The Wireless Theatre Company presents a very good comedy production by the team of Davis & McQuillan. I really like it. These guys are also fine musicians and the premise is all about the creation of their band. One of them hears the other playing at a local mall and being ignored by the sound of the crowd. He asks if the player wants to join a band. Which band? our band is the answer, so he says yes. I’m using “he” and “he” because I don’t know which is which of the characters Flagrin & Else who they play. Anyway, there is a breezy plot of sorts, but that is not why this show is pretty great. That reason is the clever dialog patter, including toying with musician’s terms, and the ridiculous songs that the two play. These songs are not only lyrically clever, but very well played compositions in parody of various pop genres. These guys can play and fortunately they are both on keys, no guitars.
If this were a hundred years ago DAVIS & MCQUILLAN would be making a good living in vaudeville touring, and touring (provided that they liked to ride in trains, could stand the train strain). They could have honed a great 15 minutes over the years and played it from town to town, for 20 years or so.
But now they are on the World Wide Web. And while they can potentially be heard by more people than a lifetime of touring in the old days, and they probably can’t leave their day jobs. (Busking at the mall?)
BBC Radio 4, are you listening? You should check these guys out.
As we leave the boys, one of them has been captured by pirates. I’m tired of sitting on the edge of my seat on the cliff, walking the plank. I’m ready for episode 2.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Boats on a River
This is a well crafted play by Julie Marie Myatt which I had the pleasure of hearing on The Play's the Thing. It is an LA Theater Works audio adaptation of the theatrical production originally commissioned by The Guthrie Theater.
The subject matter is the Cambodian child sex industry. It takes on the subject through the personal stories of people who work in a rescue shelter where they attempt to rehabilitate the girls caught up in this. We look at their motivations for the work they are involved in. The most curious is an American, Sidney Webb, who we find out is in fact married to a former "bar girl". They have two children, but despite that it is not working out for Mr. Webb. He cannot heal the wounds that she continues to carry. He is a man on a mission to save, and is frustrated by failing with the one closest to him. But why must he be the hero? Is it because of the guilt he carries? There is a scene between Webb and his wife which is the strongest in the play.
There is also a zealous young American who is working for an international rescue agency. His batched raid on a brothel opens the play. He needs to be a hero too. He also fails. The scenes between Webb and this young man are also quite effective.
We hear a recorded diary of an American sex tourist apparently on his first trip. Somehow this part was the weakest in the audio production. That could be because the multimedia video portion of the stage production cannot be used in the audio adaptation. He is a rather vague entity. But then again, this is not a play about the perpetrators. There is plenty of that sort of thing elsewhere and the lack of it in this production is one of its strengths. This is not an exploitation piece.
We hear the story and dreams of the three girls rescued in the raid. Their desires and dreams are small, to have some candy, own a bike, and huge, to have a new life as a boy.
The play uses the most effective way of telling such a story. It focuses on a few people and studies them rather than a just-the- facts sort of agitprop journalism. It is a thought provoking entertainment concerning an issue of global importance. As Julie Marie Myatt says in the interview portion of the "The Play's the Thing" presentation, the issue is not just in Cambodia, but everywhere.
I don't know where this can be heard. I couldn't find it on the LA Theater Works site. Maybe it will show up there later. I heard it via real audio at The Play's the Thing, but the week long freebee stream is now timed out.
The subject matter is the Cambodian child sex industry. It takes on the subject through the personal stories of people who work in a rescue shelter where they attempt to rehabilitate the girls caught up in this. We look at their motivations for the work they are involved in. The most curious is an American, Sidney Webb, who we find out is in fact married to a former "bar girl". They have two children, but despite that it is not working out for Mr. Webb. He cannot heal the wounds that she continues to carry. He is a man on a mission to save, and is frustrated by failing with the one closest to him. But why must he be the hero? Is it because of the guilt he carries? There is a scene between Webb and his wife which is the strongest in the play.
There is also a zealous young American who is working for an international rescue agency. His batched raid on a brothel opens the play. He needs to be a hero too. He also fails. The scenes between Webb and this young man are also quite effective.
We hear a recorded diary of an American sex tourist apparently on his first trip. Somehow this part was the weakest in the audio production. That could be because the multimedia video portion of the stage production cannot be used in the audio adaptation. He is a rather vague entity. But then again, this is not a play about the perpetrators. There is plenty of that sort of thing elsewhere and the lack of it in this production is one of its strengths. This is not an exploitation piece.
We hear the story and dreams of the three girls rescued in the raid. Their desires and dreams are small, to have some candy, own a bike, and huge, to have a new life as a boy.
The play uses the most effective way of telling such a story. It focuses on a few people and studies them rather than a just-the- facts sort of agitprop journalism. It is a thought provoking entertainment concerning an issue of global importance. As Julie Marie Myatt says in the interview portion of the "The Play's the Thing" presentation, the issue is not just in Cambodia, but everywhere.
I don't know where this can be heard. I couldn't find it on the LA Theater Works site. Maybe it will show up there later. I heard it via real audio at The Play's the Thing, but the week long freebee stream is now timed out.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Our Lenny
WNYC has been presenting Our Lenny "A 13-day Exploration and Celebration of Leonard Bernstein’s Enduring New York Legacy". It is all finishing up tonight but can be heard online.
Part of the presentation is the wonderful 11 part documentary,
Leonard Bernstein: An American Life. If you care at all about the musical and general cultural scene in the USA in the last part of the 20th Century, or if you are simply interested in listening to a great audio documentary, this one is not to be missed. Fortunately it is available in audio stream form here. I don't know how long they intend to keep it there, so give it a listen while you can.
There are other programs within Our Lenny that focus on particular works with guests commenting. I particularly enjoyed the West Side Story hour with Sport Murphy and host David Garland, because it is, well, it's West Side Story and that music has always made a major impression on me.
Part of the presentation is the wonderful 11 part documentary,
Leonard Bernstein: An American Life. If you care at all about the musical and general cultural scene in the USA in the last part of the 20th Century, or if you are simply interested in listening to a great audio documentary, this one is not to be missed. Fortunately it is available in audio stream form here. I don't know how long they intend to keep it there, so give it a listen while you can.
There are other programs within Our Lenny that focus on particular works with guests commenting. I particularly enjoyed the West Side Story hour with Sport Murphy and host David Garland, because it is, well, it's West Side Story and that music has always made a major impression on me.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
I read somewhere that a production company was preparing a new audio dramatization of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
It occurred to me that I had never read the original. I have seen a couple film adaptations years ago; Disney, one from 1933. I did a google search intending to look for the text. I ran across this production directed by Karen M. Chan. This is the unabridged novel with a full cast acting out the dialogue. They do a serviceable job presenting the material. I particularly enjoyed the Ed Wynn impersonation by J.I. Magnussun as Mock Turtle.
So if you are interested in Alice's Adventures you might want to check it out.
That said, I must admit that I while I find the Carroll's work fantastical, and somewhat grotesque, there is not much drama in it. There is no real danger or threat to be avoided through most of the piece. We simply go from one episode to the next meeting one odd character after another until the ending with the "off with her head" stuff. But even then the threat doesn't seem real, immediate, or particularly critical. There is no real connection between the characters. It's all rather clever and cold.
