Radio Review: Evelyn Waugh – Put Out More Flags
There’s something very louche in Anthony Valentine’s voice as Basil Seal in the Beeb’s 1990 production of Put Out More Flags as he looks to make a few bob from posting evacuees to reluctant householders. Evelyn Waugh’s novel was written during the ‘Phoney War’ of 1939 to 1940 an published soon afterwards reflecting a time when the war could go either way. It’s filled with opportunism and uncertainty as some characters do the decent thing and support Britain’s stand against Nazi Germany while others seek either profit or to position themselves favourably in case the Germans invaded.
If Anthony Valentine’s voice is like a bottle of brandy that fell off the back of an army truck then Hildegard Neil as Angela Lyne had the feel of black market silk stockings while John Wood as Ambrose was more like rationed chocolate – sparse but delicious.
The three-part dramatisation was directed by Denys Hawthorne and captured superbly the era with its air raid sirens, free loading and double standards – instead of a sanitised social history of the war we have sometimes been given. I’ve read the novel but this production captured the atmosphere so well and reminded me of the open ended aspect of the book as nobody knew the outcome of WW2 then. Excellent and so funny as well despite the desperate situation the nation was in. It also marked Waugh’s genius for black comedy mixed with a serious tone set to be realised in his later novels and Hawthorne’s production does more than justice to the book.
Harry Mottram
The play in three parts is available on BBC Sounds at https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/m001fwwd
Rapscallion Magazine is an online publication edited by Harry Mottram
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