The Sixth Doctor encounters fellow Time Lord and traveller, Iris Wildthyme, and joins her for a drink at a bar called ‘Biancas’.
The Sixth Doctor encounters fellow Time Lord and traveller, Iris Wildthyme, and joins her for a drink at a bar called ‘Biancas’.
THE WORMERY
Regardless of its quality, Zagreus was the 800-pound gorilla of the fortieth anniversary year which dominated conversation and anticipation. Big Finish’s release of another play in the same month necessarily led to The Wormery being overlooked — and this is a true shame, as it’s so much better than its counterpart they’re almost beyond comparison. Though not the strongest sixth Doctor release of 2003, it still continues the exceptional run of quality during the anniversary year.
Bringing together Paul Magrs and Stephen Cole to co-write a script was a stroke of genius on the authors’ parts: while Magrs is a master of lyrical, atmospheric writing, he is often criticized for his plots, and Cole often receives the opposite criticism. As such, one would expect great things from a cooperative effort, and the script provides these despite a few moments where the two styles chafe against one another. This is yet another brilliantly lyrical Magrs production: Bianca’s is a realistic venue given a subtle, surrealistic twist and its inhabitants fit together as one of the most bizarre yet appropriate groups of characters in Doctor Who history. Yet there’s still a solid Doctor Who plot at the core — conflicting groups of aliens vying for control of a powerful influence — which is itself given a bizarre twist by the play’s conclusion. As a result, this play is much more grounded than Magrs’ earlier The Stones of Venice — it seems as though this was Cole’s influence on the script.
There’s also a brilliant little framing device: the play is narrated to a silent observer through the use of magnetic tape recordings, and every so often the tapes malfunction or drop out, eliminating the need to present every uninteresting piece of action to the listener. Indeed, as the play is also given narration by Mickey, it’s possible to blend the perspective of the tapes with the possibility of an unreliable narrator, thereby allowing for some of the play’s “unrealistic” excesses. The revelation of the true identity of Ashcroft — which I’ll spoil in the next paragraph, so look away now — is equally brilliant, supporting Baker’s performance and adding an extra layer of understanding to the play.
Just as I’d started running out of superlatives for Colin Baker’s performances as the sixth Doctor, he turns around and offers a new take on the role. I’m not sure if this story happens post-Trial and pre-Evelyn or post-Evelyn and pre-Mel, but Baker presents a Doctor that, much like his successor, has been roaming for some time and has grown somewhat world-weary. The revelations of Trial clearly hang heavy on this Doctor, who despite remaining standoffish is more willing to slip into the background or to discuss his feelings. This, too, would gel with a tragic end to his travels with Evelyn, something which at this point seems increasingly likely and would allow for a catharsis with Mel. Best of all, though, is the appearance of Sylvester McCoy in the final line, who with about ten words gives us a world-weary seventh Doctor looking back on a previous self in a similar period of crisis. In a way, this final scene legitimizes The Wormery in ways no other scene possibly could.
Katy Manning is, in some respects, the lead actor in The Wormery, and any who still think the character of Iris Wildthyme is a one-dimensional foil to the Doctor should listen to this play immediately. When we first see Iris she’s as irreverent and meaningless as ever, but by the conclusion she has evolved into a stunningly textured character, one whom we can see has an intelligence comparable to the Doctor’s and one who conceals her own fears and desires beneath a blustery exterior — again, just like the Doctor. If she’s mirrored the Doctor’s adventures before, here she truly mirrors the character, and Manning gives a shockingly good performance that, quite frankly, I cannot reconcile with the woman I hear in the DVD commentaries. Yes, Bianca’s nature is a cheap ripoff of the Valeyard, but Iris’s reaction to this revelation is the important scene, not the joke. It may have taken a long time for the true importance of Magrs’ creation to come to the fore, but I suspect that without the Iris books and audios that came before The Wormery, it just wouldn’t have the same resonance.
As mentioned above, the supporting characters are largely part of the atmosphere, and the cast seems to have been assembled with this in mind. Maria McErlane has a wonderful voice for Bianca, and she knows exactly when to understate the part and when to go over the top. The same goes for Paul Clayton, who is able to sound remarkably threatening when necessary. James Campbell convinces as two (stereotyped, but funny) people as Allis and Ballis, while Jane McFarlane provides excellent narration. Nobody stands out, but this is intentional — this is an exceptional supporting group.
