Rhys Adrian
Encyclopedia
Rhys Adrian Griffiths was a British
playwright and screenwriter. He is best known for his radio plays, which are characterised by their emphasis upon dialogue rather than narrative.
musicals. His first radio play, The Man on the Gate, was broadcast by the BBC Home Service
in November 1956.
By the early 1960s he was beginning to develop the dramatic style that would become a hallmark of his subsequent work. A Nice Clean Sheet of Paper (1964) features a talkative and condescending job interviewer (played by Donald Wolfit
) whose attempts to communicate with an unresponsive applicant (John Wood
) drive him to incoherent blathering.
Evelyn
(1969), which starred Ian Richardson
and Pauline Collins
as a couple trapped in an extra-marital and over-crowded affair, won the RAI
Prize for Literary and Dramatic Programmes at the Prix Italia
and was later adapted for television.
Buffet (1976) saw Richard Briers
playing a borderline alcoholic city gent unwinding at a railway buffet at the end of a long and exhausting day. In an introduction to the broadcast, John Tydeman, then head of Radio 4
drama, and the producer of 27 of Adrian's plays, paid tribute to the author – referring to him as "one of the great unknown British playwrights [...] very much a language man rather than a man who used whizzy, 'show-offy' radio."
1982's Watching the Plays Together was one of Adrian's most experimental works. Consisting largely of a conversation between a middle-aged married couple troubled by the trend towards social realism in television drama, the play won the Giles Cooper Award for outstanding writing for radio. As a mark of his status as a playwright, Adrian's plays throughout the 1980s boasted casts made up of distinguished actors – including, amongst others, John Gielgud
(Passing Time; 1983), Michael Aldridge
(Outpatient; 1985) and Peter Vaughn (Toytown; 1987). His last radio play, Upended, was broadcast in 1988.
strand was deemed "unsatisfying" by critic David Wade, who felt that Adrian's stylised dialogue clashed with the physicality of the piece, leaving the play at a disadvantage. Buffet also suffered upon its transition to television. Adrian, however, wrote a number of original works for the medium, often as part of anthology series such as The Wednesday Play
, Theatre 625
, Armchair Theatre
, ITV Playhouse
and the aforementioned Play for Today; his 1971 play The Foxtrot
marked an early departure from the latter series' emphasis on socially aware, issue-based drama towards broad comedy and non-naturalism. In 1973, his play The Withered Arm was transmitted, alongside contributions from Dennis Potter
and David Mercer, as part of the Wessex Tales series for BBC2, a group of plays based on the short stories of Thomas Hardy
.
and Nigel Stock, brought together by a dating agency
, converse in a formal, almost artificial manner that belies the uncomfortable and disturbing truths they reveal about themselves throughout the course of the play. This emphasis on dialogue leaves Adrian's characters constantly seeking a connection with each other, bolstered by the desire to be understood. 'The Man' in Evelyn desperately wants his declarations of love towards his mistress to be acknowledged, while Hugh Burden
's disturbed mental patient in 1981's Passing Through attempts to piece together his broken past by engaging lonely signalman
Patrick (Harry Towb
) in meandering conversation. Similarly, the two down-and-outs
in The Clerks (1978), Freddie Jones
and Hugh Burden, seek to reclaim their lost past as intelligence agents
by scrupulously poring over the events that led to them being homeless and derelict. While highly articulate, both men challenge the other's story, almost as if attempting to expose lies and half-truths. By the end of the play, perhaps owing to their alcohol consumption throughout the piece, their testimonies have become so outrageous as to be nothing but fabrication. Adrian frequently raises the question of his characters' reliability as 'narrators'
, their recollections viewed only through the prism of personal experience. The two nonagenarians in Passing Time (John Gielgud and Raymond Huntley
) constantly back-pedal when recalling their dim and distant pasts, one memory bumping into the next, often cancelling out the previous remembrance. This is also explored in Watching the Plays Together, which examines the relationship between audience and playwright by creating an imaginary dialogue between the two, balancing the fine line between fiction and reality and providing the listener with an active role in the drama instead of a passive one.