That said I feel that L. Frank Baum steals from Carroll and does him one better when it comes to drama and characters with emotional connection and depth. While we have the same, it's all a dream ending, the melodrama of the Baum book drives it forward and does a better job engaging the reader/listener. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is the stronger work. Wired for Books, Karen M. Chan and all also do this book which I did not listen to having read the book not so long ago. But this might be a good way to compare one to the other.
Wired for Books also has many audio files of noted writers interviewed.
It occurred to me that I had never read the original. I have seen a couple film adaptations years ago; Disney, one from 1933. I did a google search intending to look for the text. I ran across this production directed by Karen M. Chan. This is the unabridged novel with a full cast acting out the dialogue. They do a serviceable job presenting the material. I particularly enjoyed the Ed Wynn impersonation by J.I. Magnussun as Mock Turtle.
So if you are interested in Alice's Adventures you might want to check it out.
That said, I must admit that I while I find the Carroll's work fantastical, and somewhat grotesque, there is not much drama in it. There is no real danger or threat to be avoided through most of the piece. We simply go from one episode to the next meeting one odd character after another until the ending with the "off with her head" stuff. But even then the threat doesn't seem real, immediate, or particularly critical. There is no real connection between the characters. It's all rather clever and cold.
That said I feel that L. Frank Baum steals from Carroll and does him one better when it comes to drama and characters with emotional connection and depth. While we have the same, it's all a dream ending, the melodrama of the Baum book drives it forward and does a better job engaging the reader/listener. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is the stronger work. Wired for Books, Karen M. Chan and all also do this book which I did not listen to having read the book not so long ago. But this might be a good way to compare one to the other.
Wired for Books also has many audio files of noted writers interviewed.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Caesar Price our Lord
Well, I'm back to listening to BBC Radio 4. I listened to The Material World today on the iPlayer. The iPlayer worked flawlessly. I still prefer to use a stand alone player app if I can. When I use the iPlayer via Safari and continue to scroll other web pages it pauses. This is irritating. But the bottom line is that I really enjoy the BBC radio drama content, and view it as an enormous gift even if the wrapping paper is sticky and annoying at times.
And I'm happy to be listening to the plays again, I missed them.
The Afternoon Play production of Caesar Price our Lord by Fin Kennedy is quite an interesting show. "Roll up!" one and all.
Somehow I feel that BBC radio has covered this sort of topic before and I was expecting something lighter and silly. What I got was a beautifully crafted entertainment that drew me in at the very first with the sound design, Jon Nicholls's music with lot of synth strings, and a little nervous Bernard Herrmann-mish repeating line.
Then Lee Ingleby speaks as Caesar. This first speech set within the music and thunder claps, is delivered with such intimate, soft spoken conviction that I was instantly hypnotized, disbelief suspended, and ready for the ride.
From that first speech Lee Ingleby's performance is so sympathetic, so convincing, the quality of his voice so beautiful, I was really pulling for his character. I loved the guy and wanted him to be the second coming.
Of course, I didn't at all expect him to be. How could it have ended up that way? These things just don't. Yet there was the possibility. I mean, I don't really know how the universe works. There is always the remote possibility the my lord and savior could end up revealing himself to me through a radio drama, one that only I can hear.
This production is a little miracle in that they pulled it off at all and yet did so in a way that I was disappointed when I noticed the time was running out and it would have to end and I would no longer be surrounded (I listened with earphones) by these voices, these sounds. It might have been better with the hour long Saturday Play slot, or the Friday Play if that ever comes back.
Fin Kennedy produced a script that set me to thinking about matters such as the level of trauma in the lives of people in the public eye, and how dangerous that is in a mass media world. How many screwed up damaged individuals are we looking up to, the ones running things, the ones who need the power and wealth to make them feel secure, shelter them from the pain that they can not bare to allow in? How many times have we people followed leaders into death, a death that represents the only hope of salvation for the twisted leader who can't bare to look himself in the mirror and drags us all into his lethal scenarios of destructive distraction?
Yes I know, this is not what is on the surface of the drama. But I am here to present my subjective opinion and tell you were my mind goes during and after the show.
As I said before, this is a beautiful production all the way around. It is lucid, direct. We hear a sound cue, a "whoosh", a change in ambiance that tells us we are in the past, a flashback, or into someone's thoughts, memories.
A fun ride! Thanks to Fin Kennedy, Lee Ingleby, Jon Nicholls, Nadia Molinari and all.
The Afternoon Play
BBC Radio 4
The play can be heard here, through Thursday Oct. 2, 2008, via iPlayer, or whatever one can manage.
And I'm happy to be listening to the plays again, I missed them.
The Afternoon Play production of Caesar Price our Lord by Fin Kennedy is quite an interesting show. "Roll up!" one and all.
Somehow I feel that BBC radio has covered this sort of topic before and I was expecting something lighter and silly. What I got was a beautifully crafted entertainment that drew me in at the very first with the sound design, Jon Nicholls's music with lot of synth strings, and a little nervous Bernard Herrmann-mish repeating line.
Then Lee Ingleby speaks as Caesar. This first speech set within the music and thunder claps, is delivered with such intimate, soft spoken conviction that I was instantly hypnotized, disbelief suspended, and ready for the ride.
From that first speech Lee Ingleby's performance is so sympathetic, so convincing, the quality of his voice so beautiful, I was really pulling for his character. I loved the guy and wanted him to be the second coming.
Of course, I didn't at all expect him to be. How could it have ended up that way? These things just don't. Yet there was the possibility. I mean, I don't really know how the universe works. There is always the remote possibility the my lord and savior could end up revealing himself to me through a radio drama, one that only I can hear.
This production is a little miracle in that they pulled it off at all and yet did so in a way that I was disappointed when I noticed the time was running out and it would have to end and I would no longer be surrounded (I listened with earphones) by these voices, these sounds. It might have been better with the hour long Saturday Play slot, or the Friday Play if that ever comes back.
Fin Kennedy produced a script that set me to thinking about matters such as the level of trauma in the lives of people in the public eye, and how dangerous that is in a mass media world. How many screwed up damaged individuals are we looking up to, the ones running things, the ones who need the power and wealth to make them feel secure, shelter them from the pain that they can not bare to allow in? How many times have we people followed leaders into death, a death that represents the only hope of salvation for the twisted leader who can't bare to look himself in the mirror and drags us all into his lethal scenarios of destructive distraction?
Yes I know, this is not what is on the surface of the drama. But I am here to present my subjective opinion and tell you were my mind goes during and after the show.
As I said before, this is a beautiful production all the way around. It is lucid, direct. We hear a sound cue, a "whoosh", a change in ambiance that tells us we are in the past, a flashback, or into someone's thoughts, memories.
A fun ride! Thanks to Fin Kennedy, Lee Ingleby, Jon Nicholls, Nadia Molinari and all.
The Afternoon Play
BBC Radio 4
The play can be heard here, through Thursday Oct. 2, 2008, via iPlayer, or whatever one can manage.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Silent Night
Silent Night, by David Nobbs, is in fact not a piece if satiric commentary on the wonders of the dropouts, or "Not Available" we have been experiencing via the BBC iPlayer.
But I have listened to my first Afternoon Play in some time. Not only have I been busy with other things such as the fascination with the USA falling apart before my eyes, but I was actually avoiding the iPlayer until they figured out how to make it work. I don't know if they ever did. I'm scared to try it again.
