RADIO DRAMA REVIEWS ONLINE

The Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling, adapted by Rafe Beckley

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

Buy the Just So Stories from Spokenworld Audio

Spokenworld Audio, 2013
 
In this audio adaptation of the Kipling classic, the stories were read by David Warner, embellished with songs performed by the cast from the Red Table Theatre production of the Just So Stories that played London and Edinburgh and 2012, and was described by one critic as an ideal show for children with evocative songs, whose cast ended up happily chatting with the audience at the end..
 
Neil Gardner's radio version contains ten songs performed by Tressa Brooks, Jennifer Hazel, Freya Parsons and Jo Wickham.  They are a talented ensemble, with a very precise method of delivery: every word they sing becomes clearly audible.  In quasi-Brechtian fashion the songs are designed to summarize the stories as well as offering a comment on their significance.  
 
But the production was in no way didactic in tone: on the contrary it was highly entertaining, with narrator Warner having a great time with Kipling's language in which sound and sense assume equal importance.  He sounded so convincing, in fact, that we might have been persuaded to believe Kipling's explanations as to how the elephant gets his trunk, why the moon pulls the tides, and so on.
 
Although intended for children, this version of the Just So Stories should appeal to all listeners who have the childlike spirit lurking within their souls.