The Party Through The Wall
by Muriel Spark
BBC Radio 4: Thirty Minute Theatre
Broadcast: Tuesday 28th November 1989 @ 3:02 p.m.
Though it is the early 1950s, most of the houses in Romney Terrace are still bomb damaged. They lie open to the South Kensington weather
like the decayed hollow teeth of some supine monster. But two of the houses at the end of the terrace, Nos. 10 & 11, have been repaired
and made over into flats. Some months earlier, Miss Ethel Carson, a woman in her 50s, came to live in the last but one, No. 10, on the third
floor. She needed a place to be extremely quiet for her to sleep because of her nerves and this was a perfect fit for her as her only
neighbours were old Dr. Fell and his invalid sister in No. 11.
But one night Miss Carson is furious when she hears noises coming through the wall from Dr. Fell's sister's room, as if there were a party
going on. She complains to Dr. Fell who claims that this cannot be as his sister is old and quiet and confined to her room. To ease her
suffering, Dr. Fell offers to treat Miss Carson's problem with her nerves but the offer is not as benign as Miss Carson might think....
"The Party Through the Wall" is a new version of Muriel Spark's first radio play, first performed in 1957.
With Diana Olsson [Miss Ethel Carson], James Cairncross [Dr. Fell, the Narrator], Vivienne Dixon [The Housekeeper], Pat Williams [The
Countess], and Yonnie Howgill [The Party Guest].
Directed by Stewart Conn at BBC Scotland Radio.
30 minutes.
Jim
