RAY BRADBURY'S BANSHEE
A biographical fantasy in five acts, based on the life and stories of Ray Bradbury
Synopsis
A young American screenwriter visits a remote Irish castle where film director John Greyheart has been secluded, adapting a literary classic into his next motion picture.
Greyheart bullies his writer, challenging him to recall other stories from his fledgling career. The writer obliges with the tale of a lonely lighthouse keeper and an ancient sea serpent; a story set in a futuristic city patrolled by robotic police cars; a love story set on Mars; and a confessional about a Hollywood monster-maker and a dictatorial producer.
The evening culminates when an undead creature beckons from the moors, summoning Greyheart.
Sources
Based on five stories by Ray Bradbury:
- Banshee © September 1984 (Gallery magazine, Montcalm Publishing)
- The Fog Horn (aka The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms) © 1951 (Saturday Evening Post, The Curtis Publishing Company)
- The Pedestrian © 1953 (The Reporter, Doubleday)
- The Love Affair © 1982 (Lord John Press)
- Tyrannosaurus Rex (aka The Prehistoric Producer) © 1962 (Saturday Evening Post, The Curtis Publishing Company)
Live Forever, Ray!
- Ray Bradbury has been a hero of mine since I first devoured 'The Illustrated Man,' 'The Martian Chronicles,' 'Dandelion Wine,' and 'Fahrenheit 451.'
- Ray's 1990 collection 'The Toynbee Convector' inspired me to attempt something I'd never seen –– a faithful screenplay adaptation that captured the magic of Bradbury's written words.
- I combined two of Ray’s new stories with a handful of his classics in an anthology structure framed by Ray's gothic horror 'Banshee.'
- Ray graciously declined, but declared my pitch a 'fascinating idea.'
- After Ray's death, in 2012, I created a tribute to my hero, adapting my screenplay into a stage production.