Radio 4, September 25, 2018 and on iPlayer

A young maiden wanders into the forest…

Many of Angela Carter’s stories in The Bloody Chamber play off variants of fairy tales, but this story is based on a ballad by Goethe – although, perhaps not surprisingly, she makes considerable alterations to it. It’s not a story that can have been easy to adapt, dealing with themes of both imminent and awakened sexuality, and with a change in narrative voice towards the end. Olivia Hetreed deals with this cleverly, using the audio medium to create a time-elapse effect that works through timbre of voice – it’s an idea that was used in the NPR version of the first Chronicle of Narnia, but not something that’s become cliched through overuse.

The play is a three-hander for Ariyon Bakare, Rakie Ayola (who also played the mother in the first drama) and Jasmine Jones, and once again director Fiona McAlpine and sound designer Lucinda Mason Brown are on top form, blending the voices with aural depictions of the threatening nature of the woods and the sexuality of the participants.

It’s one of those stories that you’re going to want to listen to immediately you’ve come to the end to appreciate how it’s been brought together.

Verdict: A sharp tale, sharply told. 9/10

Paul Simpson