Best Radio January--June 2010

Top Ten Radio Plays, January-June 2010

I’m listening to BBC7 way too much and therefore have neglected the new Afternoon Plays. I will endeavour to do less of that.

10. Blake’s 7: The Early Years, Eye of the Machine
(Ben Aaronovitch)
I know about a thimble-full about Avon, but it wasn’t necessary to know more to appreciate this play. The cast was very small, but somehow you never realized that, and the 30 mins just flew by. It was a strong production that kept up momentum. I thought the girl activist sounded familiar but didn’t realize til the credits that she was played by Keeley Hawes! (Colin Salmon played Avon as, I recall, he did in the plays released in 2008.) Oh, and the music was by Alistair Lock!

9. Apostle of Light: Louis Braille (John Pilkington)
This was a conventional but well-done play, and it must be said, radio is an excellent medium for a story about the blind. I had no idea Braille had encountered such opposition initially or that he died, painfully, at such a young age. Adam Goldley as Braille was very good.

8. Listen to the Words (Ed Hime)
Quite edgy. Really used the sound medium to its fullest advantage. It was gripping and felt really natural, too. A girl spiralling out of control at Uni, depressive and then using religion as a raft . . . and taking it way too far. The boy with empathy problems recording her phone calls and the more or less decent rapper boyfriend. One of the few contemporary plays I’ve found memorable.

7. The Scarifyers: The Devil of Denge Marsh (Paul Morris)
Nicholas Courtney is just so damned appealing as Lionheart, and Terry Molloy totally plays against type as Professor Dunning. The story itself was rather silly- a bit sillier than the previous Scarifyers I heard- including Ma Tyler as a mermaid, believe it or not. Aliester Crowley plays an important and rather amusing role.

6. The Snow Queen (Hans Christian Andersen/Beverley Doherty)
Gorgeous music and sound design, presumably why this is a perennial favorite and seems to be oft-requested on Radio 7. It’s a long and complex fairy tale whose images were ingrained on my brain when I was little and watched the Faerie Tale Theatre version; nonetheless, the radio version’s atmosphere is undeniable. Diana Rigg is suitably icy as the Snow Queen, and Gerda and Kay, the childhood friends who eventually grow up and fall in love, are sooo cute. There’s also a strange interlude with Babar the Reindeer and the Robber Girl, and a very amusing Crow.

5. The Pallisers (Anthony Trollope/Martyn Wade)
This was a massive, sprawling undertaking that was almost as much to listen to as it was to produce (well, I conjecture). But those who stuck by were rewarded by a Forsytes-like experience (not surprising considering many of the main actors featured in this as well). Ben Miles was very good as Plantagenet Palliser, at first presented as a rather dull would-be statesman seeking the hand of the spirited but slightly flighty Glencora (Sophie Thompson). Juliet Stevenson was memorable as Lady Laura in love with Phineas Finn. David Troughton provided narration as Trollope, which worked quite well in such a lumbering story full of characters (well, it is adapted from 6 novels!). Though Greg Wise’s part wasn’t particularly large, it was memorable and similar to the one he played in Sense and Sensibility! Ambitious project.

4. John Milton’s Paradise Lost
This was a massive series, over forty parts (15 mins each). Adam and Eve (Linus Roache and Federay Holmes) were heartfelt and tried their best to breahe life into the archetypal roles. I’m sure Ian McDiarmid relished playing Satan, easily the most interesting role. The Son (Robert Glenister) was also quite good. The scene that really stood out for me was Sin, Death, and Satan at the Gate- how twisted and so telling, exactly what Milton waned us to despite about sin. The Poet (Dennis Quilley) came off as a bit portentous, but the sheer size of the production really underlines Milton’s achievement.

3. The Age of Innocence (Edith Wharton/Arthur Ransome)
I can’t imagine Daniel Day-Lewis played Newland Archer better than Andrew Wincott here- superb performance, superb adaptation. 30 mins x 6 was absolutely inspired breakdown. This wasn’t a fast-paced novel so the play moved along just fine at this pace. I’m inspired to read the novel now. Not a bad American accent in the lot- Susanne Bertish and Catherine Harris as Ellen and May, respectively, are also worth singling out.

2. Waves Breaking on the Shore (Michael Eaton and Neil Brand)
I think it’s safe to say that a trend in radio drama at the moment is for capturing the music hall experience with actual song (if not dance)- see the world service production The Entertainer with Bill Nighy for more confirmation. Overall this was one of the best new radio plays I’ve heard in a long time. It’s not hard to transfer music hall atmosphere to radio- the characters in this story were funny, distinctive, but certainly of their time. Manny Cohen and Danny Cohan established both their act and their lives within the play in the first ten minutes during their “music hall act.” The dialogue managed to be expositional in creative ways as they decided to move from the music hall to early sound pictures and become entrepreneurs in the attempt, all against the backdrop of East End unrest. The metafictional techniques with the silent and then sound films were really effective. The Yiddish uncle was a bit OTT. There was the air of Ragtime with the social problems being addressed in the drama.

1. Clarissa: The History of a Young Lady (Samuel Richardson/Hattie Naylor)
It must have been difficult to adapt a novel of this length with so many characters and a sensibility and set of morals so different from our own. Richard Armitage was outstanding, demonstrating his range when Lovelace “played” a West Country farmer, when drunk, violent, cajoling, and dying. As a schemer and seducer he was somewhere on the scale between Satan in Paradise Lost and the Joker (The Dark Knight)— unable to feel any empathy for others and so arrogant as to always believe himself in the right. A sexy psychopath- the worst kind! Dorcas (Sophie Thompson) was wonderfully played; the rape scene at the end of part three was heartbreaking. It took all of Zoe Waites’ range, as well, to play Clarissa, to make her be lovable and heartfelt. A very very good production overall.



I should also mention:

The Chimes by Charles Dickens/John Clifford with a memorable performance from Ron Cook as Trotty Veck.

The Darker Side of the Border, Scottish horror stories adapted by Marty Ross, from Conan Doyle (“crap, this was scary”), Stevenson, and Hogg.

The History of the Burns Supper/Auld Lang Syne were nonfiction music programs that made me cry.

Who & Me by Barry Letts was the Doctor Who producer reading from his autobiography, and these were very entertaining 15-minute segments.

By that token, Notes from a Small Island, adapted by Bill Bryson and read by Carey Shale, were very funny but added lewd bits and took out some of my favorite parts from the book.


Doctor Who Radio Plays

Orbis (Alan Barnes & Nick Briggs)
I enjoyed this- it was very outré, shall we say, but McGann and Smith, as usual, carried it for me.
The Beast of Orlok (Barnaby Edwards)
The first part was all about setting up the atmosphere, Frankenstein in miniature and using Peter Guinness’ distinctive voice once more, but the rather more surprising conclusion and almost all of the action took place in the second part.
Scapegoat (Pat Mills)
This was nearly the opposite in terms of plotting and pacing- all of the elements were put in place in the first half, with goat-headed aliens played with a sense of humor; the TARDIS turning into a merry-go-round in Nazi-occupied Paris; Lucie on stage in a grim guignol theatre at least as dark as the one in Cabaret. However, the second part didn’t make much sense, and though the Doctor was having a good time outwitting the Nazi buffoons, there wasn’t much suspense.
Companion Chronicles: Ringpullworld