I listened to this one with a stand alone realplayer thanks to Ross_1170's help on the Radio 4 Message Board Drama & Readings section.
Silent Night is a kind of dark comedy about a man and his growing obsession with the ambient noise in his environment. It begins more or less how one would expect from the subject matter but takes off from there with commentaries on the sprawl of urbanity across the countryside ,the commercial exploitation of what one feels passionate about, the alienation of loved ones, and ultimately left me to consider if the things that bug me are the things that perhaps should also be held dear since they are the elements of life itself.
This it a dense 45 minute show, crammed with ideas. This is a real work of art from a writer who clearly cares deeply about the main issue and where the contemplation of it through the creation of the work leads him. The ending reminded me of a short story by Theodore Dreiser (an old favorite writer) called Free. They both take us to the same place in the end.
Silent Night is a much deeper piece than it would appear, which is what makes it a wonderful play. It also made me laugh out loud a couple of times at the gym where I heard it on my DAP.
BTW: I live in Manhattan and sleep with ear plugs, a eye mask, and one of these digital white noise machines making sort of digital wave sounds at bedside, and the air conditioner whirring in the window. Anything to avoid auto horns. I sleep in an audio prophylactic. So this show was for me.
It appears I'm a fan of David Nobbs since I quite enjoyed Three Large Beers sometime ago, whenever that was on. My comments on that one are here somewhere.
Silent Night By David Nobbs
The Afternoon Play
BBC Radio 4
But I have listened to my first Afternoon Play in some time. Not only have I been busy with other things such as the fascination with the USA falling apart before my eyes, but I was actually avoiding the iPlayer until they figured out how to make it work. I don't know if they ever did. I'm scared to try it again.
I listened to this one with a stand alone realplayer thanks to Ross_1170's help on the Radio 4 Message Board Drama & Readings section.
Silent Night is a kind of dark comedy about a man and his growing obsession with the ambient noise in his environment. It begins more or less how one would expect from the subject matter but takes off from there with commentaries on the sprawl of urbanity across the countryside ,the commercial exploitation of what one feels passionate about, the alienation of loved ones, and ultimately left me to consider if the things that bug me are the things that perhaps should also be held dear since they are the elements of life itself.
This it a dense 45 minute show, crammed with ideas. This is a real work of art from a writer who clearly cares deeply about the main issue and where the contemplation of it through the creation of the work leads him. The ending reminded me of a short story by Theodore Dreiser (an old favorite writer) called Free. They both take us to the same place in the end.
Silent Night is a much deeper piece than it would appear, which is what makes it a wonderful play. It also made me laugh out loud a couple of times at the gym where I heard it on my DAP.
BTW: I live in Manhattan and sleep with ear plugs, a eye mask, and one of these digital white noise machines making sort of digital wave sounds at bedside, and the air conditioner whirring in the window. Anything to avoid auto horns. I sleep in an audio prophylactic. So this show was for me.
It appears I'm a fan of David Nobbs since I quite enjoyed Three Large Beers sometime ago, whenever that was on. My comments on that one are here somewhere.
Silent Night By David Nobbs
The Afternoon Play
BBC Radio 4
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Richard Martin's Wake-Up Call
Turns out that I'm not at all caught off guard by the little problems with the economy. I've been listening to The Gary Null Show for some years and Richard Martin's Wake-Up Call over the past year or so.
They told me long ago what was going to happen and appears to be happening now.
They seem to be right a lot of the time.
They told me long ago what was going to happen and appears to be happening now.
They seem to be right a lot of the time.
Monday, September 15, 2008
God's Man in Texas
This is an LA Theater Works production. They play their shows on KPCC which is in Southern California. I get it on the WWW.
God's Man in Texas by David Rambo is an entertaining drama having to do with the big business of the religious/entertainment industry.
All the action takes place in a Texas mega church. The revered pastor of the church is aging and on the way out. The committee set up to replace him is having new preachers come in and give sample sermons. The figures, the approval rating, the amount of contributions, and the number of souls saved are all looked at in judging the new candidate and comparing him to others.
But there are other not so transparent political games going on in the church which might, more that these other things, determine the ultimate decision.
This is a full length play and it is amusing and somewhat frightening throughout. This form of TV age religion. so powerful in the USA is examined in an artful, intelligent way that never seems preachy or didactic.
This, like other LA Theater Works productions, is performed before a live audience. I tend to prefer studio productions without an audience, but LA Theater Works radio plays are generally topnotch with fine actors from stage screen and audio drama. They are most often adaptations of stage plays as is this fine play by David Rambo.
It is available via real audio stream on The Play's The Thing site until Sept. 20, 2008. And it can be purchased on CD from LA Theater Works anytime.
God's Man in Texas by David Rambo is an entertaining drama having to do with the big business of the religious/entertainment industry.
All the action takes place in a Texas mega church. The revered pastor of the church is aging and on the way out. The committee set up to replace him is having new preachers come in and give sample sermons. The figures, the approval rating, the amount of contributions, and the number of souls saved are all looked at in judging the new candidate and comparing him to others.
But there are other not so transparent political games going on in the church which might, more that these other things, determine the ultimate decision.
This is a full length play and it is amusing and somewhat frightening throughout. This form of TV age religion. so powerful in the USA is examined in an artful, intelligent way that never seems preachy or didactic.
This, like other LA Theater Works productions, is performed before a live audience. I tend to prefer studio productions without an audience, but LA Theater Works radio plays are generally topnotch with fine actors from stage screen and audio drama. They are most often adaptations of stage plays as is this fine play by David Rambo.
It is available via real audio stream on The Play's The Thing site until Sept. 20, 2008. And it can be purchased on CD from LA Theater Works anytime.
The Takeaway
WNYC Radio and Public Radio International has recently offered a new hour long news and information morning show called The Takeaway. It's not a bad product and I used to give it a listen from time to time. But now I can't bring myself to turn it on. It's not the content, but the production and specifically the bumper music that they keep repeating through the hour.
I hate the way it sticks in my head, how I hear it's little galloping rhythm after I turn off the radio and head out the door off toward my work day. It's not that it's a bad little tune, they just play it too many times though the hour.
Please take away the bumper music on The Takeaway then the show might be somewhat worth a listen. As is is all I take away from The Takeaway is an annoying tune I can't shake.
I hate the way it sticks in my head, how I hear it's little galloping rhythm after I turn off the radio and head out the door off toward my work day. It's not that it's a bad little tune, they just play it too many times though the hour.
Please take away the bumper music on The Takeaway then the show might be somewhat worth a listen. As is is all I take away from The Takeaway is an annoying tune I can't shake.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Classified Secret
Classified Secret is an episode from the long running CBS radio anthology series Escape.
This is a very fine little play written and directed by Anthony Ellis. It features a beautifully underplayed performance by Parley Baer as a spy on a bus ride. The whole play is kind of quite with some cold-blooded murderous calculation and action. Max Schmid played it at the top of his Golden Age of Radio Program on August 31, 2008.
You can hear it until Saturday Sept 13, 2008 on the WBAI Podcast page. Just scroll down to Golden Age of Radio August 31, 2008.
It is also available at Internet Archive.
