Chronological Log:
1 26 Aug, 1991 "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley - 120 min
2 28 Aug, 1991 "Kaleidoscope" by Ray Bradbury - 45 min
3 04 Sep, 1991 "The Midas Plague" by Fred Pohl - 45 min
4 05 Sep, 1991 "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes - 60 min
5 08 Sep, 1991 "The Chrysalids" by John Wyndham 90 min
6 09 Sep, 1991 "Space Ache" by Snoo Wilson 75 min
7 12 Sep, 1991 "Who Goes Here?" by Bob Shaw 60 min
8 14 Sep, 1991 "Tiger! Tiger!" by Alfred Bester 90 min
N.B. The Chrysalids is a repeat of the 1981 production.
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#1 Aldous Huxley - Brave New World
BBC Radio 4: Saturday Night Theatre - 128K
Broadcast: Saturday 31st August 1991 @ 7:45 p.m.
"Brave New World" is Huxley's warning; it is his attempt to make man realise that since knowledge is power, he who controls and uses knowledge wields the power. Science and technology should be the servants of man - man should not be adapted and enslaved to them. "Brave New World" is a description of our lives as they could be in the none too distant future, if the present obsessions persist for standardization according to the sciences - eugenics and psychology, as well as economics and mechanics.
In the 'brave new world' of 632 A. F. (After Ford), universal human happiness has been achieved. (Well, almost.) Control of reproduction, genetic engineering, conditioning - especially via repetitive messages delivered during sleep - and a perfect pleasure drug called 'Soma' are the cornerstones of the new society. Reproduction has been removed from the womb and placed on the conveyor belt, where reproductive workers tinker with the embryos to produce various grades of human beings, ranging from the super-intelligent Alpha Pluses down to the dwarfed semi-moron Epsilons.
Each class is conditioned to love its type of work and its place in society; for example, Epsilons are supremely happy running elevators. Outside of their work, people spend their lives in constant pleasure. This involves consuming (continually buying new things, whether they need them or not), participating in elaborate sports, and free-floating sex. While uninhibited sex is universal and considered socially constructive, love, marriage, and parenthood are viewed as obscene.
The story concerns Bernard, an alpha whose programming is a bit off--he is discontented and desires to spend time alone just thinking or looking at the stars. At one point he takes Lenina on a vacation to the savage reservation in New Mexico. There he discovers John (the Savage), son of Linda who had visited the reservation more than 20 years previously and was accidentally left behind. When she discovered she was pregnant (the ultimate humiliation!), she had to remain among the savages. John returns to the Brave New World where he is feted as the Visiting Savage. However, he cannot adapt to this totally alien society and, ultimately, he takes his own life.
Commentary: Huxley wrote "Brave New World" in 1931, before the advent of the Nazi totalitarian state, the more extreme development of the Soviet state during the 1930's, and the Second World War. His version of total control was based on conditioning and drugs, rather than military might and terror. The vision was implemented by principles of mass production and consumption. Thus, Henry Ford was adopted as the new god. Where once there was Christ and his Cross, in the brave new world they had Ford and his Flivver.
It is interesting to compare Huxley's new society with the one George Orwell describes in 1984. Perhaps because Orwell wrote in 1947 after the cataclysm of the war and in full knowledge of the new totalitarianism, his dystopian vision was grounded in terror and brainwashing. While in both societies people were simply clogs of the state, in "Brave New World" the state provided continual pleasure as a substitute for freedom.
Toward the end of the story, the World Controller explains to Bernard and the Savage why contentment is more important than freedom or truth. This lengthy explanation is very much like the Grand Inquisitor's tale in "The Brothers Karamazov".
Dramatisation by Stephen Mulrine of Aldous Huxley's 1931 novel, "Brave New World".
