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. Mild mannered product recall specialist by day, tortured insomniac by night, our narrator is a discontented white-collar drone who longs to escape his everyday reality. Together with Tyler Durden – part-time projectionist, banquet waiter, soap-maker and anarchic genius – he creates Fight Club, where he and men like him can get away from their work-dominated, consumer-driven, image-obsessed lives. Soon there are fight clubs in basement bars across the country; men with cuts, bruises, stitches and missing teeth wherever you look. Tyler Durden has become an urban legend – but when he invents Project Mayhem, 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? This full-cast BBC radio dramatisation of Chuck Palahniuk's visceral, unflinching novel stars Patrick Kennedy as the Narrator, Sam Hazeldine as Tyler and Elaine Cassidy as Marla. 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 Duration: 1 hour approx.
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Written in stolen moments under truck chassis and on park benches to a soundtrack of The Downward Spiral and Pablo Honey, Fight Club came into existence. The adaptation of Fight Club was a flop at the box office, but achieved cult status on DVD. The film’s popularity drove sales of the novel. Chuck put out two novels in 1999, Survivor and Invisible Monsters. Choke, published in 2001, became Chuck’s first New York Times bestseller. Chuck’s work has always been infused with personal experience, and his next novel, Lullaby, was no exception. Chuck credits writing Lullaby with helping him cope with the tragic death of his father. Diary and the non-fiction guide to Portland, Fugitives and Refugees, were released in 2003. While on the road in support of Diary, Chuck began reading a short story entitled 'Guts,' which would eventually become part of the novel Haunted. In the years that followed, he continued to write, publishing the bestselling Rant, Snuff, Pygmy, Tell-All, a 'remix' of Invisible Monsters, Damned, and most recently, Doomed. Chuck also enjoys giving back to his fans, and teaching the art of storytelling has been an important part of that. In 2004, Chuck began submitting essays to ChuckPalahniuk.net on the craft of writing. These were 'How To' pieces, straight out of Chuck's personal bag of tricks, based on the tenants of minimalism he learned from Tom Spanbauer. Every month, a “Homework Assignment” would accompany the lesson, so Workshop members could apply what they had learned. (all 36 of these essays can currently be found on The Cult's sister-site, LitReactor.com). Then, in 2009, Chuck increased his involvement by committing to read and review a selection of fan-written stories each month. The best stories are currently set to be published in Burnt Tongues, a forthcoming anthology, with an introduction written by Chuck himself. His next novel, Beautiful You, is due out in October 2014.
