolate Bravery 1.5 by Lavinia Murray
Writing the Century 15 A Desolate Bravery 2.5
Writing the Century 15 A Desolate Bravery 3.5
Writing the Century 15 A Desolate Bravery 4.5
Writing the Century 15 A Desolate Bravery 5.5
******Lavinia Murray's drama inspired by the diaries of military artist David Rowlands,
who spent time in Bosnia during the civil war in 1993
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
******Ten strangers, apparently with little in common, are lured to an island mansion off the coast
of Devon by the mysterious U.N.Owen. Over dinner, a record begins to play, and the voice of an
unseen host accuses each person of hiding a guilty secret. That evening, former reckless driver
Tony Marston is found murdered by a deadly dose of cyanide. The tension escalates as the
survivors realise the killer is not only among them but is preparing to strike again... and again...
Alone in Berlin 1.2 by Hans Fallada
Alone in Berlin 2.2
******This never-before-translated masterpiece-by a heroic best-selling writer who saw his life
crumble when he wouldn't join the Nazi Party-is based on a true story.
It presents a richly detailed portrait of life in Berlin under the Nazis and tells the sweeping saga
of one working-class couple who decides to take a stand when their only son is killed at the front.
With nothing but their grief and each other against the awesome power of the Reich, they launch
a simple, clandestine resistance campaign that soon has an enraged Gestapo on their trail, and a
world of terrified neighbors and cynical snitches ready to turn them in.
In the end, it's more than an edge-of-your-seat thriller, more than a moving romance, even more than
literature of the highest order-it's a deeply stirring story of two people standing up for what's right,
and each other.
The Cassandra Generation by Frederick Harrison
******A journalist sailing with the Falklands' Task Force
reports the progress of the war, and reflects on his
troubled love life, and his work in Beirut.
Sub-text is how independent can the press be when
embedded in military units. Ironic really when you
consider what happened next ...
... Monday Plays were normally repeated the following
Saturday afternoon. This ones repeat was cancelled
because of 'bad language', but at the time it seemed
more likely it was because its soldiers loved violence.
Bear in mind that the Gibralter shootings* had happened
just three weeks before and were still big news, and
Thatcher, who terrified the BBC, was still in the chair.
A Little Like Drowning by Anthony Minghella
******The story of two marriages. One, Italian, told by an old lady
to her grandson, the other, Italian Scots, the old lady's, told
in the present, and via a series of flashbacks.
" ... men are weak, women are strong; women survive, men
are helpless and stupid ..."
Funny, in the uninhibited way of old ladies. Moving too.
Miss Kilmansegg and Her Precious Leg by Martyn Wade
*******Gold — still gold! it haunted her yet —
At the Golden Lion the Inquest met —
Its foreman, a carver and gilder —
And the Jury debated from twelve till three
What the Verdict ought to be,
And they brought it in as Felo de Se,
"Because her own Leg had killed her!"
Dramatisation of Thomas Hood's satirical poem about the corrupting effects of money which comically
investigates why a famous society lady - the owner of a renowned golden prosthetic leg - is found
battered to death, a victim of her own obsessive greed
An Englishman's Home by Ray Ball
*******Sex, lies and mobile homes ... an everyday story of caravanning folk.
Smug couple Colin and Kath are convinced they have the annual
Happy Tourers Club Trophy in their pocket, until a reluctant Brian turns up
with a swanky new Bluebird Mark V ...
Fat by Deborah Freeman
******A "northern play" in which body fat is revealed to be not largely water, but socially constructed.....
The Rover 1.2 by Aphra Behn
The Rover 2.2
******The famous Restoration "Comedy" [parts of it are rather tragic...], set amongst English exiles in Naples.
Willmore - the Rover of the title - is to some limited extent based by Behn on Charles II himself -
and, as she writes, "there's no sinner like a young saint...".
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