Black Water: An American Story

Winner of  BBC Audio Drama Awards 2020 'Best Adaptation'

Sarah's adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates' novel was broadcast on Saturday 20th July at 2:30pm on BBC Radio 4. 

A finalist in Two categories for the BBC Audio Drama Awards 2020

Details and iPlayer link here

A gripping drama with its origins in American political history adapted from the Pulitzer-nominated novel.

Young political writer, Kelly, is staying with friends on an island off the coast of Maine for a Fourth of July party. She is surprised and delighted when a famous US Senator arrives and, over the course of an afternoon of drinking, talking and tennis, she captivates him.

The two leave in the evening to catch the last ferry, to have dinner and spend the night together. But something goes terribly wrong.

Sarah Wooley's adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates's novella Black Water was a richly atmospheric throwback to an era when intelligent young women were expected to simper and pout in the presence of powerful men. Loosely based on the Chappaquiddick incident of 1969 - when a car driven by Edward Kennedy crashed into a lagoon in Massachusetts, killing his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne - the drama slipped back and forth between scenes of a cocktail party seduction and the dying thoughts of the victim trapped underwater. A senseless tragedy dissected with icy restraint.  Clive Davies - The Times. 
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