Well this is pretty amazing. Also very witty. A great cast performs an updated version of the 1970s The Stone Tape and it’s a treat for audio fans, full of wonderful sounds and rather unsettling. I’m jealous to learn that a bunch of people got to hear it in a crypt as I can imagine that would be the perfect way to hear it. Peter Strickland directs it and he was also behind the wonderful Berberian Sound Studio.
You really, really need headphones for this. It’s on the BBC iPlayer for another month or so.
There are two versions – 3D binaural audio and regular audio.
From reading the Den of Geek post above (about the people hearing it in a crypt) I learned of In The Dark Radio which I think any readers of this blog would enjoy. They have events in London, Bristol and Manchester where you can go and hear stuff. I imagine it’s conceptually similar to the Third Coast Internaional Audio Festival of curated sound in Chicago.
I loved the bit at the end where they told us what equipment they used to record it. Londoners might like to know that it was filmed at 4 Princelet Street, Spitalfields, London. There’s a ‘meet the cast’ photo thing here. The Spitalfields Life blog has some beautiful photos of that part of London too, and a lot of information about its history and the people who’ve lived there.
https://twitter.com/Rachiikins24/status/660102524288958464
Cast:
Jill Greely………….Romola Garai
Dr Leo Cripps……Julian Rhind-Tutt
Marvy Wade……..Dean Andrews
Terry Briscoe…….Julian Barratt
Cleft………………..Tom Bennett
Jill’s mother………Jane Asher
The scream………Eugenia Caruso
Music and electronics: James Cargill
Vocal effects: Andrew Liles
Analogue effects: Steve Haywood and Raoul Brand
Sound mix: Eloise Whitmore
Written by Matthew Graham and Peter Strickland
Based on the original TV play by Nigel Kneale
Director: Peter Strickland
Producer: Russell Finch
Executive Producer: Polly Thomas
A Somethin’ Else production for BBC Radio 4.