THE CABARET OF DOCTOR CALIGARI
[RADIO-SERIES]
Bizarre British series from the early Nineties centering around the mysterious Dr. Caligari who is
apparently the brimstone boy himself, meting out appropriate torment to transgressors of
humanity. Labeled as “six plays of the sick and sinister,” …
Research: Summer 1989 “rock & roll party” theater production by Alan Gilbey and Alan Ellis.
John Glentoran played Dr. Byron Caligari: “This was a real show, a wild rock & roll party based on
the idea of those old Amicus films where a group of people end up stranded somewhere and are
forced to relive episodes from the past (future?) with horrific endings, only to discover at the end
of the film that Peter Cushing (for it is almost always he) is…DEATH! Filtered through writer Alan
Gilbey’s warped mind, what emerged was this extravaganza—four of the nastiest types that
inhabited London at the time (late 80s)—the vandal, the yuppie, the DJ and the Tory politician—
were invited (gold-edged invitations) to a tent where Dr. Caligari sets the process in motion.
Absurd special effects [and] over-the-top performances…carried the thing along to the game-
show finale where the audience could decide whether to ‘free ‘em or fry ‘em.’ Among the delightful
‘come-uppances’—the vandal drowns in his own urine (in a lift—where else), the yuppie has her
filofax stolen and is forced to become a puppet enacting whatever the thief writes into it, the DJ’s
telephone call-in show goes disastrously wrong when a succession of callers from his past reveal
all, and the Tory politician (fresh from cutting the Health Service) ends up as a victim of his own
‘cuts’…. Special mention must be made of my three lovely assistants, Snuff, Anthrax and Verucca.”
“Comedian’s Moon” was described by Joseph Ares-Berziga as “a rather stingingly accurate
parody of the late Eighties route to fame (a three minute spot on a rubbish late night show for a
vicious stand-up)…”
ORIGINATION: Radio 5, London (BBC).
DURATION: November 7-December 12, 1991.
PERSONNEL: Alan Ellis (music), Anne Edyvean (producer), Alan Gilbey (scriptwriter), Lee Hurst (jokes for
“Comedian’s Moon”), Sylvester McCoy (voice of “Snuff”), Victoria Wicks (voice of “Anthrax”), John
Woodvine (voice of “Doctor Caligari”).
CASTS: Eric Allan, Adjoa Andoh, Andrew Bailey, Alan Barker, Alex Barker, Gerald Denny, Terence Edmond,
Sharon Henry, Ronald Herdman, Joanna Mays, Cassie McFarlane, David McInnie, Charles Millon, Kerry
Shale, John Shrapnel, Clarence Smith, Mark Straker, Richard Tate, Stephen Tompkinson, Roger Watkins,
Jane Whittenshaw.
EXTANT RECORDINGS: The complete series of six broadcasts.
[CHRONOLOGY]
THE CABARET OF DOCTOR CALIGARI (RADIO 5, LONDON—BBC)
[Thursday—9:30-10:00 PM]
November 7, 1991 “A World in Your Ear”
November 14, 1991 “Comedian’s Moon”
[“…Kevin Scorch is an alternative comic on the rise, but will he become
the thing he hates?… Dr. Caligari welcomes Kevin, who has to perform
before an audience of the unloving—after being shot…”]
November 21, 1991 “The Conversion”
November 28, 1991 “The Teenage Psycho Chainsaw Bimbos”
[“…Video nasties get their own back…”]
December 5, 1991 “The Homeless That Ate London”
[“…London is in crisis as a people- eating Blob is let loose and starts to
rampage…”]
December 12, 1991 “The Body Politic”
[“…the true meaning of ‘NHS cuts’…”]
LES CABINET DU DOCTEUR CALIGARI
[MOTION-PICTURE; STAGE-PLAY]
The fantastical Expressionism of Caligari would seem at odds with the naturalistic cruelty of the
Grand Guignol, but…
By odd coincidence, later that same month (on April 23) Radio-Paris broadcast its own
production of the story, Les Cabinet du Docteur Caligari, based on the Grand Guignol play by
Andre de Lorde and Henri Bauche which was first performed at the legendary horror theater in
1925.
Described as a “hallucination” and performed at the Theatre du Grand-Guignol in 1925, directed
by Camille Choisy. It was newly produced in 1951 with sets by the renowned scenic director and
multimedia producer Jacques Polieri.
[Radio Mysteres] “One can date the appearance of fantastic A radio A the end April 1938, when
was diffusee on Radio Paris one evening which carried like titrates "the fantastic waves" and
during which were given two radiophonic parts concerned with the fantastic kind. In premiere
left, it is tired part of Andre de Lorde and Henri Bauche the Cabinet of Doctor Caligari, according
to the celebre film of Robert Wiene, chief of work of the German expressionnism, which was
donnee, followed of an adaptation, in second part, news of E.T.A. Hoffmann, the Strange
musician, with Jean d' Yd in the principal role.”
[Andre de Lorde, 1927] “Five years after, the marquis de Puysegur decouvre the artificial
sleepwalking, which, from the "Serapions" to "Doctor Caligari," will provide to the authors so
much ' sensational cas'.”
[CHRONOLOGY]
(RADIO-PARIS, PARIS)
[Saturday—8:30-9:10 PM]
April 23, 1938 “Les Cabinet du Docteur Caligari”
[“…Play after the Meyer film (de Lorde-Bauche)…”’
LES ONDES FANTASTIQUES (RADIO-PARIS, PARIS)
[Saturday—
April 30, 1938 “Le Cabinet du docteur Caligari” / “L’Etrang musician”
[SUBJECT FOR FURTHER RESEARCH]
THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI—Olaf Brill of the “Internet Source Book for Early German Film” lists
a 1935 American radio adaptation of the classic German Expressionist film. Nothing further is known.