Once, N. C. Hunter was one of the notable playwrights of the British stage. His plays attracted actors such as John Gielgud, Edith Evans, Sybil Thorndike, Wendy Hiller and Michael Redgrave. Then the theatrical world changed—and Hunter largely disappeared from view.
In this Saturday Night Theatre Companion, we rediscover Hunter through five productions preserved on Chesterton Radio: A Day by The Sea, A Touch of the Sun, Waters of the Moon, Picture of Autumn, and a second Waters of the Moon from Lux Radio Theatre South Africa.
These are quiet plays about enormous things: aging, missed opportunities, fading homes, loneliness, family, second chances and the unsettling discovery that time has been passing while we were busy living.
We’ll also explore why Hunter’s drama is so remarkably suited to radio, compare two very different productions of Waters of the Moon, and consider what happened when the restrained world of Hunter collided with John Osborne and Britain’s Angry Young Men.
There is something almost Chestertonian at the center of these plays: the ordinary is never merely ordinary.
Very little seems to happen in an N. C. Hunter play.
Until we realize that what is happening is life itself.
Saturday Night Theatre Companion — from Chesterton Radio
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Chesterton Radio — Stories • Ideas • Wonder
Hunter
A Day By The Sea - N. C. Hunter - BBC Saturday Night Theatre
A Touch of the Sun - BBC Saturday Night Theater - N. C. Hunter
Waters of the Moon - N. C. Hunter - BBC Saturday Night Theatre
Picture of Autumn - BBC Saturday Night Theater - N.C. Hunter
Waters of the Moon - N. C. Hunter - Lux Radio Theatre South Africa
