i've just heard a radio production of the woman in black on bbc7. it seems like a century ago when von was producing it for MINDS and ashraf and frankie had the lead roles (ashraf was superb in it, wasn't he?) and i got to take care of the tickets (and drinks and curry puffs in the intermission.)

i thought this bbc production (adapted for radio from the novel) was all right, but it suffers from not being able to properly conceal its origin as text. a bit dull, in fact. it simply doesn't touch stephen mallatratt's bold reframing of the tale in his ingenious stage adaptation, which gave the tale a unique narrative frame and terrible psychological power. and our southeast asian adaptation from the mallatratt was seamless and its new setting heightened the atmosphere.

also on radio this week, john bayley's reminiscences about iris murdoch, the importance of being earnest (with judi dench) and jude the obscure.