THE DWELLER IN THE DARKNESS
[RADIO-SCRIPT]
“Reginald Berkeley’s first play was then broadcast, billed as ‘A play of the unknown’ and a play
which ‘touches on the realm of the occult’…”
“Berkeley was described as the author of 'French Leave', 'Eight O'Clock', his previous stage plays.
Berkeley tells of the management row he encountered after it had been broadcast (Berkeley, 1928,
18). He explains this thirty-minute play was 'a spiritualist séance, so as to get a "background" of
weird rappings and noises'. He had been keen from the outset to invent 'a "background" by means
of sounds'. (Berkeley was to script elaborate 'mise en scène' after 'mise en scène' in 'The White
Chateau' and 'Machines'). 'The Dweller' then came to the attention of 'an enterprising journalist'
who 'scenting good copy, at once attacked the B.B.C. for doing spiritualistic propaganda'. Berkeley
then found himself confronted by an 'aghast' B.B.C.:
“To my utter astonishment I found the B.B.C. aghast. The Managing-Director, the Director of
Education, the director of Publicity had all bombarded the Dramatic Department with their
opinions. Something had to be done at once. … The last line of the play was wrong. It must be
changed. It must be made innocuous. They adjured me to consent. … I consented. But I warned
the Dramatic Producer he was pickling a rod for his own back.”
This was the first censorship row that R.E. Jeffrey appears to have encountered and it must have
been on his mind when his wrote his 'Radio Times' article for July and described his regulation of
plays:
As to the actual nature of the plays, they will not follow the trend of the present stage play, with its
predominating sex, or, rather, sexual, interest. They will set a new standard, rather than adopt an
existing one. It must be remembered that radio plays are presented at the, family fireside. Their
ethics, must be unquestionable. ('The Radio Times' 17 July 1925)
It is not clear when the attention of the 'enterprising journalist' was first drawn to 'The Dweller'.
Berkeley's account is rather shortened. It could have been before or after broadcast. Was Berkeley
pressured to change his final line for the first broadcast – and this is perhaps more likely - or for
the repeats on 14 April (Daventry 5XX) and 16 April (London 2LO)? The second broadcast had
the same cast.
[K. H., Manchester Guardian] “There is…no medium which more sensitively enhances the
suggestion of the supernatural than that of the microphone. The cinema may pile visual upon oral
horror, and the theatre give closer contact with the players, but the microphone by virtue of its
limitations presents to its scattered audience that conviction of ‘something strange,’ which, after
individual experience, can be more disturbing than an evening of ‘horrors’ in a well-filled theatre.
“Nothing can be seen, often nothing heard, and it is this sheer blankness which tightens the
tension for the listener. Mr. Berkeley’s ghost became audible, but it was in the earlier parts of the
sketch as ‘something strange’ that he was most eerily sinister.”
[Berkeley, Machines] “I first wrote for broadcasting about three years ago. As is usual, I
discussed the plot in advance with Mr. Jeffrey—a charming man to work with—and in due course
delivered the script of a short ‘thriller’ called ‘The Dweller in the Darkness.’ I had better say in
parenthesis that the first thing the writer of a wireless play has to think about is inventing a set of
circumstances in which he can obtain a ‘background’ by means of sounds. These and what he puts
into his characters’ mouths are his only scenery. Hence the present play, ‘MACHINES,’ and all its
sub-developments; hence the mise en scene of my first attempt, which was a spiritualistic séance,
so as to get a ‘background’ of weird rappings and noises.
“’The Dweller’ was immediately put into rehearsal and was broadcast. An enterprising
journalist, scenting good copy, at once attacked the B.B.C. for doing spiritualistic propaganda… I
went to see my friends at Savoy Hill expecting to find that a jet of cooling ridicule had been turned
on the newspaper in question (the editor of which, by the way, sent me an apology for the
stupidity of the attack). To my utter astonishment, I found the B.B.C. aghast. The Managing-
Director, the Director of Education, the Director of Publicity had all bombarded the Dramatic
Department with their opinions. Something had to be done at once. Not, of course, that the
newspaper attack made any difference whatever. They all assured me of that. But they had
suddenly seen the light. The last line of the play was wrong. It must be changed. It must be made
innocuous. They adjured me to consent. The Managing-Director put in a plea on the telephone. It
didn’t seem to me to make a great deal of difference either way, and as the change would give
them great pleasure I, of course, consented. But I warned the Dramatic Producer that he was
pickling a rod for his own back.”
