By Cal
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHM--zjDQ14
Available until: Unknown
Charles Dickens is known for his larger-than-life characters with impossible names, but I first encountered him as the writer of a ghost story – A Christmas Carol. Although I had a feeling he’d written other stories with a spooky theme, I hadn’t read or heard any of them till listening to this reading of The Signalman.
It is nothing like A Christmas Carol really. It is a very different sort of story and actually much spookier as the dark and chilling atmosphere is present throughout the story rather than appearing briefly, but it was good to revisit this side of Dickens’ writing – and to discover just how frightening his stories can be.
The narrator of the storyline is walking by a railway line, sees a signalman and calls out to him. Although the signalman is wary at first, the two fall into conversation and the signalman appears to trust him. Eventually, he confides something that has been troubling him. It’s incredibly atmospheric, partly because of the language used but also because of the feeling of danger lurking under the surface, even though the two men appear to get on well.
It’s read by Andrew Bate and he really serves the story well, making both characters seem likeable and trustworthy, but never letting us lose sight of the fact that something, somewhere is very badly wrong. The descriptions of visual events are especially chilling because Andrew really takes his time with them, never allowing them to drag, but giving us plenty of time to conjure up the images in our minds. The music within this story is brilliant, which comes as no surprise at all (Andrew is a brilliant composer), and it not only sounds wonderful, it’s also very well-used, creating shifts in the atmosphere and deepening the feelings of uncertainty into something very disturbing.
Another great reading from Moth Sanctuary
Productions.
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