Saturday, June 9, 2012

Every Now and Then


Every Now and Then by George Zarr (Voices in the Wind) was an enjoyable tale of a weird incident that was never fully explained as science fiction or the result of allergy medication gone awry.  Although there was no host as such (see Puppets), the presence of Mr Sagan, the antiques shop owner, seemed to suggest a knowing commentator on the action that was to follow, and I have to admit I never quite trusted him.  The drama of Every Now and Then hinged on an extremely mundane situation (a bickering couple enter an antiques shop to choose a wedding present for a friend) shot through with lashings of the bizarre.  

I am unsure why there seems to be such a strong vogue for ticking clocks in the background of indoor scenes; most of the plays I heard on this run used this device!  (Though in this case it was acceptable, as antiques shops should have ticking clocks; no less, they should have ticking grandfather clocks!  It all reminded me strongly of hearing the audio version of “The Power of the Daleks,” one of whose surviving episodes takes place in an antiques shop.)  Even if the dialogue and performances occasionally suggested a less-than-perfect historical rendering of 1903, I was prepared to accept the idylls of the play (even when it got extremely dramatic) because of its obvious love of the worlds of sound.  When Mr Sagan both verbally explained how to turn on a Gramophone, and we also heard the SFX of these actions being performed (the crank being winded, the turntable spinning, the needle being placed on the wax cylinder), it created a superb effect.  The haunting and rather sinister tones of the song “Every Now and Then” followed.  Likewise, the scenes which took place on a turn-of-the-century street were extremely well evoked, with the right mix of birds, carriage wheels, feet on pavement, etc.  The scenes aboard ship were also recreated with loving detail.     

I was surprised, to be honest, that the story had a happy ending; Frank and Diane’s (Gregg Rainwater and Noelle Dupuis) fate in the present day did not mirror that of Kathy Nightingale in Hull in “Blink.”  


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