It’s the Grauniad’s radio pick for today. I’m afraid I can’t see it on the web site (I’m sure it’s there somewhere!) so I’ve done a quick copy and paste from my subscription edition: rather than a link:

Drama on 3: Tis Pity She’s a Whore
Radio 3, 9pm
EastEnders has nothing on John Ford’s steamy 17th-century tale of incestual love entertainingly revived by adapter and director Pauline Harris. Jessie Buckley and Damien Molony offer terrific performances as the doomed siblings whose queasy relationship manages to exude a certain strange innocence despite the Friar’s dire warnings that it can only lead to divine retribution in a flaming hell involving “many thousand thousand sundry sorts/Of never-dying deaths”. The still-shocking tale builds to a murderous conclusion punctuated by surprisingly suitable music by Jimmy Hendrix and Nick Cave, with Buckley herself singing at one point.

Stephanie Billen

Just over 4 hours to go! So excited!

Thanks for posting Maghat, always lovely to read nice words about Damien's talent. I have a Guardian Subscription too online / app and can't find it anywhere!

Found it! thank you Maghat

WOW. What a powerful and affecting play with outstanding performances from Damien as Giovanni and Jessie Buckley as Annabella. Also noteworthy Indira Varma as Hippolita. Still dark, still shocking, despite it's age and knowing the play and the themes...  In Prof. Emma Smith's intro she likened it to Romeo and Juliet - or the Giovanni and Annabella's relationship to theirs, and the comparison is definitely there with their doomed love. and the tragic tone all the way through.. with multiple death ending.  The adaptation to radio worked remarkably well I felt.  The Nick Cave interludes were slightly surreal in a wonderful way and were, delightfully, totally fitting to the subject in tone despite the vast time difference... Tis Pity was first performed in 1629 and is a very old text..I hope our international forumers were able to follow, I felt the adaptation made the language really accessible.

I suddenly have the need to see these photos of Damien in the WYP production in 2011

 

 

 

 

Totally agree, domino, this was incredibly powerful drama. Once you 'get your ear in' to the language it was easy to follow. The subtle use of sound effects added to this. It is often the staging/nuances of the actors' movements and expression which make these old texts accessible to modern ears so it was interesting to hear how this would adapt to a radio audience. I wasn't familiar with the story but it certainly packs a punch with its dark and shocking themes.

Thanks for the pics, domino, they fit in extremely well with the radio version.
I love listening to drama on the radio, I think it stimulates the imagination more that even a stage production. You need to pay attention that little bit more. Many years ago I watched a rep company perform "Whisky Galore" on stage, but doing it as a radio production. They all wore evening dress, as they did then, even for the radio, but they also used the sound effects so we saw how they were done.
I really enjoyed listening to this and will iPlayer it, too. Unlike many modern tv productions, every word was distinct, no sloppy delivery at all. Loved the way Giovanni and his dad were both Irish, too.
Really liked the introduction and the comparison to "Romeo and Juliet" . I was riveted to the story and yes, I definitely felt sympathy for Giovanni and Annabella, even though I know I should have felt shock and outrage. I kept having to remind myself the play was Jacobean rather than modern. The only thing I didn't enjoy, much to my surprise, was the use of the modern music. I found it jarring.
Typical Jacobean drama, mind you - lots of death, lots of sex!

What an excellent start to a damo new year! I loved it!!

I've never seen a performance of this play and only know it from the text (and tbh I'm not sure I've ever actually read it all the way through).  But all credit to John Ford for writing such a thought provoking story! Yes - it obviously owes a lot to Romeo and Juliet (which I've also never seen and have never read all of the way through ), but whereas the audience has no qualms in wishing Shakespeare's star crossed lovers happiness in each others arms - it is only their families who find their union untenable - our sympathies for Giovanni and Annabella sit uncomfortably; theirs is the ultimate forbidden love.  And yet they have an aura of innocence, which sharpens our sensibilities to the morality of those supposedly 'good' people around them. 

I agree that this adaptation worked really well and was very accessible - radio dramas can so often sound like a reading, but I totally saw this being acted out on stage.....although I have to admit that I was carrying those photos in my head which probably helped a bit  

Of course Damien's performance was outstanding - he manages to portray every look and every movement so effectively through his voice. And I did think Jessie Buckley did a fantastic job too. It is lovely that they were able to use their own accents and be an Irish family! 

I really enjoyed the musical interludes.  I agree with domino that they were pretty surreal and felt almost anarchic - which is quite fitting really. Altough I must admit that from the moment I first heard about this right up until now, I just can't shake the earworm  'anyone who had a heart'

 

 

 

I thought this worked well as radio drama and the casting director did all the right things (distinctive voices/accents so you can tell who’s who!). I actually didn’t know the play at all, just the basic fact that incest is at the heart of it, so I had few expectations when setting out to listen. It’s interesting that it manages to make the central relationship simultaneously disturbing and sympathetic. “Visceral” is an interesting word to apply to a voice-only production but it really did feel appropriate here, I didn’t see the production photos until after hearing it and I have to say my imagining of the heart scene was probably even more horrific - quite something to conjure that up with voice/sound alone.

Damien and Jessie turned in great performances that certainly had me wondering about the characters’ backstories (when did their mum die? what kind of father was their dad? etc). Indira Varma as the wronged Hipolita was the other stand-out for me. I thought the Nick Cave music was effective in underlining themes that would most likely have been much more at the forefront of the minds of a Jacobean audience than a modern one.

It's so wonderful that we all had this experience together, wherever we all are in the world. Certainly a very special standout moment for me from the years of being a Damien fan, with this historic and possibly most controversial play of english literature, and with Damien in the lead role, for over 90 minutes! Lovely to read your reactions, and I agree with them all. While this was very much a radio play (and what an amazing example of the form!) for me it was so like a theatre experience, even without the visual! I cannot quite put my finger on why however. Loved it.

Very much looking forward to the next one on 28 Jan!

 Well done, domino..

Pity that you can no longer see the trailer.

 

 

-- Edited by Sana on Thursday 11th of January 2018 04:06:08 PM