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

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.

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.

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.

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.