REVIEWS
RADIO REVIEW Apr 08
I was talking to a radio writer earlier this week, with about forty plays under her belt. She drew my attention to the way in which radio drama has changed over the years. Short and sharp; less time for a story to develop; smaller casts. A lot of it must boil down to cuts in funding. BBC executives have told us several times on the “Feedback” programme that we cannot concentrate for ninety minutes or no longer have the time to do so. Listener surveys provide their evidence. But employees know from experience that most bosses define 'success' as the end result of a management initiative. Is the same principle operating here?
The modern style is neatly illustrated by the new series of Anthony Powell's A DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF TIME in six one-hour episodes; not really drama but heavily dramatised narration. That's not to say it isn't good; Michael Butt always does a decent job, and Corin Redgrave is an able narrator, but it's nothing like Graham Gauld's 26-episode marathon which went out from 1979 to 1982 involving a cast of 250 people. Likewise MR. SPONGE'S SPORTING TOURS, by R.S.Surtees, broadcast this month in two one-hour episodes. Entertaining and punchy, in the manner of a cartoon, but last time it was done – in the early eighties – it lasted for months.
The first drama to take my eye this year was by the well-known science fiction writer, Kurt Vonnegut. WHO AM I THIS TIME? (R4, 1415, 21 Jan 08) was about an amateur dramatics group. The leading man, a nondescript individual with a humdrum life and an uninteresting job, becomes transformed when he's acting; it's frightening the way he becomes the character he's playing. And since he switches back into mediocrity when he stops acting, he is totally unaware of the passion he evokes in a girl who's new to the town. Eventually, however, she devises a strategy to get him. The story was dramatised by Philip Goulding, and starred Lou Hirsch, Kerry Shale, Joanne Froggatt and Maureen Lipman; the producer was Justine Potter.
WHEN GREED BECOMES FEAR (R4, 1415, 26 Feb 08) was a response, in drama, to the crisis affecting Northern Rock, and - probably - having an effect on all of us. Dave Britton: "When Greed Turns to Fear was the result of an unusual process in which the script was begun relatively close to the broadcast date, and recorded in the week before it went to air. Like most writers, I'm also fascinated by timeless themes such as love, family dynamics and sacrifice. What drama does well is to give a human face to something which might otherwise seem remote.” The play starred Libby Saptalios, Penny Downie, Hattie Morahan, Peter Marinker, Liz Sutherland and was directed by Pam Marshall.
BLINDED BY THE SUN, by Stephen Poliakoff. (Saturday Play, R4, 1430, 8 Mar 08), set in academia, was a 90-minute special. In the words of a listener's post on the BBC messageboard: "Some of his favourite themes are here - an institution under threat, the imperfection of recollection, a cabal of characters locked in against a demon svengali-esque character". It caught very acutely the claustrophobic mentality of some parts of the academic world. The science was a bit implausible, and concerned a half-baked invention for making renewable energy, but Poliakoff isn't a scientist, and it didn't detract from the drama.
The plot is this - a University scientist claims a major breakthrough in his work, and a new potential source of energy for the world. But after the announcement, he is unable to replicate the results of his experiment. The fallout causes long-term conflict amongst a previously close set of colleagues, a number of whom proceed to stab each other in the back.
It reminded me of the 'cold fusion' episode of a couples of decades ago, when no-one was quite sure whether or not we were on the brink of a controllable, inexhaustible source of power. The cast included Alex Jennings, Harriet Walter, Steven Pacey, Jodie Whittaker and John Rowe and the play was produced by Peter Leslie Wild.
The classic story of CYRANO DE BEGERAC, as the Sunday Play (R3, 2000, 23 Mar 08) was a welcome repeat of the 1998 adaptation by John Tydeman. Kenneth Branagh plays Edmond Rostand's romantic, poet, soldier, hero and gentleman. For those who don't know the story, he has one great physical flaw - the size of his nose; he has a preposterous hooter. Refer to it and a fight will start. In the words of Gillian Reynolds, look at it and it becomes all you see, not the noble nature behind it. It means his love for the beautiful Roxane is doomed, but he puts his devotion into helping the handsome Christian de Neuvillette to pursue her. The problem is that Christian is terribly dim.
