Radio Recap: Great Plays

Great Plays was an hour-long program heard on NBC's Blue network, heard from February 26, 1938 til January 25, 1942. The series featured adaptations of popular plays from throughout history - not so much contemporary plays. There were plenty of radio programs which adapted plays, but they tended to feature either contemporary or beloved classics like Shakespeare. Great Plays features performances of many plays which I'd never heard of before.

Great Plays didn't feature famous names in the cast but the plays themselves were presented in an interesting manner - the first episode, adapting "The Birds" by Aristophanes, took the time to explain what the theater-going society in Greece of the time would have been like; that kind of context is lacking in other programs with famous plays.

The productions aren't all captivating, but a few stood out for me; George S. Kaufman's "Beggar on Horseback" (April 6, 1941) features a surreal dream sequence that required the program to be a bit more inventive in terms of musical cues and sound effects than their usual fare.

You can hear 46 episodes of the Great Plays at the Old Time Radio Researchers Library at this link.