A Leap in the Dark

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Drama: A Leap in the Dark

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In 1922, impresario Nigel Playfair is convinced that a play could work on the wireless.

When a wireless play was first suggested, the BBC was more afraid of advancing Bolshevism than whether listeners could actually understand what was going on.

When in 1922, junior producer Cedric Maud and his pushy assistant Grace Wise first proposed the idea of a play to be performed on the newly available wireless sets, the idea was  immediately trashed as being at best impracticable and at worst impossible to execute.  

Leading theatrical impresario Nigel Playfair demanded to know how one could possibly concentrate on such a play with one’s servants rushing in and out and the doorbell constantly clanging with tradesmen and nannies. The idea was, to his mind, a non starter. 

But when it was suggested that the job might instead be offered to the precocious and rival talent that was Noel Coward,  Playfair quickly shifted his stance.  A radical young writer, Richard Hughes was commissioned to write a piece which would challenge perceptions and exploit the potential of the new fangled and now widely available domestic wireless set. 

For its part, the BBC, following the revolution in Russia and the imminent break up of the Empire,  was more concerned that some bearded intellectuals would use the opening to promote Bolshevism and class warfare, than the fact that this had never been done before and that the listeners might be utterly baffled as to what was going on. 

To celebrate the approaching centenary of the UK’s first ever radio play, Ron Hutchinson’s A Leap in the Dark takes a comedic look how the first drama producers tackled these challenges and invented the wheel that was soon to become a flourishing new art form. 

Cast:
Nigel Playfair - Alex Jennings
May Playfair - Jane Slavin
Cedric Maud - Rufus Wright
Grace Wise - Elinor Coleman
Hattersly - Clive Hayward
Billingsby - David Acton 
Hughes - Jos Vantyler

Director:     Eoin O’Callaghan
A Big Fish Radio production for BBC Radio 4

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