A series of vintage mockumentaries about fictional experimental composer, Hilda Tablet
Hilda Tablet is a fictitious 'twelve-tone composeress' created by Henry Reed in a series of radio mockumentaries. She first appeared in the play A Very Great Man Indeed, which follows the quest of a fictional biographer, Herbert Reeve, who is writing the biography of the equally fictional novelist Richard Shewin.
The Hilda Tablet plays were a landmark in radio satire. Presented in the manner of a spoof documentary, the action follows Herbert Reeve as he tries to research his book and is constantly waylaid by the characters he interviews, ultimately being bullied into undertaking a biography of Hilda - 'in not more than twelve volumes'.
This collection of plays includes: A Very Great Man Indeed, The Private Life of Hilda Tablet, Emily Butter, the first performance of Hilda Tablet's opera*; A Hedge, Backwards; The Primal Scene, As It Were,* which takes place on a yacht in Greece; Not a Drum Was Heard; and Musique Discrete.
Hilda Tablet is played by Mary O'Farrell, and Herbert Reeve is played by Hugh Burden.