STORY PLACEMENT

 THIS STORY TAKES

 PLACE BETWEEN THE

 AUDIO DRAMAS "THE

 DEAD SHOES" AND "A

 STING IN THE TALE."

 

 WRITTEN BY

 PAUL MAGRS

 

 DIRECTED BY

 KATE THOMAS

 

 RECOMMENDED 

 PURCHASE

 'HORNETS' NEST: THE

 CIRCUS OF DOOM' AUDIO

 CD (ISBN 1-408-42675-3)

 RELEASED IN NOVEMBER

 2009.

 

 BLURB

 IN BLANDFORD, 1832,

 CIRCUS RINGMASTER

 ANTONIO EXERTS A

 STRANGE INFLUENCE

 ON THE TOWNSFOLK.

 

 THE DOCTOR STEPS INTO

 THE RING TO FIND THAT

 ANTONIO HAS DEMONS

 OF HIS OWN...

 

 

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Hornets' Nest:

The Circus of Doom

NOVEMBER 2009

(60-MINUTE EPISODE)

 

 

                                                       

 

 

The Circus of Doom, the central chapter in Tom Baker and Paul Magrs’ heavily publicised Hornets’ Nest series is a story that I’m sure the author had great fun writing, and the actor an even better time performing.

 

Magrs’ translucent title tells you everything that you need to know about the production long before you pop the CD into your player. Whatever preconceptions and prejudices you may have inferred are almost certainly well-founded, but that’s no bad thing here. The seventy minutes of this story are teeming with sinister clowns; mischievous Lion Tamers; ghoulish ringmasters of squat stature; and even bearded, female funambulists possessed by alien insects.

 

And much like the preceding instalments, The Circus of Doom is a lyrical delight, Magrs’ peerless prose effortlessly rolling from Baker’s tongue. Magrs is without doubt my favourite Who wordsmith, at least in terms of the beautiful language that he uses. It may seem a little peculiar to be praising prose in what is billed as a pseudo-audio drama, but having Baker read it aloud in his distinct and sonorous tones really heightens one’s appreciation of it.

 

The story itself is colourful and enchanting, not to mention abominably amusing in a League of Gentlemen sort of way. For instance, on the face of it, one wouldn’t think that there was

all that much humour to be derived from having the Doctor’s head inside a Lion’s mouth as

it enjoys a “lackadaisical yawn”, but somehow Magrs finds it, whist somehow still managing

to maintain a distinct air of tension. Now that’s skill.

 

 

The ongoing Hornets’

Nest narrative is also

progressed a little as

through his encounter

with embittered dwarf

Antonio, the Doctor

learns that he is destined to cause the events that lead to Antonio first becoming possessed by the Hornets many years earlier, begging some very interesting questions indeed. At this stage I cant help but wonder where exactly these Hornets come from, and indeed how they came to be.

 

More pessimistically, as appears to be the case with this Hornets’ Nest series overall, this production is an audio book disguised as audio drama; Baker’s great swathes of narration broken only by short, sharp bursts of dialogue from the supporting artists. Most lamentably

of all though, Richard Franklin is once again neglected by the script, the character of Mike Yates used by Magrs as nothing more than an extraordinary bookend.

 

On balance then, I enjoyed The Circus of Doom more than I did The Stuff of Nightmares, though I don’t think that it quite measures up to the riotous merriment of The Dead Shoes. That said, it’s intriguing to see the first few threads of the larger story starting to knit together, and I’m very much looking forward to finding out how the series will conclude. With Magrs at the helm, we can at least be sure that it will be both a thrilling and macabre climax.

 

Copyright © E.G. Wolverson 2009

 

E.G. Wolverson has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

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