And before the Radiophonic Workshop has even opened its doors it gains its first television credit. Daphne Oram provides effects for a British production of a French take on a Roman play.
A comedy adapted from the French of Jean Giraudoux by S.N. Behrman
[Starring] Googie Withers, Alec Clunes, Patrick Barr, Judy Campbell, David McCallum”The action takes place in and about Amphitryon’s Palace in Thebes.
Radiophonic effects by Daphne Oram
Radio Times
The tongue-in-cheek ‘38’ suffix refers to the times this story comic of Jupiter’s attempts to seduce Alkmena, wife of the titular Amphitryon. Wordplay and comic sparring are to the fore in this adaptation of the Roman playwright Plautus’s second-century BC work. Daphne’s enigmatic sound work is only available now in excerpted form. Although the original tape is listed (TRW 1002) the excerpt kept on compilation Archive Tape 2 (TRW 2) is all that remains. What we hear is certainly not comedic at first listen, although as the swirling reverberations resolve with a gentle glissando then a kind of plopping noise which could raise a smile, in the right context. The mysterious movements of the gods may account for much of this though.
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