If you are at all a fan of Gunsmoke you might enjoy hearing Bear who plays Chester in a completely different role. Classified Secret is a Cold War spy story and the best in radio melodrama of the period. A very good production all around.
It make a decent substitute while BBC Radio 4 listeners await the sorting out of the iPlayer mess, should that ever occur.
This is a very fine little play written and directed by Anthony Ellis. It features a beautifully underplayed performance by Parley Baer as a spy on a bus ride. The whole play is kind of quite with some cold-blooded murderous calculation and action. Max Schmid played it at the top of his Golden Age of Radio Program on August 31, 2008.
You can hear it until Saturday Sept 13, 2008 on the WBAI Podcast page. Just scroll down to Golden Age of Radio August 31, 2008.
It is also available at Internet Archive.
If you are at all a fan of Gunsmoke you might enjoy hearing Bear who plays Chester in a completely different role. Classified Secret is a Cold War spy story and the best in radio melodrama of the period. A very good production all around.
It make a decent substitute while BBC Radio 4 listeners await the sorting out of the iPlayer mess, should that ever occur.
Monday, August 4, 2008
This is the Modern World
I didn't hear the first two of Frank Cottrell Boyce's five Friday Plays having to do with punk and an audience reunion of, like, 27 people from a punk show in 1977.
But I did hear three and four.
Part 3: Damned, Damned, Damned is a prison drama with some interesting characters and plot turns. Here we have an audience member, or rather sort of bouncer, who is now in prison and in spite of his on-going anger problem, or because of it, has given his life to Christ in his very own muddled fashion. He has been invited to the audience reunion and wants to go except that he happens to be in prison. There is some interaction with the younger set in the can when our old punk guy talks about the bands of the past and tells them about the option of glue sniffing which I thought it rather odd. I would imagine all people in prison would know exactly what kind of stuff, that might be around the prison, one can get high from. Then he undergoes a change of approach to the younger set in the can, but it is an uneasy transition with some fits and starts.
Anyway, it was a pretty good play as far as I can remember from a week or so ago when I listened (Ah yes! the subjective nature of listening. Where was my mind that day?).
I have come here today to write about the most recent One Chord Wonders play,
This is the Modern World.
This must be the one that Frank Cottrell Boyce describes as: ". . . a road comedy that lurches into something surprisingly sad for the last ten minutes." It is a rather wild ride, or rather, walk. It's also a father/daughter buddy story and a fish out of water story.
The result is quite delightful with several surprises and some wonderful dialog and one liners along the way. On returning to civilization Muttley states that it was boring before, now it's boring and corporate. I could say that about my home town..
The play has this rather loopy looking-back from the future aspect. I'm not exactly sure why Cottrell Boyce made this choice other than he thought it would be fun to throw in, which I tend to agree. One can hear the joy of the free creative process in this play since it is so much fun and loopy while still dealing with some issues of the day, yesterday and today.
The ending turns into sort of a mother/daughter story. And what is the deal with people who want to benefit the world, and yet treat someone close with torturous rejection?
Frank Cottrell Boyce offers a mission statement that describes his pleasure of working in the freedom of the audio drama form. Well, I would imagine that it doesn't hurt that he had a fellow named Toby Swift in his corner with this project.
Anyway, I'm happy that the Friday Play is back and happy with the One Chord Wonders plays that I've heard and I wouldn't mind hearing the first two if anyone has any suggestions. . .
Do all the plays have a running Police gag? The two I heard both has a point where the protagonist has a little speech about punk music and, if you excuse the expression, Sting. Yes! Yes! Yes!
But I did hear three and four.
Part 3: Damned, Damned, Damned is a prison drama with some interesting characters and plot turns. Here we have an audience member, or rather sort of bouncer, who is now in prison and in spite of his on-going anger problem, or because of it, has given his life to Christ in his very own muddled fashion. He has been invited to the audience reunion and wants to go except that he happens to be in prison. There is some interaction with the younger set in the can when our old punk guy talks about the bands of the past and tells them about the option of glue sniffing which I thought it rather odd. I would imagine all people in prison would know exactly what kind of stuff, that might be around the prison, one can get high from. Then he undergoes a change of approach to the younger set in the can, but it is an uneasy transition with some fits and starts.
Anyway, it was a pretty good play as far as I can remember from a week or so ago when I listened (Ah yes! the subjective nature of listening. Where was my mind that day?).
I have come here today to write about the most recent One Chord Wonders play,
This is the Modern World.
This must be the one that Frank Cottrell Boyce describes as: ". . . a road comedy that lurches into something surprisingly sad for the last ten minutes." It is a rather wild ride, or rather, walk. It's also a father/daughter buddy story and a fish out of water story.
The result is quite delightful with several surprises and some wonderful dialog and one liners along the way. On returning to civilization Muttley states that it was boring before, now it's boring and corporate. I could say that about my home town..
The play has this rather loopy looking-back from the future aspect. I'm not exactly sure why Cottrell Boyce made this choice other than he thought it would be fun to throw in, which I tend to agree. One can hear the joy of the free creative process in this play since it is so much fun and loopy while still dealing with some issues of the day, yesterday and today.
The ending turns into sort of a mother/daughter story. And what is the deal with people who want to benefit the world, and yet treat someone close with torturous rejection?
Frank Cottrell Boyce offers a mission statement that describes his pleasure of working in the freedom of the audio drama form. Well, I would imagine that it doesn't hurt that he had a fellow named Toby Swift in his corner with this project.
Anyway, I'm happy that the Friday Play is back and happy with the One Chord Wonders plays that I've heard and I wouldn't mind hearing the first two if anyone has any suggestions. . .
Do all the plays have a running Police gag? The two I heard both has a point where the protagonist has a little speech about punk music and, if you excuse the expression, Sting. Yes! Yes! Yes!
Leonard and Marianne
BBC Radio 4 visits with Marianne Ihlen. This is the woman from the Leonard Cohen song So Long, Marianne, they have a history that now dates back almost 50 years, and both visit that a bit in this brief radio documentary.
This is not them sitting in the radio studio together, the interviews are recorded on separate occasions.
Now, I should say that I consider Cohen to be a very special artist, and as Marianne says in the program, he is really more than that. And she should know since she knows him well. I mean, it is one thing what the public thinks on one based on the work or publicity, what ones friends and associates think is generally another thing altogether. Cohen is really more than a writer or singer, he is almost a spiritual figure, because some of the work is very strong indeed.
I particularly favor the CD from a few years ago called Ten New Songs. This is perhaps the most listenable of Cohen's song collections. It is a very smooth piece thanks to the wonderful musical settings provided by Sharon Robinson. I kind of wish he would do more work with her. She is on the new one Dear Heather, but with only one song.
Cohen is very interesting in interviews, he should really talk more. In this one we hear him talk about what it was like to be a young writer and how it was a bit of an eye opener that he couldn't make a living as a writer, even a published one. He also speaks very kindly of Marianne, as she does him. Also he seems to have reached a sort of serenity in old age. That's nice.
So check it out if you are al all interested in LC. You can listen again until about Saturday Aug 10, 2008.
Here is some video of Cohen and a longer interview with Marianne conducted in Norwegian. A English translation of Marianne's interview is available here.
This is not them sitting in the radio studio together, the interviews are recorded on separate occasions.
