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Descent

By: Alexandra Wood
Narrated by: Tara Fitzgerald, Shobna Gulati, Jason Barnett, Sirine Saba, David Sturzaker, Frida Saba-Storey, Ulyana Dryzhak
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Publisher's summary

It’s Christmas Eve, and Lara anxiously anticipates the arrival of her sister, Cleo, so she can reveal a shocking family secret that has been haunting Lara since their mother’s death. By confronting revelations about their grandfather’s shameful past, Lara is hopeful that she and Cleo can make reparations and exorcise this ghost from their lives. The ghost, however, won’t be appeased so easily....

Alexandra Wood’s new play - twisty, suspenseful, and written exclusively for audio - will convince you that you really can’t escape your past.

Playwright Alexandra Wood was awarded a commission through the Audible Emerging Playwrights Fund, an initiative dedicated to developing innovative original plays driven by language and voice. As an Audible-commissioned playwright, she received funding and creative support to develop Descent.

This audio play features immersive audio techniques; to maximize the listening experience, headphones are recommended.

©2021 Alexandra Wood (P)2021 AO Media LLC
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About the Creator

Alexandra Wood is a playwright from London. Her plays include The Tyler Sisters (Hampstead Theatre); Never Vera Blue (Futures Theatre); The Human Ear (Paines Plough); Ages (Old Vic New Voices); a translation of Manfred Karge’s Man to Man (Wales Millennium Centre); Merit (Plymouth Drum); The Initiate (Paines Plough, winner of a Scotsman Fringe First); The Empty Quarter (Hampstead); an adaptation of Jung Chang’s Wild Swans (Young Vic/ART); The Centre (Islington Community Theatre); Unbroken (Gate); The Lion's Mouth (Rough Cuts/Royal Court); The Eleventh Capital (Royal Court) and the radio play Twelve Years (BBC Radio 4). Short plays include Invitation Interrupted (Donmar/Writing Wrongs); The Driving Rage (Paines Plough/National Trust); Pope's Grotto (Paines Plough/Come to Where I’m From) and My Name is Tania Head (Decade/Headlong). Alexandra is a past winner of the George Devine Award and her plays have been shortlisted for the Susan Smith Blackburn Award and the Patrick White Playwrights Award. She was the Big Room Playwright-in-Residence at Paines Plough in 2013.

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What listeners say about Descent

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Very clever


Anyone who doesn’t like this story because it is a “jumbled mess,” something “without any kind of resolution,” etc., are likely young, poorly read, and/or blissfully ignorant of what this storyteller(s) is actually attempting to relate.

Anything more, would ruin what “that is,” but rest assured you’re in good hands. If it were that bad, the storyteller would not have received a grant to develop and distribute it on Audible, in the fantastic spatial audio formats.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

fun short story

this was a great short thriller story. I thoughly enjoyed the sound effects that brought more thrill. this was a fu.n experience.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Meh

I expected it to a be really fun & unique experience, but it was merely a predictable, updated Twilight Zone. The specialized sound effects were sort of gratuitous for this particular story. I enjoyed it, but then, I love the Twilight Zone. kind of a waste of credit.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic Story and Dramatization

Take the negative reviews with a grain of salt.
The audio is very good if you actually listen to the instructions in the introduction. Many complained about the sound quality being “up and down” and that at times they “had to lean in to hear”. Well if they had leaned a little closer during the Intro and actually listened they would have heard that this audio drama was recorded binaurally and is best listened to on headphones! Ironic they weren’t listening while listening to an audiobook.
As far as the story goes, at first blush this dramatization seems like a very simplistic yet confusing ghost story that just kind of happens, but the story is allegorical and I think that concept just flew over the head of many of the listeners that were critical of the story. When you realize it is allegory for a real life struggle many face, the story just comes alive in a very heart breaking and terrifying way. That’s as far as I go. I don’t want to give it away. Bravo!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Unexpected Ending

Wow! Not what I was expecting. This was a great book about sisters and events that happen one Christmas. The ending was quite surprising and made me rethink everything I had just read. It is a book I will remember for a long time. I would listen to it again.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

cool execution

everything was good but the ending left much unsaid. leaves you wondering wtf just happened

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

very good 👍

I love reading 📚 ♥ and this type is very good 👍 👌 works . I need some really scary stuff

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Very interesting

Loved the read and would recommend to others something different ! Give it a try you might be surprised

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Started out great

Story has potential but the main Laura just looses her mind with not enough character building up to her rash decisions. Does turn into a hot mess towards the middle and quickly turned me off. Voice acting was great but not a great story.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent sound effects

The story was great. I loved he theatrical reading and the amazing sound effects. I listen while I walk and at one point it scared the crap out of me because I thought someone was right next to me ready to grab me. I hope there are more of these.

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