Geoff Coupe's Blog

Reflections on life at “De Witte Wand”…

Cries From Casement and Penda’s Fen

A long time ago, back in 1973, I heard a play on BBC Radio: Cries from Casement as His Bone are Brought to Dublin. It was an extraordinary experience, and a brilliant realisation of the script.

This week I bought the BFI’s Blu-ray transcription of Penda’s Fen, one of the plays in the BBC’s “Play for Today” series, that was first broadcast on television in 1974. I’ve just sat down and watched it, and it was equally extraordinary.

pendas-fen.png

Something nagged at my memory, and I realised that both works were written by David Rudkin. Whilst I doubt that you will be able to hear the radio play again, the BFI/BBC release of Penda’s Fen is available. It’s well worth seeking out.

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2 responses to “Cries From Casement and Penda’s Fen”

  1. Matthew Healy Avatar
    Matthew Healy

    Unfortunately, Penda’s Fen appears only to be available as a disc with EU Region Coding and thus blocked from being played on North American equipment.

    Reply
    1. Geoff Coupe Avatar
      Geoff Coupe

      That sort of thing is a real pain. Fortunately, Gutenberg and his successors weren’t able to introduce DRM into the printing process, or the spread of knowledge would have been very different.

      What’s also ironic is that the disc was produced jointly by the BFI and BBC Worldwide Ltd. (my emphasis). Another example of “think global, act local” in the negative sense…

      Reply

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