Now, I should say that I consider Cohen to be a very special artist, and as Marianne says in the program, he is really more than that. And she should know since she knows him well. I mean, it is one thing what the public thinks on one based on the work or publicity, what ones friends and associates think is generally another thing altogether. Cohen is really more than a writer or singer, he is almost a spiritual figure, because some of the work is very strong indeed.
I particularly favor the CD from a few years ago called Ten New Songs. This is perhaps the most listenable of Cohen's song collections. It is a very smooth piece thanks to the wonderful musical settings provided by Sharon Robinson. I kind of wish he would do more work with her. She is on the new one Dear Heather, but with only one song.
Cohen is very interesting in interviews, he should really talk more. In this one we hear him talk about what it was like to be a young writer and how it was a bit of an eye opener that he couldn't make a living as a writer, even a published one. He also speaks very kindly of Marianne, as she does him. Also he seems to have reached a sort of serenity in old age. That's nice.
So check it out if you are al all interested in LC. You can listen again until about Saturday Aug 10, 2008.
Here is some video of Cohen and a longer interview with Marianne conducted in Norwegian. A English translation of Marianne's interview is available here.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Grandma Phyllis with Clay Pigeon
I generally avoid Seven Second Delay on WFMU. Andy does some good work. I quite enjoyed Rat Race (but have never seen Monk), perhaps he should stick to writing. He is not so good on the radio. He has a losing combination of traits being, abrasive and silly at the same time. He also somehow reminds me of Scooby Do, something about his voice.
At any rate I happened to look at the WFMU site at that hour the other day and saw that Clay Pigeon was filling in with someone called Grandma Phyllis and, being a fan of Clay's work, tuned in half way through the program.
They presented a unique and wonderful listening experience simply by talking, being human and authentic. For the first half hour Clay basically interviews Phyllis. As usual he is very good at drawing people out with empathy, projection, and leading questions. This works really well with Phyllis who seems quite comfortable about opening up about herself. Maybe she figures, at 78, "Why not!"
Later they take some calls. The calls are also unique. Particularly the granddaughter who lives with her grandparents and the 63 year old NYC woman.
There is some discussion about what it means for older people to move out of NYC and the dead zone of places that retirees are often expected to go live. Florida is particularly slammed as an unlivable place for someone who does not drive. I loved this discussion because Phyllis really defends being an older NYCer, as does the caller who is 63.
And it is true. NYC is a pretty wonderful place to live, and in the right neighborhood, everything is easily accessible for young or old. One does not have to get in an automobile all the time and I love that.
This is a terrific program. I found myself thinking that Phyllis should have her own show, but really it is special because it is rare, and if it was on every week it would probably become more guarded, or Phyllis would be annoyed by the commitment or something. But what we have is really interesting and fun.
Here it is:
WFMU's The Dusty Show with Clay Pigeon from 7/30/2008
At any rate I happened to look at the WFMU site at that hour the other day and saw that Clay Pigeon was filling in with someone called Grandma Phyllis and, being a fan of Clay's work, tuned in half way through the program.
They presented a unique and wonderful listening experience simply by talking, being human and authentic. For the first half hour Clay basically interviews Phyllis. As usual he is very good at drawing people out with empathy, projection, and leading questions. This works really well with Phyllis who seems quite comfortable about opening up about herself. Maybe she figures, at 78, "Why not!"
Later they take some calls. The calls are also unique. Particularly the granddaughter who lives with her grandparents and the 63 year old NYC woman.
There is some discussion about what it means for older people to move out of NYC and the dead zone of places that retirees are often expected to go live. Florida is particularly slammed as an unlivable place for someone who does not drive. I loved this discussion because Phyllis really defends being an older NYCer, as does the caller who is 63.
And it is true. NYC is a pretty wonderful place to live, and in the right neighborhood, everything is easily accessible for young or old. One does not have to get in an automobile all the time and I love that.
This is a terrific program. I found myself thinking that Phyllis should have her own show, but really it is special because it is rare, and if it was on every week it would probably become more guarded, or Phyllis would be annoyed by the commitment or something. But what we have is really interesting and fun.
Here it is:
WFMU's The Dusty Show with Clay Pigeon from 7/30/2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Speaking of Faith
Speaking of Faith is a program distributed by American Public Media. It plays on Saturday mornings at seven on WNYC-FM and is repeated in the afternoon at three on their AM station. The program deals with issues of faith, religion, spiritual matters, and how these interface with human sociology. This is a very good program that is on occasion, dependant on the subject, vital.
Play, Spirit, + Character is this week's repeat offering on Speaking of Faith. This played last year. It is an interview with Stuart Brown, a physician and director of the National Institute for Play. I would like to put this interview in the "vital", "must hear" file.
I would also recommend going to the site and listening to the extended unedited version of the interview.
Brown and charming host Krista Tippett discuss the function of play in human development and what can happen if play is absent or restricted.
There seems to be two directions play is currently going. There is the cram-them-full-of-info crowd that want to give children a leg up against the competition of all the other children and demands that there is really no time for something as silly as play. This is the notion that gives us things like No Child Left Behind. (Work, work, work, no recess, take your meds and get to work.) But then there are others in a growing movement that says the WORK of a child is PLAY. It is essential to the growth of a healthy human.
This is an excellent program. Please don't miss it.
When I was a child I could take off in the moring on my bike and my parents didn't really know where I was and what I was up to. It was wonderful; summertime, freedom!
Then school would begin in the fall.
Play, Spirit, + Character is this week's repeat offering on Speaking of Faith. This played last year. It is an interview with Stuart Brown, a physician and director of the National Institute for Play. I would like to put this interview in the "vital", "must hear" file.
I would also recommend going to the site and listening to the extended unedited version of the interview.
Brown and charming host Krista Tippett discuss the function of play in human development and what can happen if play is absent or restricted.
There seems to be two directions play is currently going. There is the cram-them-full-of-info crowd that want to give children a leg up against the competition of all the other children and demands that there is really no time for something as silly as play. This is the notion that gives us things like No Child Left Behind. (Work, work, work, no recess, take your meds and get to work.) But then there are others in a growing movement that says the WORK of a child is PLAY. It is essential to the growth of a healthy human.
This is an excellent program. Please don't miss it.
When I was a child I could take off in the moring on my bike and my parents didn't really know where I was and what I was up to. It was wonderful; summertime, freedom!
Then school would begin in the fall.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
BBC iPlayer
BBC radio internet users may have noticed a change.
We now have the BBC iPlayer which at a glance seems to afford several more listening and viewing options since they have added video. One must be in the UK in order to see the video. The radio continues to stream and offer Listen Again for a week after broadcast as before.
OK, this is fine and I suppose quite helpful to some people particularly TV viewers in the UK.
But I have a complaint.
I don't like that it is now more difficult to just get a stream to play without a browser plug-in. The reason that I don't like it being linked to the browser constantly is that when I scroll in the browser while listening to the stream the stream pauses sometimes during the scroll.
This is a particular problem when I'm trying to record the program with Audio Hijack.
I use a Mac and Safari. Also if I continue to browse I could run into other sound coming from another site I visit which could get on my recording. There used to be a button on the RealPlayer plug-in that could be clicked and instantly open the program in the stand alone RealPlayer application. This button has vanished and I did some looking around to try to find the "Stand alone player" option.
