DRAMATIC PROGRAMMES

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 78, 29 September 1938, Page 28

DRAMATIC PROGRAMMES

Providing something new in the way of radio drama and in theme and scope surpassing anything yet produced by the National Broadcasting Service, is the new serial "Into the Light" that is scheduled to begin at 2YA next Wednesday night • Written by Edmund Barclay, and produced by the N. 8.5., "Into the Light" is described as a serial romance of the middle ages. Against a background of the most colourful, stirring, and eventful period in history, Europe in the middle ages, the serial has for its theme the dispersal of the dark ages and the dispelling of ignorance and superstition by the Renaissance of Learning and Art. But it is a theme is inferred rather than implied, for the story is similar in type to the great romances pf Don Quixote or Gil Bias. The central character is Peter Lorimer, a young Englishman' typical of his age, but ahead of his time in his gentle humanitarianism. Through a series of unfortunate circumstances he becomes obsessed with an idee fixe —a belief that somewhere in the world the/Philosopher's Stone is to be found. He believes that he must find this stone, and'so he renounces his riches and his estates, changes his name to Peter Lacklove, and sets ot|t on a world-wide search. In the dress of a pilgrim he travels all over the then known world and is caught up,in the great events that are stirring the world in the ferment of the time. He comes in contact with all the great men of the age—statesmen like Machiavelli and Cardinal Wolsey, men like Cesare Borgia, Maximilian I, and humanitarians like Sir Thomas More. He watches bLeonardo da Vinci paint the picture of the Last Supper on the wall of the San Bernadino chapel, he takes part in the Battle of Flodden, he gees with Columbus on his last tragic voyage, he exchanges sword thrusts, with the great Cellini, mets ]\lichaelangelo, and helps Martin Luther throw inkpots at the devil. But the great historical events and personages are not intruded baldly on the listener's notice, for they are human figures moving in the background, and Peter Lacklove's nature and ideals are such that he influences for their good the characters and lives of nearly everybne\ he meets. Both the excellence of the script and the production mark this serial as one of the most outstanding productions yet to be presented, and listeners should not miss the first episode, entitled "The Black Monk," which is to be broadcast from 2YA next Wednesday evening at 9.5 o'clock.

"Soldier of Fortune" is the title of a new recorded serial recently purchased by the N.B.S. It is a modern romantic story which has all the elements to make it popular. The story is woven round the young queen of an imaginary State, who is enabled to overcome the difficulties presented by her enemies by a British ex-war pilot. Plotting, counter-plotting, intrigue, romance, and comedy are all ingredients'of this serial, the. first chapter of which is'to be broadcast from 2YA at 9.32 on October 5.

A. studio presentation of "The Clairvoyant" is scheduled from 3YA this evening at 8 o'clock. It is to^be presented by the Mercury Players and listeners will find it an excellent little piece of radio drama.