Black Water - An American Story

(4 stars; 3 reviews)

Black Water: An American Story By Joyce Carol Oates Adapted by Sarah Wooley A gripping drama with its origins in American political history adapted from the Pulitzer-nominated novel. Young political writer, Kelly, is staying with friends on an island off the coast of Maine for a Fourth of July party. She is surprised and delighted when a famous US Senator arrives and, over the course of an afternoon of drinking, talking and tennis, she captivates him. The two leave in the evening to catch the last ferry, to have dinner and spend the night together. But something goes terribly wrong. Kelly ..... Lydia Wilson The Senator ..... Elliot Cowan Narrator/Mother ..... Laurel Lefkow Buffy ..... Kelly Burke Ray ..... Chris Pavlo Felicia/Operator ..... Emma Lau Stacey/Woman at Party ..... Hannah Wood Directed by Gaynor Macfarlane Drama First broadcast:  Sat 20th Jul 2019 14:30 on BBC Radio 4 FM July 18th 2019: Marked 50 years since the Chappaquiddick incident. Joyce Carol Oates has taken a shocking story that has become an American myth and, from it, has created a novel of electrifying power and illumination. Kelly Kelleher is an idealistic, twenty-six-year-old “good girl” when she meets the Senator at a Fourth of July party. In a brilliantly woven narrative, we enter her past and her present, her mind and her body as she is fatally attracted to this older man, this hero, this soon-to-be-lover. Kelly becomes the very embodiment of the vulnerable, romantic dreams of bright and brave women, drawn to the power that certain men command—at a party that takes on the quality of a surreal nightmare; in a tragic car ride that we hope against hope will not end as we know it must end.   One of the acknowledged masters of American fiction, Joyce Carol Oates has written a bold tour de force that parts the black water to reveal the profoundest depths of human truth.

This recording is part of the Old Time Radio collection.