Gary Cady ............................................. The Savage
Jack Klaff ........... Mustapha Mond, Controller of Western Europe
Moir Leslie ........................................ Lenina Crowne
Jonathan Tafler ..................................... Bernard Marx
Frances de la Tour ......................................... Linda
Sean Pertwee .................................... Helmholtz Watson
Hugh Dickson .......................... The Director of Hatcheries
Nigel Carrington .................................... Henry Foster
Jane Whittenshaw .................................... Fanny Crowne
Susan Sheridan .......................... The President of Worship
Andrew Wincott ..................................... Benito Hoover
Petra Markham ........................... The Headmistress of Eton
Timothy Carlton ................... The Archsongster of Canterbury
Mark Straker ........................................ Primo Mellon
Joanna Myers ........................................... The Nurse
Richard Pearce ........................................... The Boy
Walter Acosta .................................. The Spanish Guide
Other parts were played by members of the cast
Music by Wilfredo Acosta
Directed by Marilyn Imrie
Part 1 of 2
Replies
Thanks from me too had some but not all the collection or the details.
Paul
You are welcome, hope you enjoy them as much as I did. -------------------------------------------- Rick
I seem to move in cycles and I'll spend 3 months on a crime spree, and then I'll come back and go off in a journey into space for the next 3 months. Lord only knows what I've not yet spotted in the historical drama section! ;-)
I just happened to notice the Ray Bradbury section in Waterstones Bookshop yesterday, and so last night I just went looking for something I've not heard before!
BBC Radio 4: The Shape of Things to Come
Broadcast: Saturday 14th September 1991 @ 2:30 p.m.
The tale of half-mad and mutilated Gulliver Foyle's desperate quest of vengance and hate across a solar system locked in bloody war. But all the while, wheels within the wheels are turning.
"He was Gulliver Foyle, Mechanic's Mate 3rd Class, thirty years old, big boned and rough... and one hundred and seventy days adrift in space. He was Gully Foyle, the oiler, wiper, bunkerman; too easy for trouble, too slow for fun, too empty for friendship, too lazy for love. He had reached a dead end."
Dramatised by Ivan Benbrook from the 1956 novel by the great Alfred Bester - also published under the title, "The Stars My Destination".
Alun Armstrong .................... Gulliver Foyle
Tony Church ............................... Joseph
Lesley Manville ................. Jisbella McQueen
Andrew Hilton .......................... Presteign
Miranda Richardson .............. Olivia Presteign
Brett Usher ........................ Saul Dagenham
Siobhan Redmond ................. Robin Wednesbury
Steve Hodson ................ Captain Y'ang-Yeovil
Christopher Ashley ............... Regis Sheffield
Petra Markham .............................. Moira
Eric Allan ........................ Sergeant Logan
David Bannerman .............. Ben Forrest / Bunny
Terence Edmond ...................... Harley Baker
John Telfer ........... Sigurd Magsman / The Robot
Original music composed by Gary Yershon
Directed by Andy Jordan.
SOTTC - 8 - Bester,Alfred - Tiger! Tiger! (R4 1991-09-14).mp3
BBC Radio 4: The Shape of Things to Come
Broadcast: Thursday 12th September 1991
A science fiction comedy.
Curious and amusing story of time travel, erased memories, crazed scientists, mysterious aliens and one very confused man - Warren Peace. Having apparently voluntarily submitted to a brain wipe and enlistment in the Space Legion for 40 years, Warren is doubtful that he would have chosen this. But then his memory isn't what it used to be...
Dramatised by Wilfredo Acosta from Bob Shaw's 1977 novel, "Who Goes Here?", the first of two books (followed in 1993 by "Warren Peace") in the the Warren Peace saga.
Douglas Hodge ................. Warren Peace
David March .................. Professor Leg
Timothy Carlton .............. Captain Wiget
Terence Edmond ..................... Oscar I
Charles Millham .................... Oscar 2
Adjoa Andoh ..................... The Doctor
Paul Russell ....................... The Boy
Andrew Wincott ......................... Ran
David Bannerman ................... Merriman
Peter Penry-Jones ................ Pennycook
Ann Windsor ...................... Ms Harley
Mark Straker ......................... Georg
Eric Allan ........................ Simpkins
Jane Whittenshaw .................... Fluffo
Directed by Glyn Dearman
Note: This radio play (and book) is frequently, and erroneously, referred to as "Who Goes There"?
