Radio Drama Analysis

1. Radio Drama Analysis Phillip Pullman http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09f3ry7

2. About Phillip Pullman His Dark Materials Dramatic events spark 12 year old Will's escape into the parallel world of Cittagazze where he meets 11 year old Lyra. Together they acquire the most powerful weapon in all the Universes - The Subtle Knife. Phillip Pullman's award-winning trilogy is a breath-taking epic adventure spanning a multitude of worlds. Stars Lulu Popplewell as Lyra, Ray Fearon as Balthamos, Daniel Anthony as Will, Emma Fielding as Mrs Coulter, John Carlisle as Sir Charles, Brid Brennan as Dr Malone, Richard Johnson as Paradisi, Stuart Fox as Walters and Joanna Monro as Mrs Parry. Marlene Sidaway as Mrs Cooper, Peter Marinker as Lee Scorseby, Carla Simpson as Hester, Jack Klaff as Stanislaus Grumman, Tracy-Ann Oberman as SerafinaPekkala, Simon Donaldson as Kaisa, Joanna Kanska as RutaSkadi and Richard Firth as Pantalaimon. David Holt as Ozymandias, Martin Hyder as Thorold, Laura Doddington as Lena, Emma Woolliams as Juta, Scott Brooksbank as Tullio, Ewan Bailey as The Cardinal, Gregg Prentice as Paolo, Victoria O'Donnell as Angelica and Oliver Cookson as the Boy. Dramatised by Lavinia Murray. Music composed and realised by Billy Cowie. Director: David Hunter First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2003.

3. Genre & Theme The genre of dark materials is Drama, Adventure, & Fantasy. It is a unique story, we start by hearing various sounds which makes it interesting for the listener. His Dark Materials is an epictrilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman consisting ofNorthern Lights (1995, published as The Golden Compass in North America), The Subtle Knife (1997), and The Amber Spyglass (2000). It follows the coming of age of two children, Lyra Belacqua and Will Parry, as they wander through a series of parallel universes. The novels have won a number of awards, including the Carnegie Medal in 1995 for Northern Lights and the 2001 Whitbread Book of the Year for The Amber Spyglass. His Dark Materials has been marketed to young adults, though Pullman wrote with no target audience in mind. The fantasy elements include witches and armoured polar bears; the trilogy also alludes to concepts from physics, philosophy and theology. It functions in part as a retelling and inversion of John Milton's epic Paradise Lost, with Pullman commending humanity for what Milton saw as its most tragic failing, original sin. The series has attracted controversy for its criticism of religion. The London Royal National Theatre staged a two-part adaptation of the series in 2003–2004. New Line Cinema released a film adaptation of Northern Lights, The Golden Compass, in 2007. Pullman followed the trilogy with two shorter books set in the same universe, Lyra's Oxford (2003) and Once Upon a Time in the North (2008). La Belle Sauvage‎, the first book in a new trilogy, The Book of Dust, was published on 19 October 2017.

4. Storyline & Characters The two characters introduced into the segment are William who is twelve, we also meet the mother Parry who seems to be unwell and is in a bad environment. They both are in a low class society. William seems very unique and confident, as he looks after his mother he decides that it is best for her to not stay at the house. William likes exploring and being adventurous. William "Will" Parry (b. 1985) was the temporary bearer of Æsahættr. He was the sole child of John Parry, an explorer, and Elaine Parry. Although not born in Lyra's world, after he visited the Land of the Dead his soul became a dæmon named Kirjava. Not long afterwards, she settled as a cat at the touch of his first love, Lyra Silvertongue. The mother parry comes across as caring as she makes sure that William is fed even though they don’t have the money to purchase food supplies for them to live, this results in stealing. Elaine married John Parry and the couple had a son whom they named William. Not long after the birth of Will, John departed on the Nuniatak dig expedition, leaving Elaine to care for their son alone. On the 24 June1985, Elaine was sent the last letter she would ever receive from her husband. Three and a half months after his departure, John Parry was declared missing. Elaine suffered from mental health problems, and her son had to care for her. When he was twelve, William took Elaine to live with his old piano teacher. The storyline is about a boy called William who lives with his mother Parry. We can tell that they are from a lower class era. The intro illustrates the mother influencing William to steal frozen food from the supermarket. The father seems to not be in the house. William seems to be worried about his mother so he takes her to a friends to stay. His father seems to be involved with the foreign embassy. The men try to ask for his father and return for the second time. William accidently kills one of the men as he falls directly from the staircase onto his head, William panics. William walks down a quiet avenue at night, to think about his thoughts. William’s cat Moxy finds a patch of grass on the way, the cat seems to disappear Will is in shock. They see a invisible force field, Will enters on his back realising he is in a sea front avenue with café’s. William was cautious and wondered where everyone is. He then realises he is in a different country, and meets eleven year old Lyra who insists she is from another world.

5. Sound Diegetic sound: At the start of the radio drama we here a environment in a supermarket. We hear a lady on the microphone notifying staff. This sets the scene of where Will and his mother is. The mother influences Will to shoplift “Don’t let anyone see you put it in the trolley…”We have sounds of beeping of the supermarket machines, the mum is worried over the technology and simple beeping of the machines. Various Foley diegetic sound is used repetitively such as movement rustling, walking of Will and his mother. We hear sounds of traffic, cars and city noises. We are then in the scene of when they are home we hear the door bell ring, the men approach the door because of Will’s father being involved in foreign embassies, they insist in seeing nine letters. William has a pet cat called ‘Moxy’, The diegetic sound ‘Meow’ is used frequently the listener knows the scene and surroundings. We hear footsteps from the staircase so we know movement is going on. A voice over is included describing the death of one of the men “The man trips over straight onto his head "This makes it easy for the listener to know what is happening and also as we can’t see we can vision how it happened in different type of ways. Various voice overs of narration is used so we know what is going on, it also sets the next scene. When William enters the café it is silent this build tension Non diegetic sound: A fairy-tale like instrumental is played at the opening of the radio drama, it gives a scary but interesting feel. We then have a voice over from a lady introducing the drama saying ‘The subtle knife’ ‘by Phillip Pullman ‘This is done deliberately so the audience know what they are listening to and who it is by. Another voice over the ‘angel’ introduces the character Will and his dependency on their father. When the men come back we hear a more intense instrumental, it gets the audience more interested and engaged in what is going to happen next. We hear mood music, it sounds very mysterious and gets louder as the cat ‘Moxy’ disappeared into the invisible force field.