The Island of Dr. Moreau (radio)

“The Island of Doctor Moreau” is a program from the American radio anthology series Radio Tales. The anthology series adapted classic works of American and world literature for the radio. The series was a recipient of numerous awards, including four Gracie Allen Awards from the Foundation of American Women in Radio and Television (in 2004, [ [http://www.awrt.org/press-releases/2004/Press_Release_%20Announce_Winners.pdf "AWRT Press Release"] AWRT.org. Accessed March 21, 2008] 2003, [ [http://www.npr.org/about/press/030402.gracie.html "NPR Productions Win Gracie Allen Awards"] NPR.org. Accessed March 21, 2008] 2001, [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20011126020253/www.awrt.org/awards/2000GracieWinners.html "2001 Gracie Allen Award Winners"] AWRT.org, as indexed by the Internet Archive at Archive.org. Accessed March 21, 2008] and 1998, [Hear Here: "Tales by American Masters". AudioFile Magazine, pg. 8, Feb/March 1999, Vol. 7, No. 5.] ) a New York Festivals WorldMedal, [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20050207122048/http://www.newyorkfestivals.com/res/pdf/2004RPwinners.pdf "2004 Winners, Radio Programming and Promotion, New York Festivals"] NewYorkFestivals.com, as indexed by the Internet Archive at Archive.org. Accessed March 21, 2008] and a Golden Reel Merit Award. [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20010802161539/www.nfcb.org/2001reelsinfo.html "NFCB Announces 2001 Golden Reel Award Winners"] NFCB.org, as indexed by the Internet Archive at Archive.org. Accessed March 21, 2008] “The Island of Doctor Moreau" program from the Radio Tales series was an adaptation of the classic novel The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells.

Broadcast history

The Radio Tales production of “The Island of Doctor Moreau” was first broadcast via National Public Radio on March 21, 2000. [National Public Radio: "NPR Quarterly Edition Winter 2000". NPR Marketing, Jan. - March 2000, Vol. VI, No. I] 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.] . “The Island of Doctor Moreau” program debuted on XM Satellite Radio on August 30, 2003.

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 Island of Doctor Moreau” was part of the fifth year of Radio Tales on NPR Playhouse. [National Public Radio: "NPR Quarterly Edition Winter 2000". NPR Marketing, Jan. - March 2000, Vol. VI, No. I]

Opening narration

Plot summary

The narrator is the sole survivor of a shipwreck who is rescued from the sea after floating aimlessly in a dingy. The good Samaritan who comes to the rescue turns out to be a very strange old man in the process of transporting a caged puma, a llama and many staghounds by way of a cargo boat manned by an oddly dressed crew. All these bizarre supplies and companions he now brings with him (along with the rescued narrator) to his island home.

After the cargo boat is landed on the island, one of the crew members (wearing a turban and swathed in bandage-like clothes) refers to the old man as “Moreau”, and the name rings a faint bell with the narrator. Later, after Moreau has shown the narrator to a room within his island compound (while simultaneously locking the door to an adjacent room to ‘prevent accidents’), the narrator is able to connect the vaguely-familiar name with the memory of an infamous scientist. Ten years previously, Moreau had enjoyed a healthy reputation as a physiologist until a public scandal regarding his use of animals in his experiments prompted the scientific community to condemn him. Pondering these circumstances, and the remarkable discovery of the infamous scientist apparently continuing his work on a remote island, the narrator settles into a hammock and listens to the growling of the puma from within the locked adjacent room. At length the narrator drifts off to sleep.

The next day Moreau brings breakfast – he is clearly rushed, and hurries off to the adjacent room which he had hitherto kept locked. In his hurry, he forgets now to lock the door behind him. Instead of the customary puma noises, the narrator now hears agonized sobbing in a very human voice. Outraged, the narrator bursts into the unlocked room, gets a split-second glimpse of something dark and bandaged, strapped to a wooden frame. Then Moreau throws the narrator bodily out of the room before returning to his work, locking the door behind him.

Assuming that Moreau is transforming human beings into wild animals, the narrator flees from the house to the surrounding jungle, desperate to escape from a fate worse than death. Soon Moreau gives chase, using his staghound as a tracker. After eluding Moreau and his hound, the narrator encounters an ape-man in the jungle, and then follows this creature to a makeshift ‘village’ of beast people. The ape-man gestures for the narrator to follow him into his little hut, and makes an offer of fruit once the narrator has come inside. Soon afterwards, the barking of a staghound alerts the narrator to Moreau’s approach. While fleeing the beast village, the narrator hears Moreau exhort the beasts to join the pursuit, which soon becomes a flight from all manner of animal-men as the creatures obey their master.

After a frantic chase, the narrator is finally cornered. Desperate now, the narrator addresses the beast-people, telling them that Moreau is not invincible, and that they can kill their tormentor if they so choose. This last-ditch effort is interrupted when a dark figure leaps out from the tree shadows, knocking the narrator to the ground. The narrator sees that this is the puma, escaped from its bonds, its body twisted into a much more human shape. The truth is suddenly clear – Moreau is involved in transforming animals into humans (rather than the reverse). Moreau pursues the puma-creature into the jungle, and several gunshots are fired in the distance. A long silence follows, and then some of the beast-people return to where the narrator waits. They announce in awed voices that Moreau is dead.

Together now, the narrator and the beast-people locate Moreau’s battered body lying next to the dead puma-creature. They carry Moreau back to the compound and burn his body on a pile of brushwood in the yard, then they completely destroy everything in Moreau’s laboratory. Several months later, the narrator is rescued from the island.

References

External links

* [http://www.radiotales.com/ The Official Radio Tales® Web Site]
* [http://www.audioville.co.uk/store/view_productcategory.php?Id=59 Radio Tales® Full Series - Streaming Audio Excerpts]
* [http://www.xmradio.com/onxm/channelpage.xmc?ch=163 XM Satellite Radio – Information on the Sonic Theater Channel]