The seventh of eight in a series of Sci-Fi dramas under the "Shape of Things to Come" banner.
SOTTC - 7 - Shaw,Bob - Who goes here (R4 1991-09-12).mp3
#6 Spaceache by Snoo Wilson - 1991-09-09
When you're fed up to there with down here, there's only one solution . . . get frozen, shrunken, and shot into space in a milk bottle.
An ironic, sardonic, surreal space adventure by one of Britain's most successful young writers.
SOTTC - 6 - Wilson,Snoo - Space ache (R4 1991-09-09).mp3
#5 John Wyndham - The Chrysalids
BBC Radio 4: Saturday Night Theatre
Broadcast: Saturday 25th April 1981 @ 8:30 p.m.
When John Wyndham wrote "The Chrysalids" in the 1950s, fears of a nuclear war were high, were reflected in many books and films at the time. A lot of the stories involved the world being taken over by mutations - giant insects like ants and spiders - the results of some form of nuclear fallout. Wyndham's approach to the fictional nuclear catastrophy was different. "The Chrysalids" is a story of the post-nuclear world paralysed by genetic mutation. Religious leaders burned fields of corn if they're imperfect; killed animals born with mutations; and closely inspect babies for defects. In a community where deviations are routed out as work of the Devil, young David has a secret. He can communicate by "thought shapes". What will become of him if his ability is discovered?
Dramatised by Barbara Clegg from John Wyndham's 1955 novel, "The Chrysalids".
Stephen Garlick ............................... David
Amanda Murray .............................. Rosalind
Judy Bennett .................................. Petra
Spencer Banks ........................ Michael / Alan
Phillipa Ritchie .......................... Katherine
Jenny Lee .................................... Rachel
Kathryn Hurlbutt ................................ Ann
Sonja Fraser ................................. Mother
Peter Baldwin ................................ Father
Elisabeth Ryder ................................ Mary
Michael Spice ............................ Uncle Axel
Susan Sheridan ..................... David as a child
Elissa Derwent ..................... Sofie as a child
Jennifer Piercey ............ Mrs. Wender / Sealander
Robin Browne ................. Mr. Wender / Spiderman
Elizabeth Rider ................................ Mary
Peter Baldwin ................................ Father
Sonia Fraser ................................. Mother
Michael Spice .................................. Axel
John Rye .................................. Inspector
William Eedle ................................. Jacob
Martyn Read ................................. Skinner
Jane Knowles ....................... Sofie as a woman
Directed by Michael Bartlett
Repeated Broadcast: Monday 27th April 1981 on BBC Radio 4: Afternoon Theatre.
SOTTC - 5 - Wyndham,John - The Chrysalids (R4 1981-04-25).mp3
cal;ed "The shape of things to come" (1991)
#4 Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
BBC Radio 4 1991-09-05
A science fiction story, from which an Oscar-winning
film and a musical (!) have been made.
Tom Courtenay stars as the backward Charlie who is
offered a miraculous cure for his low IQ.
Tom Courtenay ..................... Charlie
Algernon .......................... Himself
Joanna Myers ................. Miss Kinnian
Barrie Cookson ................. Dr Strauss
Ronald Herdman ................... Dr Nemur
Clarence Smith ....................... Bert
Nigel Carrington ............. Joe/Donnegan
Auriol Smith .............. Mrs Flynn/Ellen
Alan Barker ............. Frank/Sherrinford
Adapted by Bert Coules
Produced by Matthew Walters
SOTTC - 4 - Keyes,Daniel - Flowers for Algernon (R4 1991-09-05).mp3
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