. In February 2010, BBC Radio 7 broadcast several of Adrian's plays to mark the twentieth anniversary of his death. The plays were Evelyn, Buffet, No Charge for the Extra Service, The Clerks, Passing Through and Passing Time.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
playwright and screenwriter. He is best known for his radio plays, which are characterised by their emphasis upon dialogue rather than narrative.
Radio dramatist
Rhys Adrian worked in stage management before becoming a writer, contributing material to summer shows, revues, pantomimes and West EndWest End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
musicals. His first radio play, The Man on the Gate, was broadcast by the BBC Home Service
BBC Home Service
The BBC Home Service was a British national radio station which broadcast from 1939 until 1967.-Development:Between the 1920s and the outbreak of The Second World War, the BBC had developed two nationwide radio services, the BBC National Programme and the BBC Regional Programme...
in November 1956.
By the early 1960s he was beginning to develop the dramatic style that would become a hallmark of his subsequent work. A Nice Clean Sheet of Paper (1964) features a talkative and condescending job interviewer (played by Donald Wolfit
Donald Wolfit
Sir Donald Wolfit, KBE was a well-known English actor-manager.-Biography:Wolfit, who was "Woolfitt" at birth was born at New Balderton, near Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire and attended the Magnus Grammar School and made his stage début in 1920...
) whose attempts to communicate with an unresponsive applicant (John Wood
John Wood (English actor)
John Wood, CBE was an English actor.-Biography:Wood was born in Derbyshire and studied law at Jesus College, Oxford where he was president of the Oxford University Dramatic Society. Changing to drama, Wood became known as a stage actor, appearing in numerous West End productions as well as on...
) drive him to incoherent blathering.
Evelyn
Evelyn (play)
Evelyn is an award winning radio play by Rhys Adrian, first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 21 October 1969. It was later adapted for television as part of BBC One's Play for Today series which was transmitted on 28 October 1971.-Synopsis:...
(1969), which starred Ian Richardson
Ian Richardson
Ian William Richardson CBE was a Scottish actor best known for his portrayal of the Machiavellian Tory politician Francis Urquhart in the BBC's House of Cards trilogy. He was also a leading Shakespearean stage actor....
and Pauline Collins
Pauline Collins
Pauline Collins, OBE is an English actress of the stage, television, and film. She first came to prominence portraying Sarah Moffat in Upstairs, Downstairs and its spin-off Thomas & Sarah during the 1970s. She later drew acclaim for playing the title role in the play Shirley Valentine for which...
as a couple trapped in an extra-marital and over-crowded affair, won the RAI
RAI
RAI — Radiotelevisione italiana S.p.A. known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane, is the Italian state owned public service broadcaster controlled by the Ministry of Economic Development. Rai is the biggest television company in Italy...
Prize for Literary and Dramatic Programmes at the Prix Italia
Prix Italia
The Prix Italia is an international Italian television, radio-broadcasting and Website award. It was established in 1948 by RAI - Radiotelevisione Italiana in Capri...
and was later adapted for television.
Buffet (1976) saw Richard Briers
Richard Briers
Richard David Briers, CBE is an English actor whose career has encompassed theatre, television, film and radio.He first came to prominence as George Starling in Marriage Lines in the 1960s, but it was in the following decade when he played Tom Good in the BBC sitcom The Good Life that he became a...
playing a borderline alcoholic city gent unwinding at a railway buffet at the end of a long and exhausting day. In an introduction to the broadcast, John Tydeman, then head of Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
drama, and the producer of 27 of Adrian's plays, paid tribute to the author – referring to him as "one of the great unknown British playwrights [...] very much a language man rather than a man who used whizzy, 'show-offy' radio."
1982's Watching the Plays Together was one of Adrian's most experimental works. Consisting largely of a conversation between a middle-aged married couple troubled by the trend towards social realism in television drama, the play won the Giles Cooper Award for outstanding writing for radio. As a mark of his status as a playwright, Adrian's plays throughout the 1980s boasted casts made up of distinguished actors – including, amongst others, John Gielgud
John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937...
