The War of The Worlds – The Lux Radio Play plus The Day the Earth Stepped Sideways.

There was no stampede at the invasion from Mars as happened with the original audio play The War of the Worlds in New York in 1939 for the obvious reason of it being read on stage. Still it was an interesting experience.

Prior to this play was The Day the Earth Stepped Sideways by Jay Edwards, which was a very new science fiction story that covered every aspect of the imagination.

The success of this visual presentation of a radio play depends entirely on the voices of the cast and the effectiveness of the sound effects team and in this case, the voices and sound was very good indeed. The Day the Earth Stepped Sideways was obviously challenging for the cast and, at times, very challenging for the audience. Bobby Nesbit, played by Matt McNeice, develops, by accident, the ability to transform people, time and places. He was a good scientist. Very good too was Sandy Adsett as his wife, except for sometimes moving away from the microphones, while Petra Donnison was oustanding in her roles. There was no weakness in the cast and it will be interesting to see the next play by this new writer.

Obviously the audience came mainly to listen to The War of the Worlds and it was worth the wait as the Martians began to take over the world. At the centre of the action and story was an astronomer who calmly out-thought everyone else in the search for survival. He was very well played by Alex Thompson but for perhaps being too stoic some of the time. The cast achieved the highest of standards and maintained them throughout. To be honest the sound effects trio were brilliant in both plays as they have so much to do that was essential. They were Rob Crook, Hazel Newman and Mark Corben. They were really on the button.

Very well done Nash Theatre. Sorry Lux Radio Theatre.

William Davies