Fight Club

A BBC Radio 4 Full-Cast Dramatisation

By: Chuck Palahnuik

Narrated by: Elaine Cassidy, full cast, Patrick Kennedy, Sam Hazeldine

First there was the insomnia.
Then there were the support groups that helped him sleep.
Then Marla Singer turned up, muscled in on ascending bowel cancer and ruined everything.
Then he met Tyler Durden.
Then came Fight Club.

Fight Club is the psychological story of a man's descent into an underground world of violence. Mild mannered product-recall-specialist by day, tortured insomniac by night, our narrator meets Tyler Durden - part-time projectionist, banquet waiter, soap-maker and anarchic genius. Together they create Fight Club. In Fight Club our narrator, and men like him, can escape the monotony of their daily work-dominated, consumer-driven, image-obsessed lives. In Fight Club you can escape who the world thinks you ought to be.

Soon there are Fight Clubs in basement bars in towns and cities across the country; men with cuts, bruises, stitches, missing teeth wherever you look, and Tyler Durden has become an urban legend. But when Tyler invents Project Mayhem and things begin to escalate, there's only one thing to do: shut down Fight Club.

But have they created a monster they can't control?

Chuck Palahniuk's visceral and unflinching cult novel stars Patrick Kennedy, Sam Hazeldine and Elaine Cassidy.

Cast:
The Narrator...Patrick Kennedy
Tyler Durden...Sam Hazeldine
Marla Singer... Elaine Cassidy
Big Bob...Martin Sherman
Doctor/Boss...Nigel Whitmey
Recruit One...Danny Mahoney
Mechanic...John Schwab
Ted...Sam Dale
Glenda...Jane Slavin
Chloe...Ayesha Antoine

Dramatised by Tracey Malone and Ed Whitmore
Produced by Heather Larmour

©2018 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2018 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

everything

I really enjoyed the multifaceted nature of the reading, and the many characters made it come to life.

Fine but…

Look, this audiobook is fine. It is very brief and therefore it misses a lot of things. It has some good parts but honestly, it’s not as good as the movie. Performance was great tho!

Great adaptation

I love this dramatization of Fight Club. I love that it is based on the novel, and not the film. It gives you a fresh perspective, especially if you're like me and have seen the film dozens of times. I love the book, and this play does it justice. It's honestly more true to the book than the film. The performances are great, and they represent the characters very well.

more details

thought the movie rocked, I thought the books way better. movie doesn't lead into a sequel

loved it! It feels very much like the movie.

great! very entertaining. I thought the cast did a wonderful job and it was an enjoyable experience listening to the adaptation.

Too short

Given how short it is and how fast it moves, it felt more like a summary of the book. Could have been much better if it were 30 or 60 minutes longer to cover more details in the book.

If you aren't familiar with the book or movie, I imagine this version can be confusing and may leave you asking questions. I would only suggest this for people who are already fans of Fight Club.

very good

really well done, I only wish it was longer. the production was very outstanding as was the voice acting.

Great but not excellent

I'm sorry. Every thing was great but I can't un-see Ed Norton and Helena Bonham Carter

Too abbreviated

For decades, the BBC has down amazing dramatizations of novels, but in recent yrs and with changing listenership tastes, they've felt compelled to do abbreviated adaptations of less than an hour. You can't do justice to the story. For Fight Club, like so many adaptations like it, it's more of a mood piece than a story. If you've seen the movie, you can follow it, but if you haven't you'll have a hard time.

Misleading

This is not the book it’s a rushed dramatization and condensed version
Unlike the book. Tyler would disapprove