(Passing Time; 1983), Michael Aldridge
Michael Aldridge
Michael William ffolliott Aldridge was an English actor. While it was his role as Seymour in the television series Last of the Summer Wine which made him widely recognised, his long career as a successful character actor on stage and screen dated back to the 1930s.-Early life:The son of Dr...
(Outpatient; 1985) and Peter Vaughn (Toytown; 1987). His last radio play, Upended, was broadcast in 1988.
Screenwriter
In addition to his work on radio, Adrian wrote a number of television plays. Big Time (1961), his first piece for television, was co-written with Julian Pepper under the pseudonym 'J. MacReady'. 1963's Too Old for Donkeys was an adaptation of his own radio play broadcast earlier that year. Adrian reworked several of his radio scripts for television, often to varying levels of success. His adaptation of Evelyn for the BBC's Play for TodayPlay for Today
Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted...
strand was deemed "unsatisfying" by critic David Wade, who felt that Adrian's stylised dialogue clashed with the physicality of the piece, leaving the play at a disadvantage. Buffet also suffered upon its transition to television. Adrian, however, wrote a number of original works for the medium, often as part of anthology series such as The Wednesday Play
The Wednesday Play
The Wednesday Play was an anthology series of British television plays which ran on BBC1 from October 1964 to May 1970. Every week's play was usually written for television, although adaptations from other sources also featured...
, Theatre 625
Theatre 625
Theatre 625 is a British television drama anthology series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC2 from 1964 to 1968. It was one of the first regular programmes in the line-up of the channel, and the title referred to its production and transmission being in the higher-definition 625-line...
, Armchair Theatre
Armchair Theatre
Armchair Theatre is a British television drama anthology series, which ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by Associated British Corporation, and later by Thames Television after 1968....
, ITV Playhouse
ITV Playhouse
ITV Playhouse was a UK comedy-drama TV series that ran from 1967 to 1983, which featured contributions from playwrights such as Dennis Potter, Rhys Adrian and Alan Sharp. The series began in black and white, but was later shot in colour and was produced by various companies for the ITV network, a...
and the aforementioned Play for Today; his 1971 play The Foxtrot
The Foxtrot
The Foxtrot is a television play by Rhys Adrian, first broadcast on BBC One in 1971 as part of the Play for Today strand. It is notable as an early example of the series' departure from socially aware, issue-based drama towards comedy and non-naturalism.-Synopsis:The play is a domestic drama...
marked an early departure from the latter series' emphasis on socially aware, issue-based drama towards broad comedy and non-naturalism. In 1973, his play The Withered Arm was transmitted, alongside contributions from Dennis Potter
Dennis Potter
Dennis Christopher George Potter was an English dramatist, best known for The Singing Detective. His widely acclaimed television dramas mixed fantasy and reality, the personal and the social. He was particularly fond of using themes and images from popular culture.-Biography:Dennis Potter was born...
and David Mercer, as part of the Wessex Tales series for BBC2, a group of plays based on the short stories of Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy, OM was an English novelist and poet. While his works typically belong to the Naturalism movement, several poems display elements of the previous Romantic and Enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural.While he regarded himself primarily as a...
.
Style and themes
Adrian's plays are driven by character and dialogue rather than narrative; they are conversation pieces, usually between two characters, which feature highly stylised language used to a jarring, sometimes surreal, effect. In No Charge for the Extra Service (1979), the bereaved central characters, Elizabeth SpriggsElizabeth Spriggs
-Early life and career:Born in Buxton, Derbyshire as Elizabeth Jean Williams, Spriggs had an unhappy childhood and grew up entirely without affection, particularly from her distant, domineering father, a master builder and farmer. She studied at the Royal College of Music and taught speech and...
and Nigel Stock, brought together by a dating agency
Dating agency
A dating agency is a business which acts as a service for matchmaking between potential couples, with a view toward romance and/or marriage between them.-Variations:...
