An adventure play by William Archer
Adapted for broadcasting by Howard Rose
[starring] Abraham Sofaer, Howard Marion-Crawford, James McKechnie
William Archer was a formidable Scottish dramatic critic, the early friend of Bernard Shaw, the translator of Ibsen, the advocate of the modern drama. Near the end of his life, he turned playwright on his own account and scored enormous success with a splendid, suspenseful melodrama in the best, old-fashioned manner. "The Green Goddess" ran for four hundred performances at the St. James's Theatre in 1923, and gave the late George Arliss one of his most sensational roles as the Raja of Rukh. The scene is a small and inaccessible independent state in the foothills of the Himalayas; here the aeroplane containing Doctor Traherne and Major and Lucilla Crespin makes a forced landing. The local people are barbaric and wild, but their Raja turns out to be an exquisitely mannered, former Cambridge man, with the most Western tastes, yet withal the heart of a ruthless Oriental despot; and it soon becomes clear that he has a particular reason for delaying the return of the luckless trio. (Peter Forster)
(BBC recording)
(To be repeated on Wednesday at 2.30)