BBC Radio 4, 23 September - 7 October 2012
Graham White's three-part version offered a fascinating contrast to Nick
McCarty's six-part adaptation of the Hardy novel, first broadcast in 1990 and regularly repeated on BBC Radio 4 Extra. With
a longer running-time at his disposal, McCarty concentrated more closely on character-development, while explaining in detail
the intricacies of the plot. To listeners unacquainted with the novel, White's version might have seemed rather
confusing as it attempted to tell a lot of the story in a very short time.
Unlike McCarty's version, White shifted attention away from the three male characters
on to Bathsheba Everdene (Alex Tregear). As a single woman trying to make her way in a patriarchal society, life proved extremely
difficult. She was regarded as nothing more than an unpaid servant who would be expected to get married and stay
at home while her husband continued the 'real business' of running a farm. Bathsheba was not prepared to countenance this
life, which helps to explain why she peremptorily refused Gabriel Oak's (Shaun Dooley's) and Farmer Boldwood's (Toby Jones')
clumsily worded proposals. By contrast Sergeant Troy (Patrick Kennedy) offered her the (illusory) prospect of love with no
strings attached, which helps to explain why she entered so willingly - and rapidly - into a relationship.
Director Jessica Dromgoole suggested that Oak's and Boldwood's amatory inadequacies
were inevitable in a rural society that disliked overt displays of emotion - especially from men. If anyone did try to
express themselves, their behaviour was discussed at length by the villagers in the local hostelry. I felt sorry for Jones'
Boldwood, as he tried yet failed to convey his feelings, eventually resorting to the kind of cliches that repelled rather
than attracted Bathsheba. Oak understood his verbal inadequacies and devoted himself stoically to his work (as indicated by
his surname).
Yet farming was the only life that the villagers knew; if it was disrupted in
any way, their collective livelihood might be put at risk. Bathsheba found this out to her cost, as Troy plied the local
labourers with strong drink, rendering them unable to gather in the harvest. It was only due to Oak's strength of character
that at least some of the annual crop was saved.
As in other Hardy adaptations, Dromgoole's production was livened by period music
(from Colin Guthrie, Chris Davies and Lauren Swift) that also served a thematic function. Whenever the action shifted to the
local hostelry, where the locals gathered to chew over the day's events over ale, we could hear music in the background, suggesting
good fellowship and collective well-being. This served as a contrast to the prevailing atmosphere of foreboding that
ran throughout the production, in which fate dictated the characters' lives. Despite their best efforts, they were always
subject to the vagaries of the weather. The hostelry and its music offered them a brief period of respite, in which they could
enjoy themselves without worrying about what happened next.
Distinguished by four fine central performances from Tregear, Dooley, Kennedy and
Jones, Dromgoole's production emphasized how well Hardy's novels are suited to radio adaptation, perhaps more so than
film and/or television (for example, in John Schlesinger's rather elephantine 1967 film with Alan Bates).
