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The Plays of J. B. Priestley
- A BBC Radio Collection of 13 Full-Cast Productions
- Narrated by: Toby Jones, Harriet Walters, Alan Bennett, Brenda Blethyn, Martin Jarvis, Tony Britton, Henry Goodman, Lesley Nicol, Jack May, full cast
- Length: 19 hrs and 34 mins
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The Plays of J. B. Priestley
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Summary
13 plays and dramatisations of the works of the influential playwright, novelist and essayist J. B. Priestley - plus bonus programmes.
J. B. Priestley was one of Britain's most significant writers. His output was prodigious: in his lifetime, he penned 26 novels, 39 plays and hundreds of essays. He enjoyed great success on stage, notably with Dangerous Corner, Time and the Conways and An Inspector Calls, which experimented with narrative structure and unorthodox theories of time. Included here are some of his most esteemed works, adapted for radio and brought together in one statement collection.
We begin with Priestley's most famous play, An Inspector Calls, which sees Inspector Goole arriving unexpectedly at the prosperous Birling family home. Their celebratory dinner is shattered by his startling revelations about the death of a young woman. Next is Time and The Conways, telling the story of one family in several scenes set over 19 years, and When We Are Married, in which three couples receive a rude shock during their joint silver wedding party. In I Have Been Here Before, a group of strangers who meet at a remote Yorkshire inn discover that they are all interdependent - have they met before?
A happy gathering of friends discover that their relationships aren't what they seem in Dangerous Corner and, in Eden End, an elderly Yorkshire GP finds himself coming to the end of an era. The Linden Tree is set in England 1947, where rationing and austerity have fostered opportunism, escapism - and confrontation - within the Linden family.
The Good Companions, J. B. Priestley's classic story of a 1929 concert party tour, is followed by The Demon King, in which a Boxing Day panto is set to be a flop - until the Demon King comes on. In Lost Empires, Richard Hemcastle leaves his dead-end job to join his Uncle Nick in the glamour of the music halls, while in Bright Day, a chance encounter prompts a disillusioned scriptwriter to rediscover his past. Extraordinary and magical things happen on one elusive day in The Thirty-First of June, and in The Grey Ones, a patient fears evil is at work in the shape of a sinister conspiracy. Will his psychiatrist be able to help?
Among the array of stars in these stunning dramas are Toby Jones, Frances Barber, Harriet Walter, Alan Bennett, Brenda Blethyn, Lesley Nicol, Morvern Christie, Alun Armstrong, Roy Hudd, Tom Baker, Jack Shepherd, Geoffrey Palmer, Amaka Okafor, Martin Jarvis and Joan Plowright. Also included are two fascinating documentaries: Postscripts: J. B. Priestley, a five-part series of wartime observations originally broadcast in 1940 and read by Patrick Stewart, and Great Lives: J. B. Priestley, which sees Barry Cryer discussing his friend and fellow Yorkshireman with Martin Wainwright and Matthew Parris.
First published 1929 (The Good Companions), 1932 (Dangerous Corner), 1934 (Eden End), 1937 (Time and the Conways, I Have Been Here Before), 1938 (When We Are Married), 1945 (An Inspector Calls), 1946 (Bright Day), 1947 (The Linden Tree), 1953 (The Grey Ones), 1961 (The Thirty-First of June), 1962 (The Demon King), 1965 (Lost Empires)
Production credits
Written by J. B. Priestley
Contents List
An Inspector Calls
Time and The Conways
When We Are Married
I Have Been Here Before
Dangerous Corner
Eden End
The Linden Tree
The Good Companions
The Demon King
Lost Empires
Bright Day
The Thirty First of June
The Grey Ones
Postscripts: J. B. Priestley
Great Lives: J. B. Priestley
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What listeners say about The Plays of J. B. Priestley
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 24-08-23
Brilliant stories from a master writer
A really good collection of his popular stories and writings, makes you want to discover more of his work. Well produced dramas.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Lee
- 29-01-24
Excellent
These plays are of their time - just something to be aware of. An Inspector Calls - with Mr Sim in the film -is my favourite. Some plays I’d not heard of. Just a simple really good listen. Well worth a credit.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 12-09-23
Some stories very god, some not
Varied views on this listen. Bit dated for me. But still enjoyable. Some good casts. Probably better in it’s time
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Otterqueen
- 28-02-24
excellent collection
All of J B Priestley's plays together. Some I had already come across, and some were quite new to me. As a added bonus, some of the plays starred my old French teacher Geoffrey Banks, who was an actor in the 60's and 70's.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jo
- 01-11-23
Only just discovered ! Wow such an array
A real pick and mix of. Stories …. Love all the narrators chosen so well …. It’s the best value audio book Ive ever bought .. kept me entertained all through my piles of ironing and housework and even went to sleep listening to it … I couldn’t press stop cause I wanted to hear what else he’s got and I wasn’t disappointed..
I love classic shorts and some that a little longer I really enjoyed and would u believe it… we even got to see the index of content so we knew what we were listening to and could choose the one we wanted to listen to so all in all I’m a very happy customer and can’t wait to find some more of his plays and stories…. He has a great imagination 👍very unique… a little creepy as he got older but aren’t most of them 🙄😆
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- A. H. Cross
- 31-12-23
Classic Drama
I love these plays, having repeatedly listened to many from the old Saturday Night Theatre, so it was great to have them all in one collection.
My only qualm is that Eden's End has downloaded, complete with introduction and credits, as only 15 minutes long (the final 15), rather than the whole story.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Susan Mayer
- 30-09-23
Good selection of drama of the period
Some good BBC productions with solid casting. But why only 15 mins of Eden End - we’ve been short changed or have I missed something? Enjoyed the wartime ‘Postscripts’ which seem so innocent now. Essential listening for students of history of drama.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Amazon Customer
- 12-02-24
Superb plots.
Such beautiful writing and such clever writing. A joy to listen to. ‘An Inspector Calls’ is a favourite of mine.
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