Darkside, the radio play written by Sir Tom Stoppard to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side Of The Moon, will be released on CD next month.

The production stars Bill Nighy and Rufus Sewell and was first broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in August, receiving critical reviews in keeping with the 1973 album itself.

The play, described as “fascinating” by Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour, explores some of the themes of the prog masterwork. It’s based on the story of philosophy student Emily, who becomes involved in a series of thought experiments.

Stoppard admits it was a labour of love, adding: “When it was a new album, a friend of mine walked into my room where I was working with a copy in his hand and said: ‘You really have to do a play about this album.’ Roughly 39 years later, Jeff Smith from Radio 2 asked me if I’d like to do some kind of play around the album’s fortieth birthday; it really wasn’t a very difficult decision.”

Floyd drummer Nick Mason says: “I love it. If anyone’s going to mess with the crown jewel of albums, Tom is a very good choice.”

The 54-minute play is presented on CD in a hardback book containing the script, with artwork by Hipgnosis designer Aubrey ‘Po’ Powell, based on the trailer made by Wallace & Gromit creators Aardman Animations.

Darkside is released on November 25.

(source Prog Magazine)

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