OUR MAN IN HAVANA

The BBC's 1989 adaptation of Greene's spy farce is an odd mixture of traditional and experimental radio theater. Scripted entirely in dialogue, the presentation has no narration, no title, and no opening or closing credits, leaving the listener uncertain as to whether the correct disc has been inserted. Performers are never named in the audio. (Jack Watling and Eleanor Bron are listed on the box, but the many other actors go uncredited). The clever story follows a British vacuum cleaner salesman living in 1950s Havana who is enlisted by the British Secret Service but sends home bogus reports. The story is charmingly twisted, and the performances energetic and entertaining, despite the character of Captain Segura, whose accent has touches of Russian, French, and English, but very little Cuban. S.E.S. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/ MAY 08]