1991 Radio Plays

THE ART OF SUCCESS....1991
By Nick Dear. Radio 3, 150min.

The following remarks are paraphrased from a much longer review by Roger Lewis, who directed the play on stage for Questors Theatre in the late 1980s.

When I was asked to direct this play, many months ago, one of the first things I did was to research William Hogarth and his times, in order to fix the context. It was fascinating and exciting to come across incidents and characters in the play. Mrs. Needham, for example, was a notorious bawd who died three days after being pilloried in 1731. Hogarth was a founder member of the sublime Society of Beefsteaks, but it wasn't established until 1735.

So - The Art of Success is not an accurate biographical drama. Nick Dear writes in the introduction "I have [taken] liberties with history...I never let the facts get in the way of a good story." He went on to say that he wanted to write a play about television in an age before the camera, about the subconscious in an age before Freud and about sex before terms (or concepts) like "femininity" or "sexuality" existed.

The play captures the sprawling, confused, contrasting nature of early 18th Century London and incorporates some of the colourful characters of that society. Each character is superbly crafted, a little larger than life, and like much of Hogarth's work, somewhat grotesque and surreal. It's an extraordinary play.

EXTRACT FRON ANOTHER STAGE REVIEW....
Daily Telegraph; Aug 28, 1987; Charles Spencer
...But though I normally resent dramatists who appropriate the lives of famous figures of the past only to distort them for their own ends, I found myself increasingly warming to this vital, scatological drama, now receiving an exuberant production by the RSC in The Pit.

It is certainly not a play for the squeamish. The language is persistently and inventively foul and, without a hint of historical evidence, Mr Dear has turned Hogarth into a man of rampant and decidedly esoteric sexual tastes. But the play is so outrageous in its invention, Hogarth’s reputation so secure, that it is hard to imagine the play doing the artist’s memory permanent harm, more profitable to sit back and enjoy an evening of good, dirty and surprisingly thought-provoking fun.

....and from the FT:
Aug 20, 1987; B A Young:
To show at once that this is to be a play of low life, Nick Dear starts with a meeting of successful men, the Club of Beefsteaks, and casts their talk in such filthy dialogue that hardly a line of it could be printed here. The members of the club are William Hogarth, Henry Fielding, and a merchant and a peer of no special significance.

When we enter low life proper, the dirty talk is accompanied by dirty action; and, having said all that, let me add that the play has an interesting story and an important theme. Mr Dear has chosen to express it through a series of encounters with whores, prisoners and dishonest politicians, all of them still frequent in our world 250 years later than the time of the play.

THE MACHINE....1991
R4, 22 Jul 91: by Tony Bagley - James Bolam as the bailiff in an interesting play set in 1602. The bailiff is in charge of the masterless men who end up on his doorstep, often on the scrounge. But he is obsessed by a machine he has built which can record the human voice.

TIGER, TIGER ....1991
By Alfred Bester, dramatised by Ivan Benbrook; director Andy Jordan. 90m.
Gulliver Foyle survives abandonment in space to create vengeful havoc. - Penny Fabb, "Complete Guide to Sceince Fiction on Radio", 2004.

Comment from the webmaster at www.otrplotspot.com:

The book is considered by some critics to be the best science fiction novel ever written, and I highly recommend reading it before listening to the audio production. There is a lot of story to tell, with numerous colorful characters and many layers of depth to the society in which they operate. Thus the pace of the radio play is fast and furious, as even 90 minutes is scant enough time to tell the whole story. If you are not familiar with the plot, it's easy to become lost and confused as to who is who, what they are after, and why they are after it. But if you have read the book, you should enjoy this pared down version.

ND comment - I listened, and couldn't make much of it. It was too fast, and I couldn't follow it, so I found some online reviews, to find out what was going on. Then I tried again. This time I loved it - a cracking tale. Here's part of an online review from Bart Leahy on "Amazon", talking about the novel ("The Stars my Destination") from which it comes:

"Nomad is a derelict [spaceship], full of holes, torn apart, and with only one airtight and air-filled room, where Gully Foyle has managed to survive for months, scavenging air, water, and food from the rest of the tattered hulk. Then, one day, another ship, the Vorga, comes within hailing distance, and Gully Foyle sets off every flare he can find. The Vorga stops . . . and then moves on.

Rage and a thirst for revenge are pale terms for the obsession that haunts Foyle from that day forward. "

MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB....1991
R4, 17 Nov 91, by Arnold Evans. When Mary and Neil abandon successful careers to live in rural Wales, everything looks rosy to begin with...a black comedy starring Sonia Ritter, Maggie Steed, Jonathan Tafler, Jonathan Cullen, Richard Tate. Directed by Alison Hindell.

ARCHIMEDES....1991
R4, 27 Nov 91. By John Wain and Laszlo Solymar. Archimedes was thought by some to be a madman, but his inventions were capable of being turned into terrifying weapons. With Terrence Hardiman, Eric Allan, Phillip Sully, Terence Edmond, David Sinclair, John Church, Mark Straker, Charles Millham, Robert Portal. Director: Jane Morgan.

HYPATIA....1991
R4, 4 Dec 91. By John Wain and Laszlo Solymar - the last of three plays by these writers about mathematicians and philosophers whose ideas brought about their downfall. Hypatia's training as a mathematician led her to doubt and to question, but in those early days, an inquiring mind was dangerous. With Jane Whittenshaw as Hypatia; also stars Eric Allan, Andrew Wincott, Colin McFarlane, Norman Jones, Brett Usher. Director- Jane Morgan.

HOWEVER....1991
R4, 30 Dec 91; by Al Hunter. A comedy of love and war set in the Russia-Japan conflict. Andrei's job is to write reports about fictional successes from the front. When these are believed at home, he accidentally becomes a hero overnight. With John Gordon-Sinclair, Willie Rushton, Alison Dowling, Graham Seed, David Richard-Fox, Timothy Carlton, Avril Clark, Timothy Bateson, Shaun Prendergast, Norman Jones. Directed by Adrian Bean. Monday play, 90m.

A TRAIL OF BLOOD....1991
Date nk. Set in the 1540s, this follows the attempts of Henry VIII to establish an heir, as viewed by monks from a distant abbey. Henry, it seems, is unlikely to produce a son of his own, so one of the monks is given the job of looking through the historical record to see if there might be a surviving heir from another part of the family. 90m. This is a dramatisation by Jeremy Potter of a novel; can't recall the author, unfortunately.

 Around the World in Eighty Days....1991
Julies Verne's classic adventure of Phinias Fogg, an English gentleman, who takes up the challenge of travelling around the world in just eighty days. He has every minute worked out, but things don't go according to plan. With Leslie Phillips, Jim Broadbent, Yves Aubert, Ronald Fraser, Diana Quick and Mark Straker. Dramatised in four parts by Terry James, director Janet Whitaker. BBC7 rpt. Feb 08.

Nigel Deacon / Diversity website

Above plays known to exist in VRPCC collections

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