I failed.
The work around for me: When the iPlayer plug-in opens it does not show the url.
So I go View>show toolbar.
This the top of the window and reveals the url.
Copy url.
Open RealPlayer.
file>open location>paste
The program then plays in the RealPlayer stand alone.
BBC, please bring the "Stand Alone Player" button back.
Thank you very much.
====================
The next day. . .
Well, I spoke too soon. My little work around isn't working at all.
Anybody have any ideas? I looked a bit at the BBC Radio 4 Message Board to see if anyone else was complaining. I could find nothing there.
I have yet to attempt to reconfigure RealPlayer, maybe the solution is there.
Yeah, change=life. But sometimes I just want it to stay the same.
At least BBC Radio 4 put The Friday Play back on except that while it was off I stopped looking to see if it was there so missed some of the One Chord plays which I would have liked to have heard. I probably should read those weekly newsletter emails so I know what is going on.
We now have the BBC iPlayer which at a glance seems to afford several more listening and viewing options since they have added video. One must be in the UK in order to see the video. The radio continues to stream and offer Listen Again for a week after broadcast as before.
OK, this is fine and I suppose quite helpful to some people particularly TV viewers in the UK.
But I have a complaint.
I don't like that it is now more difficult to just get a stream to play without a browser plug-in. The reason that I don't like it being linked to the browser constantly is that when I scroll in the browser while listening to the stream the stream pauses sometimes during the scroll.
This is a particular problem when I'm trying to record the program with Audio Hijack.
I use a Mac and Safari. Also if I continue to browse I could run into other sound coming from another site I visit which could get on my recording. There used to be a button on the RealPlayer plug-in that could be clicked and instantly open the program in the stand alone RealPlayer application. This button has vanished and I did some looking around to try to find the "Stand alone player" option.
I failed.
The work around for me: When the iPlayer plug-in opens it does not show the url.
So I go View>show toolbar.
This the top of the window and reveals the url.
Copy url.
Open RealPlayer.
file>open location>paste
The program then plays in the RealPlayer stand alone.
BBC, please bring the "Stand Alone Player" button back.
Thank you very much.
====================
The next day. . .
Well, I spoke too soon. My little work around isn't working at all.
Anybody have any ideas? I looked a bit at the BBC Radio 4 Message Board to see if anyone else was complaining. I could find nothing there.
I have yet to attempt to reconfigure RealPlayer, maybe the solution is there.
Yeah, change=life. But sometimes I just want it to stay the same.
At least BBC Radio 4 put The Friday Play back on except that while it was off I stopped looking to see if it was there so missed some of the One Chord plays which I would have liked to have heard. I probably should read those weekly newsletter emails so I know what is going on.
Monday, July 28, 2008
The Leviathan Chronicles
Christof Laputka is in the process of creating an interesting product in The Leviathan Chronicles. Ok, anyone who spends much thing scanning through this blog will see that I have basically ignored independent productions in favor of BBC stuff. There is a lot more to the audio drama world other than BBC and OTR. There are several independent production companies. These seem to go from a guy somewhere with a mic and an internet connection all the way to production companies that seem to have a budget and a company of people to work with. The Leviathan Chronicles, along with Wireless, is in the latter group with an impressive flash web site and professional sounding tech and performances (for the most part, a scene in Chapter 5 could use a little more work).
Well, I have been called out and told to look into The Leviathan Chronicles and I did. This is a long form continuous science fiction story that is said to expand to 50 chapters of 30 minutes or so each. So far we are up to Chapter 9. I have heard the first 5.
Now the thing is. I'm not particularly drawn to serials, as a matter of fact I tend to avoid them. I favor the anthology series, shows that present something new every time. I somehow find it tedious to have to revisit my old friends, the principals on the series. So I say, give me Suspense, The Afternoon Play, The Twilight Zone, that sort of thing.
But The Leviathan Chronicles is quite good. The scenes are paced nicely, the plot interesting, some characters are revealing themselves to be worth following. I'm not a big fan of science fiction in general and I have heard some things that are kind of rushed, cluttered, noisy and not very lucid. I tend toward the more earth based science fiction, don't care much about space. So here we have a little of both with earth based action and undersea playing outerspace.
Being a New Yorker, I particularly enjoy the scene that take place here. Christof Laputka is a New Yorker and he celebrates it in his script setting geographically detailed scenes in his own neighborhood.
The tech of this production is good. There was some very interesting things going on with the musical score in chapter 5 which was nice because the scene it played under could have used a bit of work. Most of the time the acting is fine. It was a good decision to assign the narration to Samantha Turvill. She is terrific and really adds to the production.
The Leviathan Chronicles is not only for the sci-fi crowd, as a matter of fact I wonder how well it would go over in some fan communities. This is crossover material perhaps of interest to the general audio drama listener (is there such a thing?). This is secret society material that plays well in our current confusing WTF world. Although it has been years since I read him, Leviathan brings to mind some of the work of Robert Anton Wilson. Is Leviathan actually the Illuminati? Is this strange character Christof Laputka actually an Illuminati agent whose mission is to spread disinformation?
I guess we should all stay tuned and see what will happen next. It's an entertaining worthwhile ride (dive?).
Here is an interview with Christof Laputka conducted by Steve Riekeberg at Geek Cred.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
The Small Back Room
BBC Radio 4 presents a very interesting wartime drama as this week's Saturday Play. By "wartime" I mean World War Two, oh so long ago, but somehow ever present in that it kind of set the USA in a particular direction that is still a bit of a major problem.
Anyway, this play is not about any of that, yet it is very relevant to our wonderful 21st Century world. It has to do with the science guys who are supposed to be developing exciting new weaponry. There is an amusing scene early on where they take some time out to read "the comics" which is what they call the unsolicited mail-in suggestions from citizens.
The main plot concerns Sammy who is looking into some anti-personnel bombs that go off when found by whomever, like children, non-combatants. There are two fine scene with victims of these bombs. one dead, one soon to be. These bombs made me think of Cluster Bombs. Something that is still being perpetrated on the people of the world.
This is a good play, a gripping hour with an interesting suspense element. I didn't know which way the exciting ending was going to go. Beautifully written, produced and acted.
I never saw the movie version of this Nigel Balchin story.
The Small Back Room is available to "Listen Again" through Friday May 2, 2008. It is a worthy entertainment.
Anyway, this play is not about any of that, yet it is very relevant to our wonderful 21st Century world. It has to do with the science guys who are supposed to be developing exciting new weaponry. There is an amusing scene early on where they take some time out to read "the comics" which is what they call the unsolicited mail-in suggestions from citizens.
The main plot concerns Sammy who is looking into some anti-personnel bombs that go off when found by whomever, like children, non-combatants. There are two fine scene with victims of these bombs. one dead, one soon to be. These bombs made me think of Cluster Bombs. Something that is still being perpetrated on the people of the world.
This is a good play, a gripping hour with an interesting suspense element. I didn't know which way the exciting ending was going to go. Beautifully written, produced and acted.
I never saw the movie version of this Nigel Balchin story.
The Small Back Room is available to "Listen Again" through Friday May 2, 2008. It is a worthy entertainment.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
How Now TV
The Friday Play on BBC Radio 4 has been given to Paul Watson for the past two weeks. One wonders what Mr. Watson will have for us next week. Maybe he only has two and we can get back to radio drama.
