Book Into Play
T is sometimes a disadvantage to have read the novel on which a radio play is based. Rayne Kruger’s The Spectacle (continued on next page)
(continued from previous page) had impressed me as a serious book legitimately using the thriller technique to say something valuable about human nature. But in the BBC play (1YC) the adaptor Rex Reinits has chosen to concentrate on the circumstances leading to the death of an unpleasant usurer, and to the trial of Grant Hoathly for his murder. The essence of the book is the change of heart in Hoathly and the transformation of his personality both during the trial and after his condemnation. On the air, the story became a conventional whodunit, with a surprise "twist" at the end. Would I, I wonder, have found the radio play convincing had I not been aware of all the psychological substance in Kruger’s novel? I doubt it, for in the BBC version, the operation of conscience, unprepared for, was a gimmick plucked out of Hoathly’s heart like a squirming rabbit. Perhaps really good novels should always be presented in instalments, like Dickens and Trollope, instead of in one piece, if the result is to be faithful to the
original,
J.C.
R.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19540730.2.22.4
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 784, 30 July 1954, Page 10
Word count
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208Book Into Play New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 784, 30 July 1954, Page 10
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
Copyright in the Denis Glover serial Hot Water Sailor published in 1959 is owned by Pia Glover. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this serial and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the Listener. You can search, browse, and print this serial for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Pia Glover for any other use.
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