Riddley Walker
by Russell Hoban
Russell Hoban - Riddley Walker
Broadcast: Monday 30th December 1996, BBC Radio 4.
Re-broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on Sunday 13th April 1997
Three thousand years in the future, long after a nuclear war has destroyed civilisation, the characters of Riddley Walker's world live a harsh life in a small area which is presently the English county of Kent, and know nothing of the world outside of "Inland" (England). Their level of civilisation is similar to England's prehistoric Iron Age, although they do not produce their own iron but salvage it from ancient machinery. Church and state have combined into one secretive institution, whose mythology, partly based on misremembered stories of the war, is enacted in puppet shows.
Riddley speaks in a devolved form of English in which many modern words (especially technological and religious terms) have changed in meaning; many of the place names are puns, such as "Dog Et" for Dargate, and "Do It Over" for Dover. Now, the Pry Mincer wants to rebuild the shattered technology of the past while Riddley Walker, the Connexion Man, is caught up in a desperate struggle to unlock the secrets of 'the yellerboy stoan'.
With Matthew Dunster [Riddley Walker], Russell Dixon [Abel Goodparley], Robert Whelan [Erny Orfing], Joe Melia [Granser], Richard Pearce [Lissener], Dona Croll [Lorna Elswint], Teresa Gallagher [Belnot Phist], Malcolm Raeburn [Straiter Empy], Keith Lad [Fister Crunchman], Fine Time Fontayne [Durster Potter], Steven Hall [Nimble Potter], and John Bramwell [Reckman Bessup].
The children were: Vicky Connett, Hannah Daley, David Shaw, and David Donaldson.
Music composed and performed by Ilona Sekaez.
Producer Michael Fox, Manchester.
Jim
