The Yellow Wallpaper (radio)

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Broadcast history

The Radio Tales production of “The Yellow Wallpaper” was first broadcast via NPR on December 10, 1996 [National Public Radio: "NPR Quarterly Edition Fall 1996". NPR Marketing, Vol. II, No. IV] . The program encompassed two half-hour installments that were distributed to NPR member stations as part of the NPR Playhouse cultural series. Since November 28th, 2002, the entire Radio Tales series has aired in reruns on the Sonic Theater channel (163) of the XM Satellite Radio service [ [http://www.xmradio.com/onxm/features/sonictheater.xmc "Sonic Theater"] XMRadio.com. Accessed May 22, 2008.] .

Production information

The program was produced and script edited by series producer Winnie Waldron, who also served as the on-air host [ [http://www.winifredphillips.com/wp_bio.html "Winifred Phillips Official Site: Biography"] Winifredphillips.com. Accessed May 19, 2008.] . Composer Winifred Phillips created over fifty-six minutes of music for the program, and also performed as the featured actress [ [http://www.mninter.net/~jstearns/nprPH.html#top "NPR Playhouse - January - March, 2001"] MNinter.net. Accessed March 21, 2008.] . “The Yellow Wallpaper” was part of the first year of Radio Tales on NPR Playhouse [National Public Radio: "NPR Quarterly Edition Fall 1996". NPR Marketing, Vol. II, No. IV] .

Critical reception

“The Yellow Wallpaper” program from the Radio Tales series has received favorable reviews. Publishers Weekly described the program as “sensational” and “fully enveloping”, adding that “(Phillips’) charged narration is augmented with sound effects and a musical score”. [Publishers Weekly: "Audio Reviews". Publishers Weekly pg. 29, Jan 6 1997]

Awards

“The Yellow Wallpaper” has received several awards, including the Gracie Award from the Foundation of American Women in Radio and Television in the category of “Outstanding Achievement by an Actress in a National Network Drama” for Winifred Phillips’ performance in the program. [Hear Here: "Tales by American Masters". AudioFile Magazine, pg. 8, Feb/March 1999, Vol. 7, No. 5.]

Media

The Radio Tales production of “The Yellow Wallpaper” was published on audiocassette by Durkin Hayes Publishing Ltd in 1996 as a part of its “Paperback Audio” line (ISBN 0886468957) [ [http://cat.lanepl.org/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=1W1A4043943L3.3551&profile=lpl&uri=link=3100019~!66745~!3100001~!3100002&aspect=subtab28&menu=search&ri=1&source=~!horizon&term=Gilman%2C+Charlotte+Perkins%2C+1860-1935&index=PAUTHOR "Lane Libraries Catalog – Find it at The Lane!"] cat.lanepl.org. Accessed October 1, 2008.] , to coincide with the broadcast premiere of the program via National Public Radio. In 1997, Durkin Hayes re-released the program on audiocassette with new packaging and cover art as a part of its new “dh Audio” imprint. [ [http://www.amazon.com/Tales-American-Masters-Yellow-Wallpaper/dp/0886468957/ref=sr_11_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1222873516&sr=11-1 "Amazon.com: The Yellow Wallpaper"] Amazon.com. Accessed October 1, 2008.] Since that time, the Radio Tales production of “The Yellow Wallpaper” has been available in numerous formats and venues, including burn-on-demand CDs manufactured and distributed by MP3.com [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20031129193548/artists.mp3s.com/artists/33/npr_radio_tales.html "MP3.com: Radio Tales"] MP3.com, as indexed by the Internet Archive at Archive.org. Accessed July 15, 2008.] and Ampcast.com [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20060212003627/http://www.ampcast.com/music/25229/artist.php "Ampcast.com: Radio Tales"] Ampcast.com, as indexed by the Internet Archive at Archive.org. Accessed July 15, 2008.] . Beginning in 2005, programs from the series, including “The Yellow Wallpaper” program, have been available for download via the Audioville.co.uk web site. [ [http://www.audioville.co.uk/store/view.php?Id=582&ProductCategoryId=59 "audioVille | Stor>>Fiction | Radio Tales | Download Audio Books, Podcasts and more in MP3. Comedy, Fiction, sport, news, science, drama."] Audioville.co.uk. Accessed October 1, 2008.]

