Campfire Radio Theater, September 2013
A revival of the CBS play broadcast
in the Nightfall series (which ran from 1980 to 1983), The Dentist was a nasty little tale with distinct
echoes of older Grand Guignol horror stories like Sweeney Todd. A new dental assistant (Kellie Floyd) becomes
suspicious of her employer Dr. Stewart's (Nathan Lowell's) practices, as many of his patients emerge from the surgery in a
stupor. Even the assistant's husband has been affected.
Despite her misgivings, the assistant is lured into a trap by the promise of extra money,
and discovers to her cost precisely what the dentist is doing. Her capacity to think logically has been subtly eroded.
The story was a familiar one,
but it was performed with macabre gusto by a cast including such radio drama stalwarts as John Ballentine, Julie Hoverson
and Jack Ward. Quite how they get the time to do their day jobs, as well as perform on radio, is something quite remarkable.
The director was John Ballentine.
