RADIO DRAMA REVIEWS ONLINE

A Delicate Truth by John le Carré, abridged by Sally Marmion

Home
AUTHORS A-J
AUTHORS K-R
AUTHORS S-Z
DRAMATISTS A-Z
Contact Us

Book at Bedtime on BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4, 12-24 May 2013
 
John le Carré's long writing career has spanned many decades, covering the beginning and end of the Cold War and beyond.  His novels have proved exceptionally popular on all media: only recently Radio 4 serialized all the Smiley works with Simon Russell Beale memorably assuming the central role.
 
Listening to A Delicate Truth, however, I began to wonder whether le Carré really had anything new to say.  Although set in the post-Cold War era (2008), the story drew on familiar conventions, both thematic and stylistic: the classic us-vs-them plot, indirect dialogue (where the characters seldom express what they actually mean), shifting identities, and an overarching atmosphere of untrustworthiness.  Nothing is ever quite what it seems.  While these conventions undoubtedly make for exciting stories, but in the case of A Delicate Truth, they failed to enliven either the plot or the leaden characterization.  I wished that the protagonists would stop talking to one another in riddles and actually say what they meant: if they did, perhaps things might work more smoothly in governmental circles.
 
Damian Lewis worked hard to sustain the interest with a variety of vocal characterizations, but in the end I was focusing more on his performance rather than listening to the story.  The producer was Di Speirs.