Opening narration

Plot summary

The narrator and her husband John have rented a country estate for the summer. John is a physician, and this country retreat is his prescription for what he describes as the narrator’s “nervous condition”, a temporary depression that he is sure will pass after some therapeutic rest. The narrator would much rather take up her creative writing again, but John will not hear of it. So she secretly keeps a journal in which she describes the house and grounds (which delight her with both their loveliness and ‘ghostly’ romanticism). The only thing she doesn’t like about the estate is the yellow wallpaper in their bedroom on the top floor. Formerly a nursery, John had the room converted to their bedroom because there were many windows there, and fresh air formed a part of his prescribed ‘rest therapy’. The pattern of the wallpaper, in particular, is very distressing to the narrator, who finds its color disgusting and its shapes convoluted and nonsensical.

After two weeks of ‘rest’ (during which John has been away almost continuously in his capacity as a doctor), the narrator’s condition worsens – she grows increasingly tired and lonely. She appeals to John for permission to invite two of her friends for a long visit, but he tells her that such stimulation would be detrimental to her. He is not aware of how stimulating the wallpaper is becoming to her, with its grotesque and disturbing pattern resembling distorted heads with bulging eyes. The paper is torn in spots, and the narrator begins to detect a subpattern in the form of a skulking figure that lurks behind the florid front design.

By the fourth of July, the narrator’s exhaustion is becoming debilitating, and her relationship with the yellow wallpaper has mutated from disgust to fascination. Vague shapes become more visible in the pattern with every passing day, until they resolve into the figures of women creeping behind the pattern. The narrator grows increasingly disturbed, and begs her husband to take her away from the house. John, however, merely laughs – he thinks she is improving, and does not like to change circumstances which seem to be working so well. He does not know how she watches the wallpaper at night, distinguishing new details and changes in the design. One night she determines that there are bars crossing the pattern. Over the next days she notices that John and his sister (who is serving as a housekeeper) have been looking at the wallpaper with strange expressions. The narrator feels threatened by this – she wants to figure out the meaning of the pattern herself. She sleeps throughout the day and is awake all night, studying the walls. She begins to see the figures of skulking women on the garden paths outside her windows. The ‘woman’ inside the wallpaper now seems to shake the bars that cross the pattern. The narrator decides that by ripping off the wallpaper, she will be able to remove the ‘top pattern’ from the ‘bottom’ one, and on the last day of their stay in the country estate, the narrator resolves to complete the task. She locks herself into the room, throwing the key out the window, and begins tearing the wallpaper off everywhere she can reach. At some point in the middle of this frenzied ripping and pulling, her sense of self completely mutates, and she becomes convinced that she is the woman in the wallpaper. The removal of the paper from the wall has set her free to creep around the room in any way she wishes.

When John comes to the door of the upstairs bedroom, he finds the narrator locked inside. The narrator tells him she threw the key out the window, and he retrieves it. When he enters the room, he sees his wife creeping along the wall, hears her tell him that she’s “gotten out”, and that he can’t put her back because she pulled most of the paper off. This is too much for John, and he faints… which forces the narrator to step over him as she creeps around the room time and time again.

References

External Links

* [http://www.audioville.co.uk/store/view.php?Id=582&ProductCategoryId=59 The Yellow Wallpaper Streaming Audio on Audioville.co.uk]
* [http://www.radiotales.com/ The Official Radio Tales® Web Site]
* [http://www.audioville.co.uk/store/view_productcategory.php?Id=59 Radio Tales® Streaming Audio Samples]
* [http://www.xmradio.com/onxm/channelpage.xmc?ch=163 XM Satellite Radio – Information on the Sonic Theater Channel]