Do3 Sunset

[DracoM]

A vintage evening on R3 from Words and Music to Olympic feature to 'Sunset' to World Routes.

Sunset

Splendidly acted, turning on as nasty a piece of cynical blackmail as you could wish even in the Soviet Russia of 1984. Chamber drama is what R3 does best, and with that quality of acting, the chill of internal exile, imprisonment of all kinds including approaching Alzheimer's bit liberated by the love of his wife, circled by the reptilian KGB apparatchik, and Suslov, as quiet, self-congratulatory and bullying a thug as you could wish.

Fine drama.

[Russ]

Russ

[aeolium]

Thanks for the recommendation. I will listen tonight (could not last night).

OT, any views on the Wire broadcast on Saturday of a play by A L Kennedy? I didn't hear it but might try to LA it.

[laurenceraw]

Not sure the play is about blackmail: rather it seemed to be another variation on the Great Game. See my full review of SUNSET on www.radıodramareviews.com.

[aeolium]

Yes, I thought that the Great Game came into it quite a lot, especially towards the end. I thought it was very good, the flawed but talented writer, the Western friend with mixed and unclear motives, the anguished wife and the estranged son. I liked the performances of Julian Glover as Demidov, Stella Gonet as Alexandra and Nicholas Woodeson as the sinister Yuri especially, and the dialogue had pace and wit. Occasionally I felt that some of the protagonists were benefitting from the hindsight of the author about the fate of the Soviet Union - an occupational hazard of historical plays - but overall it was impressive with a tense and not easily predictable denouement. The music was sparsely but effectively used.