The play is in verse, and regular readers of this review know that I don't like poetry. But this is Anthony Burgess's translation, and his skills as a poet, composer and wordsmith make for a wonderful script. It flows like speech; the rhythms and rhymes are subtle, and Burgess has packed his work with witty asides. Jodhi May was Roxane and Tom Hiddlestone played Christian; the producer was David Timson.
Bert Coules has been busy again with a “Classic Serial”dramatisation of John Buchan's MR.STANDFAST ( R4, 2 episodes beginning 1500 9 Mar 08) starring David Robb as Richard Hannay and Clive Merrison as Sir Walter Bullivant. It's a cracking tale, well-paced, politically incorrect, and exciting. Hannay is fighting single-handed against the Germans, and moral rot in Britain is on the rise, caused by conshies, cowards and other degenerates. Moxon the master spy is causing trouble – will Hannay be able to stop him? It was good to hear Clive Merrison in a non-Holmes role, and the long cast list included Struan Rodger, Jasmine Hyde, Jon Glover, Ben Crowe, and Peter Marinker; the producer was Bruce Young. Bert says that there's one more Hannay story to be done - "The Island of Sheep". Let's hope he gets the job.
For those who like science fiction and remember the “Journey into Space” serials, the broadcast of the year must be FROZEN IN TIME (R4, 1430, 12 Apr 08), written by Charles Chilton and starring the surviving member of the original cast, David Jacobs, as Captain Jet Morgan. The programme has a remarkable history; three very long serials went out in the fifties; a generation later (1981) there was a Saturday Night Theatre one-off produced by Glyn Dearman entitled “The Return from Mars”; now we have an excellent new episode by the original writer, twenty-seven years later. Paul Donovan, in the Sunday Times, wrote: “ It is an update of, and richly evokes, the original. Entitled Journey into Space - Frozen in Time, it was written by Chilton (now 91) in collaboration with the producer, Nick Russell-Pavier.
It's not exactly a sequel to the previous broadcasts, but it's later. It's set on Mars in 2013. Most of the crew have been in deep-sleep suspension in their spacecraft, “Ares”, for 36 years. Paul Donovan again: “Captain Jet Morgan is played by David Jacobs, now 82, the sole surviving member of the original cast, and the outstanding music is composed by the author's son, David Chilton. It has an eerie, epic, filmic quality about it, even if it is all composed on synthesizers rather than the full orchestra used by Van Phillips in the 1950s.
Do not listen to "Frozen in Time" if you can't abide what are always called 'stereotypes' - the chirpy cockney, straight-talking Aussie, cheerful Canadian, square-jawed Brit and cool Nordic blonde. But do listen for its reflections on time and space, memory and comradeship, benign and malign, and, of course, for the exciting story. The fact that it has been left open-ended, with Jet and his crew wondering whether to help an apparently distressed spacecraft, suggests that Journey into Space might make a further close encounter with the airwaves in due course.” Gilliam Reynolds also gave it the thumbs-up, and said of Charles Chilton: ...'still alive, writing, and on the evidence of this script, having fun......joined the BBC in 1932 as a 14-year-old messenger boy....worked with all the great names, invented other hit series and retains a lovely sense of humour. There were moments when it seemed he was having a laugh or two at the Corporation's trust in new ways of doing things....'
The cast: David Jacobs (Jet Morgan), Michael Beckley (Mitch), Alan Marriott (Doc), Chris Moran (Lemmy), with Emma Fielding, Stephen Hogan and Kate Harbour. A CD of the play will be issued later this year.
Other worthwhile plays have included Christina Balit's NEEDLE (about the making of the Bayeux Tapestry by the invaded English), BEARING THE CROSS by Ken Blakeson (some sobering views on war made by soldiers awarded the V.C.), INVESTIGATING MR. THOMAS by Rob Gittins (the last part of Dylan Thomas's life, when he seems to have been a walking advertisement of the dangers of alcohol), and BEYOND THE FRINGE by Roy Smiles, an amiable account of the "Beyond the Fringe" team in England and Hollywood. I am also looking forward to my recording of TARZAN OF THE ANTIRRHINUMS, about a guy brought up by pot plants. Sounds odd, but the writer, Lavinia Murray, is always worth a listen.
I am grateful to Paul Donovan for permission to quote extracts from his recent Sunday Times article on the new "Journey Into Space".
N.D., 19 Apr 08
RADIO REVIEW, Sept 08
RADIO REVIEW, Dec 08
