Our productions
The Desk
Written by Carl Chetty
Medium Radio play; audio CD.
Characters Marnie (a middle-aged widow and mother)
Actors Angela Bull (Marnie)
Producers Peter Brown and Andrea Carpenter
Production company Promising Productions LLP
Availability Audio CD version - published September 2007.
Running time 58' 28"
Sponsors Lashmars Theatre Tickets
London Theatre Guide
New York Theatre
Guide
Review by Chloe Preece (Londontheatre.co.uk)
It’s nice to have a change of pace once in a while, and this good, old fashioned radio play is just what the doctor ordered: understated and refreshing. Thankfully devoid of the usual superfluous sound effects, the story is allowed to take pride of place and rightly so; Carl Chetty’s script has just enough twists along the way to keep its audience enthralled.
A widow’s search for closure a year after her husband’s death takes her to his study, his private, practically sacred ground as a writer. There is a lot for Marnie to go through as he “dreamt up more than Shakespeare,” although he never managed to achieve either commercial success or gain any recognition. As she sifts through the papers, secrets tumble out and their relationship is laid bare. The barriers they so carefully erected to protect each other are shattered and the seemingly perfect marriage unravels leaving in its midst deception and tragedy.
Angela Bull - 'Marnie'
©
Angela Bull as Marnie, successfully conveys the sense of a middle-aged woman who, after marrying her childhood sweetheart, finds herself trapped in a stifled, boring and ultimately futile relationship. Sensing her life slip away from her, she is perceptive enough to call it her personal “vile soap opera,” and indeed there are flourishes of the melodramatic. Not an immediately likeable character, Bull manages to make us empathize with her situation despite the dishonesty she may have helped propagate. Needless for me to say any more, I do not wish to give the story away but this is a poignant account of how much easier it is to stay on the surface of a relationship; really getting to know someone involves too many unpleasant and unwelcome truths.
At just under an hour long, the play is pleasantly short, profiting from gentle, soothing music transporting us from scene to scene. A surprisingly dark domestic drama despite its light-hearted tone and touches of the comic, the value of the production is in its credible emotional territory: Marnie’s mixture of hypocrisy, bitterness and guilt is as real as it comes. The result is a hidden gem, unexpectedly moving, the phrase ‘still waters run deep’ comes to mind.
Synopsis:
It's been a year since Marnie's husband died and this is the first occasion she's been able to summon up the strength to venture into his study - the place where Laurence doggedly sat writing his TV sitcoms, without ever achieving commercial success and recognition.
With secrets of her own, what Marnie never expected to uncover was a very different view of the man she thought she knew inside out.
A poignant story with several surprises in store for the listener, it's a play for today and a modern generation.
You can listen to a short trailer using the player below.
Richard Fish (photo from WFHB newsletter: Spotlight)
Comments about The Desk after broadcast on 25th Jan 2009
I was delighted to discover a new piece of audio theater that wasn't
schlock.... I got the feeling that your program was made by adults for adults. It was riveting. I sat in my car listening, not wanting to get out. I thought that the writing, music, sound effects, and acting were all first-rate. The actress was amazing - I wonder how you found her?
Mr. A. Schwartz - Indiana University
We tuned in, via Internet, to WFHB yesterday afternoon (5 pm our time) to hear The Desk. We both enjoyed hearing it again. Angela Bull really does read the part superbly well! The other two plays that were aired together with The Desk were really not in the same class in spite of having Marlene Dietrich doing one of the parts. The quality of the "reception" was really very good for the Desk.
Robert Grabske, California
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Broadcasts
The Desk has been broadcast as follows:
1. FireHouse Theater presented by Richard Fish - WFHB radio (USA).
Broadcast on Sunday 25th January 2009.
2. Indiana University Radio - WFIU (USA). Directions in Sound.
Broadcast on Sunday 22nd March 2009.
3. Columbia University Radio - WKCR New York, USA. Part of the Art Waves
programme broadcast on Friday April 3rd 2009.
4. Audio Book Radio - Monday 4th May 2009 for 2 weeks (twice daily).
Here's what Richard Fish had to say about the play: