John Whyndham - The Chrysalids

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John Whyndham - The Chrysalids

A world paralyzed by genetic mutation.

John Wyndham takes the reader into the anguished heart of a community where the chances of breeding true are less than fifty per cent and where deviations are rooted out and destroyed as offences and abominations.

In a post-apocalyptic world, one society has responded to the mistakes of the past by trying to please God, interpreting this to mean maintaining absolute genetic purity. In this sinister world, anyone deemed a ‘mutant’ is punished by exclusion and worse. At the center of the story is a group of teenagers who differ from this enforced norm in a powerful way, and must keep their secrets for fear of what will happen if they are discovered and betrayed.

Saturday-Night Theatre:

The Chrysalids by John Wyndham

Dramatized for radio by Barbara Clegg

Sat 25th Apr 1981, 20:30 on BBC Radio 4 FM

David is growing up in a society which will not tolerate any kind of mutation and ruthlessly destroys anything or anyone who deviates from the 'norm'.

His problems begin when he discovers that, although outwardly he is normal. he is different in another way.

Directed By: Michael Bartlett

David: Stephen Garlick

Rosalind: Amanda Murray

Petra: Judy Bennett

Michael/Alan: Spencer Banks

Katherine: Phillipa Ritcihe

Rachel: Jenny Lee

Anne: Kathryn Hurlbutt

David a child: Susan Sheridan

Sophie a child: Elissa Derwent

Mrs Wender/Sealander: Jennifer Piercey

Mr Wender/Spiderman: Robin Browne

Mary: Elizabeth Rider

Father: Peter Baldwin

Mother: Sonia Fraser

Axel: Michael Spice

Inspector: John Rye

Jacob: William Eedle

Skinner: Martyn Read

Sophie: Jane Knowles