2016 Quarter 2 Review 7/13

008 Horror – Old

I know I listen to a lot of ghost stories on Radio 4 and Radio 4 Extra, and I admire many of them.  That said, I found The Girl Who Didn’t Want to Be to be one of the most unique I’d heard in awhile.  This play from 1978 focuses on the young, good-looking vVcar (Simon Cadell) and his gusty wife. Their rural village church was being haunted by the spirit of a young woman who died in a disastrous motorcycle accident from 1938.  This spirit, Margaret, is slightly dull-witted and really really horny.  She pesters the Vicar to the point where he wonders if she’s an emissary of Satan.  He feels ill-equipped to deal with this kind of thing and has to turn to the Bishop for help.  Fortunately, the Bishop is quite a worldly man, with a voice and demeanour like Robert Stephens, and helps the Vicar have a sort of laying-to-rest ceremony, protested by newcomers to the village (weekenders from London, sort of).  This all comes about because the village church is unique in that it has a sculptural homage to all the people in the parish who died virgins, the “Virgin Crowns,” and Margaret—most decidedly not a virgin—has one, which her ghost is not too happy about.  If it all sounds a bit naff, the writing is actually really good, very natural and not at all sensationalized.  Further, the first time Margaret manifests in the church while the Vicar is alone, repeating “Hello?  Hello?  Hello?” over and over, was one of the most chilling moments of radio I’ve had in awhile.  The sound design was also refreshingly crisp.

It wasn’t quite clear what was wrong with Kenneth and Sue in Wishing Well by Sally Warboyes, but it was profound and disturbing.   Unfortunately for Sarah, an avaricious antiques dealer, her car happened to break down not far from their B&B.  While I can’t say any more without giving away the plot of this play, originally from 1991 and directed by Cherry Cookson, be assured it makes for an unsettling listen.