HORROR FEST ’22: Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

In this specially curated collection for Halloween 2022, we will be presenting at least four radio programs originally aired on BBC radio. For our fourth, another dramatized tale by Ray Bradbury, “Something Wicked This Way Comes.”

Composer ….. David Paul Jones Sound ….. Paul Cargill Produced/Directed by Pauline Harris

Set in 1960’s Illinois this gem of modern Gothic literature is the memorable story of two boys, James Nightshade and William Halloway, and the evil that grips their small Midwestern town with the arrival of a “dark carnival” one Autumn midnight. These two innocents, both aged 13, (Will is born one minute before Halloween, and Jim one minute after) save the souls of the town (as well as their own). This is a vivid variation on the eternal theme of the fight between Good and Evil. A thrilling, chilling, richly kaleidoscopic sound world ensues; a shimmering mirror maze that reflects your older or younger self, depending on your desires, and a magic carousel that plays Chopin’s Funeral March forwards – with each rotation you gain a year, and rotating backwards – you get younger.

Cast:

Will: Theo Gregory

Jim: Joseph Lindsay

Charlie: Henry Goodman

Mr Dark: Kenneth Cranham

Mr Coogar: Gerard McDermott

Lightening rod salesman: Gerard McDermott

Miss Foley: Barbara Barnes

Dust Witch: Buffy Davis

Robert: Taran Stanzler

Young Miss Foley: Amelia Clarkson

Jed: Ethan Brooke

Originally aired 11/04/2011 on BBC Radio

(Obtained from archive dot org.)