Gareth Preston's Blog, page 18
March 17, 2016
The Midas Plague
by Frederick Pohl
Adapted by Troy Kennedy-Martin
Graham Stark is probably best remembered for his various roles in the Pink Panther movies. He has had a longbusycareer as a character actor, but it is rather lovely to see him as the lead for a change, in this broadsatire on capitalism and consumerism.
Free energy and robot labour means that future Britain should be a paradise for everyone. In fact, it has become an insane looking-glass world of oppressive consumerism. Whilst the rich one perce...
March 14, 2016
Thirteen to Centaurus
byJ G Ballard
Adapted by Stanley Miller
I looked up this short story onwww.ballardian.comand was surprised to see it described as untypical and even generic. Yet to me this episode is filled with the familiar J G Ballard theme of a protagonist who deliberately succumbs to a strange new world, in search of another reality. There’s also aprotagonist who feels alienated fromhis own society, despite having no obvious reason for it.Stanley Miller tookthis already rich short story and turnedit into...
March 1, 2016
News round up
This is one of those weeks with plenty going on, but none of it really making an significantpost in itself. So forgive me if I just bring a few items to your attention and – hopefully – interest.
The Rivals 5 – 12 March 2016A few weeks ago I shared a promotional video about this local production of Richard Sheridan’s restoration comedy The Rivals which I had made. Little did I know then that I would now be starring in this play myself! Due to a cast member pulling out, I’ve been prevailed up...
February 26, 2016
Some Lapse of Time
A strange story this, mixing science with the practically-supernatural. I can see why it appealed to Irene Shubik for adapting to television, but ultimately it is a story that might have worked better at half an hour. It does feature a few sections where the plot is spinning its wheels and re-emphasising rather than developing. Infused with the Sixties’ Cold War fears and wariness of scientists in white coats, it is another fairly downbeat entry in an anthology that is definitely proving to h...
February 19, 2016
Sucker Bait
Adapted by Meade Roberts
Mark Annuncio is a genius at making connections between often seemingly unrelated facts. He is one of a rare breed of humans called Mnenomics. He is also utterly unable to connect with other people, comes over as neurotic, rude, and requires a special handler who acts as his go-between with the rest of society. Now a set-up like that sounds a TV series all in itself. The brilliant but weird investigator and his “Watson” has been a popular formula in re...
February 18, 2016
Going behind the scenes of “The Rivals”
Bolton Little Theatre’s next production will be Richard Sheridan’s famous comedy about a clash between greed, snobbery and romantic ideals in 18th century Bath. The play is most famous for giving literature one of its most famous comic characters – Mrs Malaprop, a rich pompous dowager who frequently mangles the English language as she lectures all and sundry. “She’s as headstrong as an allegory on the banks of the Nile!” Sheridan probably based her name on the French phrase “mal a propos” mea...
February 3, 2016
Come Buttercup, Come Daisy, Come..?
Written by Mike Watts
There’s something almost irretrievably schlocky about killer plants. Aside from the Triffids and 2008 horror movie The Ruins, stories of plants wrapping their green fronds around victims come over as risible rather than horrifying. Not for nothing is the most famous vege-villain Audrey II the star of a camp musical.
Fishmonger Henry Wilkes has two loves in his life. His wife Monica and his garden of exotic tropical plants. Only recently it appears to Monica that her husb...
January 25, 2016
More NODA happiness
I’m interrupting my Out of the Unknown marathon for a bit of housekeeping.
First off, I’ve been updating the Writing and Audio Dramapages on the left, adding web-links so that you find out more about (and maybe even order) some of my work. For example clicking on any of the pantomime scripts now takes you directly to their pages at Lazy Bee Scripts.
Secondly, but more importantly I’m delighted to announce that my lovely actor friend Bridgett Welch has just won the 2016 National OperaticandDra...
January 21, 2016
Time in Advance
by William Tenn
Adapted by Peter Erickson
Some stories can only be told in the science fiction genre. Then there are stories like this one, which could be just as easily be told as a western or a crime thriller. Not only would it only take some simple rewriting to turn this episode into a film noir, it might have been preferable.
In the far future, there is excitement amongst Earth’s media when a prison ship returns from the outer frontier carrying Crandall and Henck, the first two men to hav...
January 18, 2016
The Dead Past
by Issac Asimov
Adapted by Jeremy Paul
Even without his name on the credits, I could have guessed this was an Asimov tale, since it has his commonthemes of extrapolating a scientific fantasy theoryin a realistic fashion, and linking it with the idea of a group of experts manipulatingsociety with sociological techniquesfor its greatergood. It’s a model that can be found in novels like End of Eternity, Caves of Steel and the Foundation series. Furthermore the plot is essentially a series of deb...
