4 NOVEMBER 1932, Page 19

Mr. E. A. Harding, who, together with the B.B.C. Produc-

tions Director, is responsible for "In Memoriam," is one of the most sanely adventurous of the producers and compilers 'of broadcast programmes now working at Broadcasting House. More than any other, he realizes the simple fact that the basis of all dramatic broadcasts is the spoken word, and he is content to rely on the drama of intellectual content rather than on any manufactured dramatic effect. A brief survey of some of his programmes will illustrate what I mean. With Roland, one of his earliest plays, he introduced a form of drama wherein the line of the spoken word won emphasis by being thrown into relief against a thin line of specially composed music. With his Empire programme, of two years ago, he introduced the method of dramatizing facts by having them declaimed by various voices against a background of punctuated and sparely employed effects. And with his Spanish Revolution programme he made us aware, for the first time, of the uses of radio as a means of vivifying contemporary history by compiling a pertinent statement of facts. All these programmes were definite contributions to radio technique and in each of them the real significance lay in the emphasis they gave to an intellectual content. Mr. Harding has recently returned from Russia. Is it too much to hope that he will be allowed to employ his first-hand knowledge of Soviet conditions in the writing of a dramatic Russian programme ? If anyone could radio- dramatize the Russia of to-day, without offending the various prejudices of listeners, I think it would be Mr. Harding : his credential is the value he places on the plain, unvarnished fact.