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John Yorke unpacks the themes behind the stories in Radio 4's weekend afternoon dramas.

Producer and writer John Yorke unpacks the themes and impact behind the books, plays and stories that are being dramatised in Radio 4's weekend afternoon dramas.

Producer and writer John Yorke has worked in television and radio for 30 years, and he shares his experience with Radio 4 listeners as he unpacks the themes and impact behind the books, plays and stories that are being dramatised in Radio 4's weekend afternoon dramas.

Opening Lines: Kiss of the Spider Woman

Kiss of the Spider Woman

BBC Radio 4 - Opening Lines, Kiss of the Spider Woman

John Yorke explores the classic of modern Argentinian literature, Kiss of the Spiderwoman.

The series that explores books, plays and stories and how they work, John Yorke looks at Manuel Puig’s pioneering prison novel Kiss of the Spiderwoman.

John Yorke shines a light on the dark, claustrophobic pages of Manuel Puig’s classic 1976 novel Kiss of the Spiderwoman, that went on to become a play, a musical and an Oscar-winning film. 

Puig wrote the novel, which focuses on the relationship between a gay window dresser and a revolutionary political prisoner, having fled the ruling military dictatorship in Argentina. John shows how the book celebrates the power not only of human connection but also the imagination, as the two central characters - stripped of so much by way of physical comfort - escape the gloom of their cell through lengthy retellings of classic Hollywood films. 

The novel itself couldn’t escape censure, and was banned in Argentina until 1983. 

John Yorke has worked in television and radio for 30 years, and he shares his experience with Radio 4 listeners as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories that are being dramatized in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series.  From EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless, he has been obsessed with telling big popular stories. He has spent years analysing not just how stories work but why they resonate with audiences around the globe and has brought together his experience in his bestselling book Into the Woods. As former Head of Channel Four Drama, Controller of BBC Drama Production and MD of Company Pictures, John has tested his theories during an extensive production career working on some of the world’s most lucrative, widely viewed and critically acclaimed TV drama. As founder of the hugely successful BBC Writers Academy John has trained a generation of screenwriters - his students have had 17 green-lights in the last two years alone. 

Contributors:
Laurie Sansom  – Theatre director
Suzanne Jill Levine - Puig’s biographer and translator 

Credits:
Kiss of the Spiderwoman Pub 1976 (Spanish edition)
Vintage 1991 translated by Thomas Colchie (English Edition)

Reader: Luciano Dodero
Researcher: Nina Semple
Production Manager: Sarah Wright
Producer:  Geoff Bird
Executive Producer: Sara Davies
Sound by Sean Kerwin

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