Hello -- some news!
I've adapted Susan Cooper's cult-classic novel, The Dark Is Rising, for a 12-part audio drama/podcast on @bbcworldservice.
Dir. & co-adapted by @SimonMcBurney.
Starring Toby Jones, Harriet Walter.
Music by @JohnnyFlynnHQ & more.
#TheDarkIsRising
Brief 🧵
The Dark Is Rising is straight up the eeriest novel I know. I first read it when I was 13, & it gripped me then -- as it's gripped millions of people around the world since it was first published in 1973...
economist.com/1843/2014/08/0…
...with its story of young Will Stanton, who turns 11 one Winter Solstice, only to find that in the landscape around his quiet English village, something is very wrong. Rooks are behaving oddly, a blizzard's building, "the Walker" is abroad––& the power of the Dark is surging.
5 yrs ago, I co-led a Midwinter Twitter read-along of Susan's novel, & 1000s of people from dozens of countries shared thoughts & stories abt the book.
We even trended on Twitter with #TheDarkIsReading!
Susan wrote us a memorable letter when it was over:
So when a year ago my friend @SimonMcBurney -- the legendary director, theatre-maker & actor –- suggested that we might adapt it for radio, *really* adapt it...well, I couldn't think of anything more exciting.
I sought Susan's blessing, which she kindly gave, & we set to work...
...wonderfully supported by commissioner Simon Pitts at @bbcworldservice, the pioneering theatre company @Complicite (which Simon co-founded), producers @tmebell & Catherine Bailey, & an incredible ensemble of actors. We rehearsed & workshopped intensely...
[📷Camilla Adams]
...& meanwhile @JohnnyFlynnHQ, Luisa Gerstein, Heloise Tunstall-Behrens & I began work on the music/songs for the adaptation -- for Susan's is a deeply, intricately musical novel, filled w/ songs & chants (an EP of the music will be released by @transgressiveHQ this Midwinter)...
...& then Toby Jones agreed to play "the Walker" & Harriet Walter & Paul Rhys came on board, & we began recording partly binaurally, using a Neumann "dummy head" microphone, which means when you listen with headphones, the voices & sound *surround* you, move 360 *around* you...
...The Dark Is Rising begins on Midwinter Eve, 20 December, and then unfolds over the following days, at roughly a chapter a day.
The first episode of our adaptation will be broadcast on 20 December, and go out for 12 days, so you'll listen in the 'real time' of the novel...
...as well as being able to catch up on podcast.
I knew when we began work on this last November, that I wanted to honour Susan -- now 87 -- & her incredible novel, which has shaped so many people's imaginations over four decades...
theguardian.com/books/2012/dec…
...and I truly hope we've done that.
I know I've been lucky to work on this with extraordinary people.
Can't wait for you all to hear it & to read/talk along with the broadcasts.
Pls help spread the word & build anticipation!
#TheDarkIsRising
Full details: bbc.com/mediacentre/20…
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