View source for The Dark Ages: A study in pictures of a radio production

Delia's papers contain a glossy magazine article entitled [[The Dark Ages: A study in pictures of a radio production]] by [[Michael Bakewell]] about the creation of the radio play [[The Dark Ages]].

This transcript is taken from [[DD135326]] and [[DD135343]].

=Transcript=
<BIG>'''THE DARK AGES'''</BIG>
<BR>THIRD PROGRAMME &mdash; 1 MAY [1965]

<BIG>A study in pictures of a radio production</BIG>

[[Image:DD135326a.jpg|Hilda Schroder in labour. There was nothing for it but to go through as much of the physical agony as possible. The cast watch thoughtfully. The loud hailer stands ready for an execution scene.|thumb|left]]
[[Image:DD135326b.jpg|Michael Bryant and the crowd singing the Westland National Anthem.|thumb|left]]
[[Image:DD135326c.jpg|One of the problems of this kind of production, particularly in a new studio, is that the cast never seem to know where to go next and mere words are not enough.|thumb|left]]
[[Image:DD135326d.jpg|A howling mob, bent on destruction, tears across the studio while Michael Bryant takes life quietly.|thumb|right]]
THE DARK AGES take place in the womb.
It is a nightmare vision of the future in the
mind of a baby waiting to be born. It is the
last leg of a trilogy by Bernard Kops (''Home Sweet Honeycomb'',
''The Lemmings'') and there are times
when I feel I have never worked with any other writer.
<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Bernard believes in the art of total
radio&mdash;sound can do anything, say anything. A typical
direction reads:
<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<B>There are quiet sounds denoting the fact that
everyone and everything is turning or has turned
to gold.</B>
<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Or again:
<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<B>When the music starts we think it is about to be
Verdi's ''Requiem'' but instead it is a very slow
rendering of the Hokey-Kokey.</B>
<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;There can be no half measures in putting his
work on air. You simply have to give him
exactly what he asks for and hope that it will
work. It is a matter of continual astonishment to
me that it always does. However, this time he had
presented us with an even more difficult problem
than usual since nearly every scene had to have a
special electronic background. We decided that
[continued on [[DD135343]]]
[[Image:DD135343a.jpg|Bernard Kops says very little at rehearsal. He simply sits there looking very worried&mdash;but he is never as worried as he looks.|thumb|left]]
[[Image:DD135343b.jpg|James Thomason and Miriam Margoyles as porpoises. The final fishy treatment will be carried out at the radiophonic workshop but they are already well into their parts.|thumb|right]]
[[Image:DD135343c.jpg|Song always plays a very important part in Kops's work. It is always a sharp and rapid way of reflecting public sentiment. And it gives the cast an opportunity to relax.|thumb|right]]
[[Image:DD135343d.jpg|One of those moments of comparative peace when the producer is trying to work out what on earth to do next. A play of this kind needs a good many pauses for thought and...|thumb|left]]
[[Image:DD135343e.jpg|...it is small wonder that the cast tend to sieze every opportunity to relax.|thumb|right]]
this could only be added at a later stage at the
radiophonic workshop and that we should confine
our time in studio B.10 to recording the words and
some of the simpler sound effects sequences:
<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<B>A child cries. A horse cries from fear. A woman
screams. And men march, march, march. Sirens.
And through this Bing Crosby sings &lsquo;Love in
Bloom&rsquo;. Missiles scream down.
<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Sounds of machine-gun fire and people cheering
and community singing and then the moving
pavement and singing &lsquo;For He's a Jolly Good
Fellow&rsquo;.</B>
<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;For six days the cast sang, danced, screamed,
and cheered their way through the script. Anyone
who believed that radio was a quiet remote affair
where actors stood round the mike and read their
scripts was rapidly disillusioned. There were wild
ecstasies of excitement in the betting shops, surplus
people were shot by thousands in the brain
room, and over and over again&mdash;or so it seems now&mdash;the
Hokey-Kokey was danced by an unflagging
cast. Later in the year I have to produce the play
for German radio in Baden Baden. I shall be very
curious to see how the Germans take to this kind
of treatment.
<P ALIGN=RIGHT>Michael Bakewell</P>
<P ALIGN=CENTER><U><I>Photographs by &lsquo;Radio Times&rsquo;''</I></U></P>

[[Category:Article]]