The World Without, the World Within and the Space Between: Amanda Dalton’s Adaptation of Nosferatu for BBC Radio 3

McMurtry, Leslie

Abstract

Made for BBC Radio 3, the radio drama The Midnight Cry of the Death-Bird (2012) is an adaptation of Nosferatu (1922). Nosferatu is both a target text (of Dracula, 1897) and a source text (of The Midnight Cry). Thus, complex layers of adaptation and audience expectations are evoked through medium-specific qualities, such as the ability of radio to represent the immaterial or disembodied and multiple spaces at the same time, including a between-world along the inside/outside worlds. Radio can exist almost entirely in the mind, effortlessly navigating between outer and inner dimensions. This article explores questions of narration, embodiment/non-corporeality, and inner space using the concept of radio as a ‘mono-sensory medium', centring primarily around the characters of the Nosferatu (a bodiless essence of contagion) and Roger, a friendly Everyman character who serves as the listener’s radio guide.

Citation

McMurtry, L. (in press). The World Without, the World Within and the Space Between: Amanda Dalton’s Adaptation of Nosferatu for BBC Radio 3. Journal of Adaptation in Film and Performance,

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 26, 2024
• Deposit Date: Jul 4, 2024
• Print ISSN: 1753-6421
• Publisher: Intellect
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed