The IMDb details for this show are all wrong but I suppose that's to be expected as it's rather obscure. First, it doesn't run the listed 145 minutes but only around 60 minutes. It was a one-off play produced for the BBC's Summer Season strand in 1985. Second, its main stars were Dinsdale Landen, Dermot Crowley and Frances Tomelty. Geoffrey Palmer made an appearance too.
The play was about the various intrigues and tensions surrounding the production of a radio drama. Crowley is the shy writer of the drama, Landen the old lecherous ham of a lead actor, and Tomelty the opinionated leading lady. Tomelty is unhappy with Crowley's script, Landen is attempting to seduce Tomelty, and the peeping tom of the play within the play presides over them all.
It's an excellent piece of work all round, with some great writing for ensemble acting, and it confirms (for me, at any rate) that Parker was, and still is, head and shoulders above all other Northern Ireland dramatists, fully the contemporary of Brian Friel. It's also fabulous to see Dinsdale Landen let rip with the kind of full-blooded performance we expect from his generation - along with Parker, badly missed.
Highly recommended.
The play was about the various intrigues and tensions surrounding the production of a radio drama. Crowley is the shy writer of the drama, Landen the old lecherous ham of a lead actor, and Tomelty the opinionated leading lady. Tomelty is unhappy with Crowley's script, Landen is attempting to seduce Tomelty, and the peeping tom of the play within the play presides over them all.
It's an excellent piece of work all round, with some great writing for ensemble acting, and it confirms (for me, at any rate) that Parker was, and still is, head and shoulders above all other Northern Ireland dramatists, fully the contemporary of Brian Friel. It's also fabulous to see Dinsdale Landen let rip with the kind of full-blooded performance we expect from his generation - along with Parker, badly missed.
Highly recommended.