[CHRONOLOGY]
(5XX, CHELMSFORD)
[Tuesday—9:15-9:45 PM]
April 14, 1925 “The Dweller in the Darkness”
SCRIPT: Reginald Berkeley.
PERSONNEL: R. E. Jeffrey (director).
CAST: Mabel Constanduros (Mrs. Vyner), Gordon Douglas (Mr. Vyner), Henry
Oscar (Mr. Mortimer), Phyllis Panting (Phyllis Vyner), Ashton Pearse (Professor
Urquhart), Raymond Trafford (Henry).
(2LO, LONDON)
[Thursday—9:15-9:40 PM]
April 16, 1925 “The Dweller in the Darkness”
CAST: Mabel Constanduros (Mrs. Vyner), Henry Oscar (Mr. Mortimer), Phyllis
Panting (Phyllis Vyner), Ashton Pearse (Professor Urquhart), Tarver Penna (Mr.
Vyner), Raymond Trafford (Henry).
LONDON RADIO REPERTORY PLAYERS (BOURNEMOURTH)
[Monday—9:10-9:45 PM]
May 4, 1925 “The Dweller in the Darkness”
THE LONDON RADIO REPERTORY PLAYERS (5WA, CARDIFF)
[Friday—9:15-9:45 PM]
May 22, 1925 “The Dweller in the Darkness”
THE REPERTORY PLAYERS (5SC, GLASGOW)
[Monday—9:15-9:45 PM]
June 1, 1925 “The Dweller in the Darkness”
CAST: Mabel Constanduros (Mrs. Vyner), Drelincourt Odlum (Mr. Vyner), Henry
Oscar (Mr. Mortimer), Phyllis Panting (Phyllis Vyner), Ashton Pearse (Professor
Urquhart), Raymond Trafford (Henry).
THE LONDON RADIO REPERTORY PLAYERS (2BD, ABERDEEN)
[Friday—9:15-9:25 PM]
June 19, 1925 “The Dweller in the Darkness”
THE LONDON RADIO REPERTORY PLAYERS (2ZY, MANCHESTER)
[Monday—9:15-9:40 PM]
June 29, 1925 “The Dweller in the Darkness”
THE LONDON RADIO REPERTORY PLAYERS (2LO, LONDON)
[Wednesday—8:15-8:50 PM]
July 8, 1925 “The Dweller in the Darkness”
THE LONDON RADIO REPERTORY PLAYERS (5NO, NEWCASTLE)
[Friday—9:10-9:40 PM]
July 17, 1925 “The Dweller in the Darkness”
THE DWELLER IN THE DARKNESS (2LO, LONDON)
[Monday—10:30-11:00 PM]
January 4, 1926 “The Dweller in the Darkness”
[THE TIMES: “…The scene is a card room at Hardenby Court, a large
house rented furnished by Mr. Vyner. The room is a comfortable one
with shaded electric lights and a parquet floor. The time and the
characters will be made plain in the course of the play…”]
CAST: Mabel Constanduros (Mrs. Vyner), Laurence Gowdy (Professor Urquhart),
Michael Hogan (Henry), Henry Oscar (Mr. Mortimer), Phyllis Panting (Phyllis
Vyner), Herbert Ross (Mr. Vyner).
THE DWELLER IN THE DARKNESS (5SC, GLASGOW)
[Saturday—9:15-9:40 PM]
September 24, 1927 “The Dweller in the Darkness”
CAST: J. G. Chalmers, Enid Hewit, Percival Steeds, Bertha Waddell, R. B.
Wharrie, George Yurll.
THE RADIO PLAYERS OF WFAA (WFAA, DALLAS)
[Thursday—9:30-10:00 PM]
September 27, 1928 “The Dweller in the Darkness”
PERSONNEL: Talbot Pearson (director—1928).
CAST: Roy Cowan, Marion Pearson, George Spelvin, Gladys Stavely, Dillon
White.
PAGES FROM A SKETCHBOOK (LONDON REGIONAL, LONDON—BBC)
[Saturday—9:15-10:15 PM]
July 7, 1934 “Comforts” / “Waiting” / “The Dweller in the Darkness” / “The
Punter’s Friend” / “The Interview”
PERSONNEL: Max Kester (producer).
CAST: Clifford Bean, Bert Coote, Barbara Couper, Jack Melford, Dorothy
Monkman, Cyril Nash, Henry Sherek, Maria Solveg, Philip Wade.
(GSD, DAVENTRY)
[Saturday—7:20-7:40 PM]
November 28, 1936 “The Dweller in the Darkness”