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The Croxley Master
- A Great Tale of the Prize Ring
- Narrated by: Jill Dopp, John Sadoway, Adam McLaughlin
- Length: 1 hr and 34 mins
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The Croxley Master
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Summary
Step into the gritty world of late 19th-century Yorkshire and meet Robert Montgomery, a young doctor's assistant and medical student. Montgomery needs £60 to complete his medical degree and fulfill his dream of becoming a doctor. But he has no way of raising the funds with his scanty wage. Fate takes a surprising turn when a violent encounter with a part-time boxer offers a glimmer of hope—the opportunity to enter a boxing match with a tantalizing £100 prize. But can Montgomery persuade his authoritative employer, Dr. Oldacre, to grant him a leave of absence? And if he does, can he defeat the reigning champion, Silas Craggs, the Master of Croxley, a titan from the neighbouring ironworks?
Will his courage and determination be enough to triumph and alter Montgomery's destiny forever?
Immerse yourself in the spellbinding world of 1897 Yorkshire, as masterfully depicted by the legendary Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This riveting narrative is brought to life by the captivating narration by Jill Dopp and dynamic character voices by John Sadoway and Adam McLaughlin, aided by a rich tapestry of music and sound effects, artfully woven together to transport you directly into 1897 Yorkshire. Prepare to enter the ring, and experience the story of courage and resilience in this unforgettable auditory journey.
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What listeners say about The Croxley Master
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Dr Mark Jones
- 31-08-23
A good ringside seat at a great story
'The Croxley Master' is an all-time great short story and well worthy of dramatic treatment, being rightly considered one of Conan Doyle's best non-Sherlockian tales. It is still included in anthologies to this day as the story's drama, comedy and tension continue to play well for a modern audience. But it's not the most obvious adventure to adapt for dramatised reading, and one wonders if the producers shouldn't have started with an easier story.
On the positive, the producers should be praised for having taken the plunge. There are not many full cast dramatisations of non-Sherlock works, and the approach here is to be as faithful as possible. While this is entirely laudable, it does create a couple of problems with which I think the team has struggled. The first is accent. Set in West Yorkshire in the 1890s, the story makes great use of local dialect, which demands a lot of the actors. Unfortunately, the Yorkshire accents are not convincing and often hard to decipher, which takes you out of the action. The second problem is the action itself. The third part of the story is almost entirely a boxing match, conveyed through narration. This works fine in a story, but in a dramatic reading, the high point of the story is effectively without much dialogue, which sits uneasily with the style of the rest of the production. That said, the story is such a good one that, these difficulties aside, you are in for an enjoyable 90 minutes.
The team behind the production clearly love their Conan Doyle and I do hope they give it another go. Perhaps they would find safer ground with Conan Doyle's horror classic 'Lot No 249' or a suspenseful mystery like 'The Beetle Hunter', neither of which have the challenges faced here? There's a rich seam here, waiting to be tapped, and this production is a promising start.
PS. If you want to know more about the story, its background, and interpretations, then check out the discussion I had with Paul M. Chapman on the Doings of Doyle podcast, also available on Audible (https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/The-Croxley-Master-1899-Podcast/B0BNLX2VG1?ref=a_pd_Doings_c1_lAsin_1_1).
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