BBC Radio 4, July 29 2018

After a mysterious creature is sighted, Professor Aronnax joins the crew of a US naval vessel… and encounters the even more mysterious Captain Nemo…

Gregory Evans’ adaptation of Jules Verne’s science fiction tale, first published nearly 150 years ago, hews much closer to the original story than most versions, but as with many of these radio plays, various changes are made – perhaps to make the story more palatable to modern tastes. Instead of Professor Aronnax’s faithful servant, Conseil, we have his daughter Connie, who stows away aboard the Abraham Lincoln and is discovered just too late to return her safely to shore. This alters quite a bit of the dynamic of Verne’s novel but allows its fundamental beats to remain unchanged – in particular the claustrophobia of harpoonist Ned Land once he, Connie and the Professor are on the Nautilus.

Verne’s novel is subtitled A Tour of the Underwater World, and this play brings out that element as well as the various dangers that those on the Nautilus face – including, of course, the giant squid (intriguingly, the Verne story actually uses the word “octopus” rather than squid, but it’s the latter that’s stuck in the popular imagination). The encounter with another vessel gets a slight tweak, but the horror of Nemo’s actions retains intact.

Marc Beeby directs a strong cast for this: Sagar Arya’s Nemo has the menace and barely restrained fire of the book (and Alan Moore’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen version of the character), while David Seddon’s Ned Land has the most credible reactions to the situations they find themselves in and Neil McCaul and Madeline Hatt make a convincing father and daughter. The sound designer isn’t credited (either on the play or the website) but whoever it was should take a bow for a great piece of work!*

And next week… the often-forgotten sequel, Mysterious Island.

Verdict: An involving and enjoyable adaptation. 8/10

Paul Simpson

*Thanks to Gregory Evans for supplying the names: Caleb Knightley on panel, Pete Ringrose on grams and Anne Bunting on spot.