I was not happy with the Unhappy Countess, not that I listened to the whole thing.
I did listen to all of How Now TV.
Mr. Watson has a long history of TV documentaries. I have not seen any of them that I know of. I suppose they are great, let's assume that. Yet his work n the audio plays is not at all good. Maybe the idea was that he was famous for work in TV and since TV is the god of all media surely he could tackle the easy comparatively infantile duties of writing and directing his own radio plays. After all, in radio you don't have the added worry of picture so it must be easier.
Or maybe the TV has finished with him and given all the work to the younger set so the poor old chap needed a gig and since radio pays so poorly, let him write two plays and double dip by directing them too (still not equal to TV money. I'm sure).
Anyway, How Now TV, was not at all engaging or even slightly interesting. I wish Radio 4 would have produced some scripts by people who know radio and know how to write for radio and let the TV rejects get by some other way
I was not happy with the Unhappy Countess, not that I listened to the whole thing.
I did listen to all of How Now TV.
Mr. Watson has a long history of TV documentaries. I have not seen any of them that I know of. I suppose they are great, let's assume that. Yet his work n the audio plays is not at all good. Maybe the idea was that he was famous for work in TV and since TV is the god of all media surely he could tackle the easy comparatively infantile duties of writing and directing his own radio plays. After all, in radio you don't have the added worry of picture so it must be easier.
Or maybe the TV has finished with him and given all the work to the younger set so the poor old chap needed a gig and since radio pays so poorly, let him write two plays and double dip by directing them too (still not equal to TV money. I'm sure).
Anyway, How Now TV, was not at all engaging or even slightly interesting. I wish Radio 4 would have produced some scripts by people who know radio and know how to write for radio and let the TV rejects get by some other way
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Grace
I've been a bit distracted lately, so it has been hard for me to get to writing about some plays that I have enjoyed in the past few months.
But the Afternoon Play on BBC Radio 4 has come up with one that I don't want to let pass by without a mention.
Grace by Mick Gordon and AC Grayling is a very good play. I loved it. This it the type of drama that I really enjoy. It is a well written, thought provoking, play not far from the back story of current cultural trends. It is beautifully produced, well acted. In short, I think this is about as good as one can do in the 43 minute allotment of the time slot.
Here is the Radio 4 description of the play:
"Issues of faith, love, and humanity are at the core of this intimate family drama in which Grace, a scientist and champion of atheism, is faced with the decision of her son Tom to become a priest. A collaboration between philosopher A.C.Grayling and theatre writer and director Mick Gordon, the characters offer solutions to their deeply opposed ways of looking at the world even as they rage."
I would suggest that you might not want to miss this one. I mean, can good religion be used to defeat bad religion? That is a very good question and one that I have been thinking abut recently, and in the way, why I have been distracted recently.
Don't expect the play to answer this question. Don't even expect the play to explain a major plot point. It doesn't matter anyway and is not the ultimate point of the entertainment.
Grace is available here through Sunday April 27, 2008. Give it a listen.
But the Afternoon Play on BBC Radio 4 has come up with one that I don't want to let pass by without a mention.
Grace by Mick Gordon and AC Grayling is a very good play. I loved it. This it the type of drama that I really enjoy. It is a well written, thought provoking, play not far from the back story of current cultural trends. It is beautifully produced, well acted. In short, I think this is about as good as one can do in the 43 minute allotment of the time slot.
Here is the Radio 4 description of the play:
"Issues of faith, love, and humanity are at the core of this intimate family drama in which Grace, a scientist and champion of atheism, is faced with the decision of her son Tom to become a priest. A collaboration between philosopher A.C.Grayling and theatre writer and director Mick Gordon, the characters offer solutions to their deeply opposed ways of looking at the world even as they rage."
I would suggest that you might not want to miss this one. I mean, can good religion be used to defeat bad religion? That is a very good question and one that I have been thinking abut recently, and in the way, why I have been distracted recently.
Don't expect the play to answer this question. Don't even expect the play to explain a major plot point. It doesn't matter anyway and is not the ultimate point of the entertainment.
Grace is available here through Sunday April 27, 2008. Give it a listen.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Hunting and Gathering Our Fast Food
So there was Deirdre Barrett on the radio this morning telling me that the hunter gatherers only had to work, like, three hours a day.
What the hell is wrong with us? How come we have to work so much even while we have all these labour saving machines?
And these hunter-gatherers, what do they do the rest of the time? PLAY!
Then she said something about the bonobos.
Yeah, PLAY.
Right. We've heard how the bonobos play.
Despite all that,
I want to be a hunter gather when I grow up.
Here is a pretty interesting interview from today's Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC.
What the hell is wrong with us? How come we have to work so much even while we have all these labour saving machines?
And these hunter-gatherers, what do they do the rest of the time? PLAY!
Then she said something about the bonobos.
Yeah, PLAY.
Right. We've heard how the bonobos play.
Despite all that,
I want to be a hunter gather when I grow up.
Here is a pretty interesting interview from today's Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Tomorrow, Today!
The thing is, I have a good deal of trouble keeping up with the stuff on BBC Radio 4. Especially when there are so many other things that I listen too, and life also has other demands. . .
Here is a bit of fun. Tomorrow, Today! is a very fast paced comedy half-hour. It has to do with the production of a BBC radio science fiction drama series being produced in 1962. I must like comedies about acting companies, the recent Murder Unprompted was quite enjoyable. And in this one we again have vain foolish actors, etc.
As I said Tomorrow, Today! moves fast and covers a lot of plot during all the gags. Two men are killed, people are threatened with loss of work, Commies at the BBC!?!?, ancient theatrical curses, we find out what happen to all the honey bees recently (Atomic Man-Bees!), and the heartbreak on not having your own doll if your part is, "All other voices".
And that's just the first week. I guess we will have to wait until Today, Next Week to see what the future holds.
Check it out: Tomorrow, Today!
Here is a bit of fun. Tomorrow, Today! is a very fast paced comedy half-hour. It has to do with the production of a BBC radio science fiction drama series being produced in 1962. I must like comedies about acting companies, the recent Murder Unprompted was quite enjoyable. And in this one we again have vain foolish actors, etc.
As I said Tomorrow, Today! moves fast and covers a lot of plot during all the gags. Two men are killed, people are threatened with loss of work, Commies at the BBC!?!?, ancient theatrical curses, we find out what happen to all the honey bees recently (Atomic Man-Bees!), and the heartbreak on not having your own doll if your part is, "All other voices".
And that's just the first week. I guess we will have to wait until Today, Next Week to see what the future holds.
Check it out: Tomorrow, Today!
Saturday, January 19, 2008
We Need to Talk about Kevin
This is a BBC Radio 4 play of the novel by Lionel Shriver, adapted by Anita Sullivan.
Maybe baby? Maybe not?
Perhaps this horror story, this worst case, will tip the scale one way or another.
But really, this between Eva and Kevin is really horrible. To be an unloved child. . .An unloved mother. . .
The Woman's Hour Drama slot is 15 minutes in length. This play ran to 10 parts. I have not been a big listener to the 15 minute multi-part plays, but with this one the format worked quite nicely. Maybe that is because the play is mostly a woman reading her letters to her husband. So a couple of letters per episode seemed to work well. The letters will then sometimes come to life as small scenes from them are dramatized, acted out.
