The Dark Is Rising

[BookWorm45]

For all those like me who loved the Dark Is Rising set of books by Susan Cooper.....

this article talks about a new radio adaptation, coming soon. Can't wait !

www.theguardian.com/books/2022/dec/03/midwinter-magic-robert-macfarlane-world-service-the-dark-is-rising-susan-cooper-bbc

Off to find my copy now and re-read it......

I'm listening at WS pace and loving it, I haven't read it for about 40 years (sadly no longer have a copy) but I was surprised that I remember so much! Listening through AirPods and the effects are excellent.

Miss Greythorne and the Lady are both being played by Harriet Walter. I thought Miss Greythorne was the Lady, but now I'm not so sure?

No, they're both Old Ones, but different people.

just listened to final episode, really good

I listened to the last episode this morning. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Like others have said, the sound effects were amazing. Really well done.

DS listened to the first episode with me and then said he'd rather wait until all the episodes were available, so I may be listening to it all again soon.

I enjoyed it, but I did find the actor playing Will quite annoying.
A solid 6/10 for me, great effects and atmosphere but the casting generally could have been a lot better.

It's one of my favourite book series (there's a great thread on here from a few days ago about other books/series you might enjoy if you like this sequence), but I almost didn't listen as I also found the actor playing Will very stagey and some of the lines they made him say clunky and anachronistic for the time the story was set.

I know they evidently went for an actor who was the same chronological age as Will in the story, but the point is that Will is VERY old for his actual age...so although I enjoyed the sound effects and the atmosphere I also wasn't a huge fan of much of the casting. As well as that, the binaural element irritated me immensely the first time we tried to listen to it as a family unit. So yes, 6/10 seems fair.

Yes, I agree, 6/10. I'm glad I listened to it, and I think on stage it would have been somewhat easier to overlook the dodgy casting. I hope they will do some of the other books, altho opt to use young adults to play the children (and old adults to play the likes of Merriman!)

I agree with the comments above: excellent production and sound effects but largely poor casting. The boy playing Will was consistently wooden and not believable. Merriman was too young and lacking gravitas, and all of Will’s siblings sounded too old. Harriet Walter and Toby Jones were excellent though. I’m still waiting for a really good TV adaptation!

Goodness … I’m re-listening to the World Service broadcasts on my phone, with EarPods. But it’s all so much less magnificent, aurally, than it was coming from my radio, on earphones. I’m getting almost none of the terrifying cacophony I heard the first time.

Still, it’s good to hear the whole thing at once.