Discussion of the production starts and ends with Jason Loborik’s music. The piano score (and other incidentals) is astonishing, serving in a filmic capacity to add emotional resonance to the play. Rarely for Big Finish, much of the score is diegetic — the piano is actually being played in Bianca’s — but it’s used in a non-diegetic capacity as well, as it matches the tone of discussions to which the piano player could not possibly be privy. Ian Potter’s sound design is equally marvelous, recreating a period environment with ease. And Gary Russell’s direction is to its usual standard of quality, recognizing the various tones of the script and drawing fine, unusual performances from the leads.
If there’s a problem with The Wormery, it lies with the plot — frankly, at its heart, the conflict is fairly silly. The cliffhangers don’t mesh particularly well, either — they seem forced and unconvincing. However, the rest of the play is up to the lyrical standard of excellence that we’ve come to expect from Magrs, and it provides the listener with a unique take on the sixth Doctor and Iris that render them more believable than ever. As a character piece this is magnificent, and compared to Zagreus it’s unbelievable that this was released by the same company.
Highly recommended.
8/10
The Wormery
The Doctor: I’d like to propose a small plan of campaign.
Iris: Must you? Oh well, when you’ve met as many camp pains as I have…
To some this may be a Marmite story because of Iris Wildthyme. Not everyone likes the character and in The Wormery the 6th Doctor meets Iris in an interstellar nightclub.
However, even if you don’t like Iris, you might still like this.
Paul Magyrs has a knack for parodying Who in a way that is affectionate whilst being barking mad. Much like Paul Cornell, he challenges our preconceptions and some of our entrenched views about the show and then weaves a story around them that ironically leaves few in doubt that, even if they don’t like the story, it’s still damned good Dr Who. Also like Cornell, Magyrs’ frequently humorous stories are well balanced by providing believable threats to the Doctor and his companions.
Magyrs has a knack for making the minor characters interesting too, much as Robert Holmes did, with a few lines that manage to speak volumes and flesh them out to be more than just bit parts. From Aliss and Baliss (co workers on a failed project who are also lovers), to the waitress who is the “narrator” of the story, all are well constructed and make you care about what happens to them. The only exception to this is the trigger happy policeman. With more power than self control he is a one-note cipher for authoritarian violence – although Bianca easily puts him in his place, which fits in perfectly with his characterisation as a bullying thug, big and tough till a woman tells him to put a sock in it.
Which brings us to Bianca, played by Maria McErlane. Stylish and sophisticated, she is everything that Iris isn’t, and Maria brings her to life wonderfully as the club owner and prima donna with ambitions to perform for the universe. So dedicated is she to her own self-gratification that she is prepared to undermine the fabric of space and time with dodgy technology. She even tries seducing the Doctor to get him on her side, much to Iris’ dismay, yet she comes across as more misguided and short sighted than as a ranting megalomaniac. Initially we see her as a luvvie with too much technology and no common sense, being easily led despite her conviction that she is in charge, and influenced and helped by others to take her narcissism to its desired conclusion. It is only later that another side of her is revealed, which is genuinely sinister as opposed to being just irresponsibly egotistical.
The main villains are telepathic worms, split into 2 warring factions, which looks really silly on paper but again Magyrs takes the ridiculous and gives it an aspect of his trademark menace. They make up for their physical frailty by being immensely powerful mentally. The way they have all but hypnotised the people at Bianca’s is much like the Master’s mass hypnosis of the people of Earth in the new series, and is as insidious and evil as any villain in Who.
The 6th Doctor never met Iris in Excelis so this is their first and to date their only appearance together on audio. Colin and Katy are marvellous as they bounce off each other. The Doctor’s irritation with Iris’ drinking and debauchery is clear, yet he cares for Iris in his own way and will not see her hurt. The reveal of Iris not just being her usual gratuitous self but drinking to try and understand what’s going on is a great twist that absolutely fits her character, as well as being a clever way of making her character traits part of the solution. The Doctor would never consider getting drunk to try and understand a threat, and it’s also more interesting than having the Doctor find out everything himself.
The last and biggest reveal about Bianca is one that could have gone badly, and Magyrs could be accused of pre-empting this by making the obvious comment about it himself. What he actually does, though, is to turn that into an argument between Iris and the Doctor, therefore presenting it as a divide and conquer tactic by Bianca, which is excellent and adds an extra layer of fun and intrigue to an already entertaining story.
The ending provides one final twist, the identity of the silent listener to the waitress’ narration, and puts the icing on the cake of a hugely enjoyable play.
Cracking Stuff.
10/10.