I certainly shan't be sitting up until midnight to listen to the repeat of John Hodge's Collaborators, N Hytner-directed or no, but I shall hope to listen eventually. I couldn't find a thread about the initial broadcast - does anyone remember it?
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It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world. -
This is a radio version of the original NT stage production which was shown as an NT Live in cinemas and which was transferred from their smallest to their largest theatre due to its popularity (with the draw of Alex Jennings and Simon Russell Beale). I didn't listen before, and I didn't see the stage production, but my fear is that, with its large cast, it may be confusing to listeners who haven't seen it in the theatre or as an NT Live. -
NT productions have transferred to R3 once or twice. The large cast might have a few spear-carriers who won't confuse the main action too much. We'll see.It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.Comment
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I really enjoyed this broadcast. For some reason I don't recall noticing it first time round, and I missed out on the NT live cinema broadcast which I now regret. The play is a black comedy, more surrealistic than realistic, based on an imaginary collaboration between Stalin and Bulgakov on a play about the early life of the dictator. It was based on the fact of Bulgakov being commissioned to write such a play in 1938 but it quickly departs from historical verisimilitude. The performances of Alex Jennings as the writer and Simon Russell Beale as Stalin were excellent, and Lloyd Hutchinson was a wonderfully sardonic NKVD officer (reminiscent of Colin Blakely in some of his sinister portrayals). Michael Billington in his review of the NT stage play thought it unfairly downplayed the role of the dissident artist, but to me it illustrated the powerlessness of the writer confronting an arbitrary, capricious, totalitarian regime (and this play was set around the time of the terror of the late 1930s during which people from all kinds of professions were being sent to the gulag).
I didn't think it was difficult to follow, since from fairly early on the action revolved around a small number of protagonists, and voices were generally well differentiated.Comment
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That reminds me - I did listen to it and forgot to comment. I've now forgotten the plot details but do have a lasting memory of the Bulgakov 'household' - including the resident in the cupboard
It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.Comment
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We hugely enjoyed the production at the Cottesloe and the broadcast came as welcome back-up. We had been in London that day for Nelsons doing Mahler 5th at RFH and the broadcast coincided neatly with our drive home down a pitchback and eerily deserted M4. We actually arrived home before it finished and had to listen to the end in the house. It was great to be reminded of the text and be able to remember what was happening in the staging. Having seen the NT's superb production of Bulgakov’s The White Guard a few years before also contributed to an appreciation of the play's context.Comment
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