Beauty. What constitutes the concept of beauty? Is it the quality of the looks that defines
beauty or the character of the person in question? This story would purport that it is almost
both as an audio story you make up the looks as this is a story told about two
warring races over how one race polluted a planet into becoming an ugly place
to live and now many years on from the disaster experiments are going on to try
and place everything back to normal. Nicholas
Briggs here has placed his heart and soul into this story as he comments on
issues present still today in society.
This story has environmental themes about just how great the world was
and while we can never get it to the way it was. It’s essentially a story advising against the
idea that we have to live in a perfect world.
By the end of the story the Doctor and Nyssa really haven’t been able to
do anything to change the situation on the planet in question. Their actions are futile as those in power
are too stubborn to change their ways. The
commentary hits close to home as in today’s society with the internet the idea
is that I’m always right and anything that doesn’t fit in with my view of the
world is wrong and offensive. I don’t
know how intentional this was on the part of Briggs who has control of the
entire production here which makes it shine like a beautiful diamond. He tells the story by having four episodes
without cliffhangers that don’t reveal the story in linear order as to fit in
with the idea of aversion to change. You
see the thought process as the narrative has to be pieced together from threads
which illustrate this type of mindset brilliantly.
A story like this hinges
on the performances presented and the atmosphere they generate and I have many
props to give to people. First Sarah
Sutton has to play Nyssa who is put through the wringer in this story as she is
arrested and tortured for being beautiful.
Her performance comes off very hypnotic as does every other performance
in this story as Sutton gives this sort of air around her delivery that just makes
you feel like the energy from your body is sucked out which is good as that’s
the atmosphere this story needed. The
same can be said for Peter Davison as the Doctor as he is forced into scientific
experiments and almost commits a murder.
The villains of this story are also very emotionally draining in just
how good they are as everything starts to fall apart with Jemma Churchill’s
Florian just sticking in my mind at the end of the story as she looks like she
is listening to the Doctor, but she isn’t and stays static.
To summarize, Creatures of Beauty is a brilliant audio
drama with social commentary that remains relevant today about how we should be
open to change and adapt to the ever changing world. Nicholas Briggs is a powerhouse here as the
unique way of storytelling allows the performances to shine through the story
with some brilliant music and a really simple plot that is intriguing nevertheless
as we have to really pay attention to what the message of the story is. The actors are on point and the sad part is
people do not appreciate this one nearly enough so if you haven’t heard this
one in a while give it another chance.
100/100
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