The material is very dark and somewhat unusual. We are not so accustomed to hearing a mother speak so negatively about the experience. I was pleased to find the Lionel Shriver is in fact a woman. I didn't want this negative mother's voice to come from a man.
It appears the some of the motivation for this, the original book, is that Shriver, childless, was personally exploring the idea of having a child before it was no longer possible to have one. This result, in radio play form, is a mother and son melodrama that is quite harsh. It is a horror story of the worst that can happen.
I believe that for the most part it is genetically part of us to love out children. This helps us to survive, to keep reproducing. But does the experience make us happy?
I read a book last year called Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert. In one section he discusses the parent/child issue and presents a graph on the results of two studies on the happiness of parents. It turns out that having children does not at all make us happy. generally the issues involved in parenting are difficult enough that the studies show that the happiness of the couple recedes when the children come and only returns to the same level when they leave the nest. Of course this is not a conscious experience of most parents because we must love our children and do, so we ignore the negatives.
As a listening experience the show is topnotch. Madeleine Potter rather underplays her Eva. That restraint makes her believable, more real. It is a wonderful performance, with difficult material. Nathan Nolan's Kevin always has the right tone of youthful wise ass pain.
So this is strong stuff which will not be for everyone, but I really enjoyed it as a very scary story, well told.
The last 5 parts are available on The Woman's Hour Drama page but will change into something else beginning Monday Jan. 21, 2008.
Here in an interesting interview with Lionel Shriver. She talks about her book.
Maybe baby? Maybe not?
Perhaps this horror story, this worst case, will tip the scale one way or another.
But really, this between Eva and Kevin is really horrible. To be an unloved child. . .An unloved mother. . .
The Woman's Hour Drama slot is 15 minutes in length. This play ran to 10 parts. I have not been a big listener to the 15 minute multi-part plays, but with this one the format worked quite nicely. Maybe that is because the play is mostly a woman reading her letters to her husband. So a couple of letters per episode seemed to work well. The letters will then sometimes come to life as small scenes from them are dramatized, acted out.
The material is very dark and somewhat unusual. We are not so accustomed to hearing a mother speak so negatively about the experience. I was pleased to find the Lionel Shriver is in fact a woman. I didn't want this negative mother's voice to come from a man.
It appears the some of the motivation for this, the original book, is that Shriver, childless, was personally exploring the idea of having a child before it was no longer possible to have one. This result, in radio play form, is a mother and son melodrama that is quite harsh. It is a horror story of the worst that can happen.
I believe that for the most part it is genetically part of us to love out children. This helps us to survive, to keep reproducing. But does the experience make us happy?
I read a book last year called Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert. In one section he discusses the parent/child issue and presents a graph on the results of two studies on the happiness of parents. It turns out that having children does not at all make us happy. generally the issues involved in parenting are difficult enough that the studies show that the happiness of the couple recedes when the children come and only returns to the same level when they leave the nest. Of course this is not a conscious experience of most parents because we must love our children and do, so we ignore the negatives.
As a listening experience the show is topnotch. Madeleine Potter rather underplays her Eva. That restraint makes her believable, more real. It is a wonderful performance, with difficult material. Nathan Nolan's Kevin always has the right tone of youthful wise ass pain.
So this is strong stuff which will not be for everyone, but I really enjoyed it as a very scary story, well told.
The last 5 parts are available on The Woman's Hour Drama page but will change into something else beginning Monday Jan. 21, 2008.
Here in an interesting interview with Lionel Shriver. She talks about her book.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Snow in July
Snow in July takes us into the same sort of area as Advice for the Living. We have a character who is going to die sooner than the rest of us (hopefully).
Except here the story is presented in dramatic form and the main focus is on the likely to live longer spouse. It is a bitter sweet story of one who is struggling to find a way to accept it all and go on with living.
There is a certain hope in this aspect of the story, an embrace of change, and change is something it is best to come to terms with. Change being a constant.
There is another story here as well. A story of industrial pollution, it's tragic results years in the future, long after the polluters have gone out of business.
In Snow in July we have a beautiful combination of the personal story that pulls us in, and the bigger story of industry, law, and justice.
This excellent play by Alice Nutter can be heard here through Monday Jan. 14, 2008. Just click on the Tuesday button.
Except here the story is presented in dramatic form and the main focus is on the likely to live longer spouse. It is a bitter sweet story of one who is struggling to find a way to accept it all and go on with living.
There is a certain hope in this aspect of the story, an embrace of change, and change is something it is best to come to terms with. Change being a constant.
There is another story here as well. A story of industrial pollution, it's tragic results years in the future, long after the polluters have gone out of business.
In Snow in July we have a beautiful combination of the personal story that pulls us in, and the bigger story of industry, law, and justice.
This excellent play by Alice Nutter can be heard here through Monday Jan. 14, 2008. Just click on the Tuesday button.
Friday, January 4, 2008
Advice to the Living
Advice to the Living gives us the chance to listen to some very interesting. articulate, and educated. sooner-to-be-dead people talk about their attitudes and feelings about life. As a group they are generally rather upbeat about the issue. But I suppose when one is told that the inevitable is in fact imminent one has to become philosophical about having to leave everything . The thing is all of these folk are so bright and well spoken and kind of young, that one wonders what the old, stupid, inarticulate, or not thoughtful types think about it all.
One man says that his illness told him to, "Slow down, you move too fast, got to make the morning last." (Was I wise to take Simon's advice to heart years ago rather than have illness tell me?)
They say at the end that Advice to the Living is available as a podcast. That may be so. But I know that you can listen to the stream here through Wednesday Jan. 9th 2008.
I like these programs on Radio 4 that end with, "If you have been effected by the issues. . .".
I like to hear about these people's attitudes about death. I'm alive, therefore I am very interested in death. I think that is natural. Are there others that hardly give a thought to death? Do they just live or keep themselves super busy for distraction?
One man learned to go with the flow. He says that he is happier going with the river out to the sea rather than continuing to struggle onward and want more and swim upstream against the flow. I'm rather happy to hear the river used in a metaphor like this.
Of only we could have a follow up with some of these lovely people. Perhaps Radio 4 could somehow arrange for a post interview on the other side. . .wherever that may be. (Out at sea somewhere?)
One man says that his illness told him to, "Slow down, you move too fast, got to make the morning last." (Was I wise to take Simon's advice to heart years ago rather than have illness tell me?)
They say at the end that Advice to the Living is available as a podcast. That may be so. But I know that you can listen to the stream here through Wednesday Jan. 9th 2008.
I like these programs on Radio 4 that end with, "If you have been effected by the issues. . .".
I like to hear about these people's attitudes about death. I'm alive, therefore I am very interested in death. I think that is natural. Are there others that hardly give a thought to death? Do they just live or keep themselves super busy for distraction?
One man learned to go with the flow. He says that he is happier going with the river out to the sea rather than continuing to struggle onward and want more and swim upstream against the flow. I'm rather happy to hear the river used in a metaphor like this.
Of only we could have a follow up with some of these lovely people. Perhaps Radio 4 could somehow arrange for a post interview on the other side. . .wherever that may be. (Out at sea somewhere?)
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