They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? takes us into the strange and brutal world of dance marathon competitions dating from the Great Depression in America. It follows Robert and Gloria, a couple who’ve washed up in Los Angeles and whose last hope is to get spotted by talent scouts or win the prize money by being the last dancers standing.

The book’s author, Horace McCoy, had first hand experience of these competitions, which could last months, having worked as a bouncer at one himself. As John Yorke discovers, it’s a bleak tale from a difficult time, whose nihilistic underpinnings led Simone de Beauvoir to call it the first existentialist American novel. But McCoy shows just empathy for the doomed characters to make the story, in the words of contributor Denise Hamilton, hit home like a stiletto to the heart.

John Yorke has worked in television and radio for over 30 years and shares his experience as he unpacks the themes of the books, plays and stories dramatised in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. As former Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama Production he has worked on some of the most popular shows in Britain - from EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless. He created the BBC Writers Academy and trained a generation of screenwriters - now with thousands of hours of television to their names. His acclaimed books Into the Woods and Trip to the Moon explore the structure and power of narrative, and he writes, teaches and consults on all forms of storytelling, including many podcasts for R4.

Contributors: Denise Hamilton, novelist and editor of ‘LA Noir’
Sound: Sean Kerwin
Researcher: Henry Tydeman
Production Hub Coordinator: Dawn Williams
Producer: Geoff Bird
Reader: Eric Stroud
Executive Producer: Sara Davies

A Pier production for BBC Radio