, converse in a formal, almost artificial manner that belies the uncomfortable and disturbing truths they reveal about themselves throughout the course of the play. This emphasis on dialogue leaves Adrian's characters constantly seeking a connection with each other, bolstered by the desire to be understood. 'The Man' in Evelyn desperately wants his declarations of love towards his mistress to be acknowledged, while Hugh Burden
Hugh Burden
Hugh Burden was an English actor and playwright.He was the son of a colonial official and was educated at Beaumont College and trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama and RADA...
's disturbed mental patient in 1981's Passing Through attempts to piece together his broken past by engaging lonely signalman
Signalman (rail)
A signalman or signaller is an employee of a railway transport network who operates the points and signals from a signal box in order to control the movement of trains.- History :...
Patrick (Harry Towb
Harry Towb
Harry Towb was a Northern Irish actor.-Early life and career:Towb's father was Russian and his mother was Irish. He attended the Finiston School and Technical College, Belfast...
) in meandering conversation. Similarly, the two down-and-outs
Tramp
A tramp is a long term homeless person who travels from place to place as a vagrant, traditionally walking or hiking all year round. In British English meanwhile a tramp simply refers to a homeless person, usually not a travelling one....
in The Clerks (1978), Freddie Jones
Freddie Jones
Frederick Charles "Freddie" Jones is an English character actor.Jones was born in the town of Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, the son of Ida Elizabeth and Charles Edward Jones. He became an actor after ten years of working as a laboratory assistant with a firm making ceramic products,...
and Hugh Burden, seek to reclaim their lost past as intelligence agents
SPY
SPY is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:* SPY , ticker symbol for Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts* SPY , a satirical monthly, trademarked all-caps* SPY , airport code for San Pédro, Côte d'Ivoire...
by scrupulously poring over the events that led to them being homeless and derelict. While highly articulate, both men challenge the other's story, almost as if attempting to expose lies and half-truths. By the end of the play, perhaps owing to their alcohol consumption throughout the piece, their testimonies have become so outrageous as to be nothing but fabrication. Adrian frequently raises the question of his characters' reliability as 'narrators'
Unreliable narrator
An unreliable narrator is a narrator, whether in literature, film, or theatre, whose credibility has been seriously compromised. The term was coined in 1961 by Wayne C. Booth in The Rhetoric of Fiction. This narrative mode is one that can be developed by an author for a number of reasons, usually...
, their recollections viewed only through the prism of personal experience. The two nonagenarians in Passing Time (John Gielgud and Raymond Huntley
Raymond Huntley
Raymond Huntley was an English actor who appeared in dozens of British films from the 1930s through to the 1970s...
) constantly back-pedal when recalling their dim and distant pasts, one memory bumping into the next, often cancelling out the previous remembrance. This is also explored in Watching the Plays Together, which examines the relationship between audience and playwright by creating an imaginary dialogue between the two, balancing the fine line between fiction and reality and providing the listener with an active role in the drama instead of a passive one.
Radio plays
- The Man on the Gate (1956)
- The Passionate Thinker (1957)
- The Prizewinner (1960)
- Betsie (1960)
- The Bridge (1961)
- Too Old fot Donkeys (1963)
- Room to Let (1963)
- A Nice Clean Sheet of Paper (1964)
- Helen and Edward and Henry (1966)
- Between the Two of Us (1967)
- Ella (1968)
- Echoes (1969)
- EvelynEvelyn (play)Evelyn is an award winning radio play by Rhys Adrian, first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 21 October 1969. It was later adapted for television as part of BBC One's Play for Today series which was transmitted on 28 October 1971.-Synopsis:...
(1969) - The Gardeners of My Youth (1970)
- I'll Love You Always (1970)
- A Chance Encounter (1972)
- Memoirs of a Sly Pornographer (1972)
- Angle (1975)
- Buffet (1976)
- The Night Nurse Slept in the Dayroom (1976)
- The Clerks (1978)
- No Charge for the Extra Service (1979)
- Passing Through (1981)
- Watching the Plays Together (1982)
- Passing Time (1983)
- Outpatient (1985)
- Toytown (1987)
- Upended (1988)
Television plays
- Big Time (as 'J. MacReady', with Julian Pepper; 1961)
- No Licence for Singing (Armchair TheatreArmchair TheatreArmchair Theatre is a British television drama anthology series, which ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by Associated British Corporation, and later by Thames Television after 1968....
