Do3 - Chicken Soup with Barley

[Guest]

Arnold Wesker's tale of loss of ideological faith is another original-cast stage transfer, from the acclaimed Royal Court production.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01hq27w

Russ

[tony yyy]

No comments on this? I finally caught up with it last week and was glad I did. A fascinating period piece, made more interesting by the preceding Sunday Feature.

[Russ]

Yes, a period piece, one of Wesker's early polemics, with R3 taking the opportunity (again) of grabbing a Royal Court production with the original cast. Samantha Spiro was exceptionally good, but the tone of the piece was a bit unrelentingly shouty, and could have benefitted from some light and shade on radio.

Russ

[Russ]

This celebrated tale of the demise of the socialist dream gets another outing, but this time on Radio 4. It's a new production, and not a repeat of the Do3 production listed in my opening post.

Comparing to what I remember (!!!) of the Do3 version, I think this new production benefits from not being derived from a direct stage presentation, and the closeness of the microphones allows the quality of the writing to shine.

Commendable though this new production is, I suppose the big question is why did the BBC do it again? (Not that I'm complaining.) Contemporary? Well, possibly - "It's a big lousy world of mad politicians, and I can't trust them."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001yz54

[AuntDaisy]

It's good, if rare, that R4 are doing 90min dramas, but I'm afraid I don't recognise any of the actors - which often means I struggle to distinguish the voices.

In addition to the 2012 Drama on 3 with Samantha Spiro & Danny Webb, there was also a 1988 World Service 2 hour production with Rosemary Martin & David Swift - it's in the archives, as is the 1962 version with Miriam Karlin & Frank Finlay. I wish Auntie would repeat them.

Talking of R4 & 90min drama, do you remember the halcyon days of "Saturday Night Theatre"?

[Forget It (U2079353)]

It's good, if rare, that R4 are doing 90min dramas, ...

Talking of R4 & 90min drama, do you remember the halcyon days of "Saturday Night Theatre"?

Listen again

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD6HK813WRuu-3QwfCVYVjad4jsY80Qhq

[AuntDaisy]

Listen again
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...YVjad4jsY80Qhq

Thanks Forget It (U2079353), I do frequently

[LMcD]

I understand that this deals with the downfall of an East End Jewish family, so there won't be the usual unsuccessful attempts to reproduce the Norfolk accent. I once heard Jane Horrocks tackle it in a Wesker play - I think it was 'Roots' - she sounded as if she'd just stepped off a flight from Melbourne. Alan Bates struggled in 'The Go-Between'. Ironically, the Singing Postman, who was from Birmingham, got a lot closer.

[oddoneout]

I understand that this deals with the downfall of an East End Jewish family, so there won't be the usual unsuccessful attempts to reproduce the Norfolk accent. I once heard Jane Horrocks tackle it in a Wesker play - I think it was 'Roots' - she sounded as if she'd just stepped off a flight from Melbourne. Alan Bates struggled in 'The Go-Between'. Ironically, the Singing Postman, who was from Birmingham, got a lot closer.

It's unfortunate that the one person to really get the hang of Norfolk as she is spoke is Jim Davidson... Once he got mardling with the lifeboat crews the exchanges needed a translator. A basic mistake is to get the vowels wrong.
The singing postman had Norfolk connections - his mother was Norfolk and he did spend his early childhood in the county when they ran a B&B in Sheringham.