The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial

by Peter Goodchild

[Terri M. LeBlanc]

The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial by Peter Goodchild

I’ve been lucky enough to listen to two full cast recordings over the last couple of months. While on my contract job, my commute was a tad shorter so it was nice to tackle two shorter plays one my drive.

The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial is a recount of the Scopes Trial of 1925 and is exceedingly well done. There is a ton of great voice acting in this account and some lovely background noises and crowd reactions which transports you back to the courtroom. Listening to the case, which happened in the heat of a Tennessee summer, I was warmed up in my car in the dead of an Iowa winter as the narrator often explained just how hot the courtroom was in 1925.

I enjoyed the verbal exchanges between Ed Asner and John de Lancie the most. Asner played William Jennings Bryan and de Lancie was Clarence Darrow. The arguments of their real life counterparts were compelling and I found myself wanting to join in on the conversation.

Overall, this is a top-notch recording of the play by Peter Goodchild. I would recommend it to anyone wanting to learn more about The Scopes Trial, which decided whether or not evolution could be taught in classrooms.