; 1961) - Too Old for Donkeys (ITV PlayhouseITV PlayhouseITV Playhouse was a UK comedy-drama TV series that ran from 1967 to 1983, which featured contributions from playwrights such as Dennis Potter, Rhys Adrian and Alan Sharp. The series began in black and white, but was later shot in colour and was produced by various companies for the ITV network, a...
; 1963) - I Can Walk Where I Like, Can't I? (ITV Play of the Week; 1964)
- Between the Two of Us (ITV Play of the Week; 1965)
- Ella (Thirty-Minute Theatre; 1966)
- Stan's Day Out (Theatre 625Theatre 625Theatre 625 is a British television drama anthology series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC2 from 1964 to 1968. It was one of the first regular programmes in the line-up of the channel, and the title referred to its production and transmission being in the higher-definition 625-line...
; 1967) - The Drummer and the Bloke (The Wednesday PlayThe Wednesday PlayThe Wednesday Play was an anthology series of British television plays which ran on BBC1 from October 1964 to May 1970. Every week's play was usually written for television, although adaptations from other sources also featured...
; 1968) - Henry the Incredible Bore (For Amusement Only; 1968)
- Evelyn (Play for TodayPlay for TodayPlay for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted...
; 1971) - The FoxtrotThe FoxtrotThe Foxtrot is a television play by Rhys Adrian, first broadcast on BBC One in 1971 as part of the Play for Today strand. It is notable as an early example of the series' departure from socially aware, issue-based drama towards comedy and non-naturalism.-Synopsis:The play is a domestic drama...
(Play for Today; 1971) - Thrills Galore (Thirty-Minute Theatre; 1972)
- The Withered Arm (Wessex Tales; 1973)
- The Joke (BBC2 Playhouse; 1974)
- The Cafeteria (BBC2 Playhouse; 1974)
- Buffet (Play for Today; 1976)
- Getting in On Concorde (ITV Playhouse; 1979)
- Passing Through (BBC2 Playhouse; 1982)
Legacy
Of Rhys Adrian's 32 radio plays, only 13 exist in the BBC archive. The surviving pieces were largely sourced from off-air recordings. Many of his television plays also no longer existWiping
Wiping or junking is a colloquial term for action taken by radio and television production and broadcasting companies, in which old audiotapes, videotapes, and telerecordings , are erased, reused, or destroyed after several uses...
. In February 2010, BBC Radio 7 broadcast several of Adrian's plays to mark the twentieth anniversary of his death. The plays were Evelyn, Buffet, No Charge for the Extra Service, The Clerks, Passing Through and Passing Time.
Sources
- Best Radio Plays of 1982 (Methuen; 1983)
- John Drakakis (Ed.), British Radio Drama (Cambridge University PressCambridge University PressCambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...
; 1981) - John Russell TaylorJohn Russell TaylorJohn Russell Taylor is an English critic and author. He is the author of critical studies of British theatre; of critical biographies of such important figures in Anglo-American film as Alfred Hitchcock, Alec Guinness, Orson Welles, Vivien Leigh, and Ingrid Bergman; of Strangers in Paradise: The...
, Anger and After (PenguinPenguin BooksPenguin Books is a publisher founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane and V.K. Krishna Menon. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its high quality, inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence. Penguin's success demonstrated that large...
; 1963)
External links
- Rhys Adrian at the BFI screenonlineBritish Film InstituteThe British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
- The Diversity Website contains much information on Adrian's work, including broadcast dates and synopses for selected plays.
- The British Television Drama Website includes essays on several of Adrian's contributions to Play for TodayPlay for TodayPlay for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted...
.