John Banville Radio Plays
14.02.14 Bowen & Betjeman, 45m
18.03.07 Loving, adap.
20.01.06 Todtnauberg
11.08.04 *Kepler, 45m
NOTES
BOWEN & BETJEMAN....2014
14 Feb 14. By John Banville. A fictional encounter between writers Elizabeth Bowen and John Betjeman as they meet for lunch in a Dublin hotel during WW2. As they discuss their lives, loves and politics, the story describes 1940s Dublin and the place of the artist in a world at war. Miranda Richardson as EB, Toby Jones as JB, with Nick Dunning as Isaiah Berlin, Nicholas Murchie, Gerard McDermott, Sophie Harkness, Maggie Cronin, Miche Docherty. Producer Gemma McMullan.
LOVING....2007
18 Mar 07, Classic Serial, adapted by John Banville. Henry Green's tale of life above and below stairs
in an Irish country house during World War II. 2 x 60m. BBC blurb for episode 1: " On Mr Sheldon's death; footman Raunce acts
fast to acquire the vacancy of butler at Castle Tennent. But how will the other servants in the household
react to his sudden rise in status? " Raunce ...... Martin Kemp/ Edith ...... Leanne Rowe/ Miss
Welch ...... Pauline Quirke/ Mrs Tennent ...... Joanna David/ Violet ......
Claudia Harrison/ Miss Burch ...... Amanda Root/ Kate ...... Zoe Tapper/ Capt.
Davenport ...... Mark Straker/ Bert ...... Harry Eden/ Albert ...... Johnny Brennan
TODTNAUBERG....2006
Afternoon Play,20 Jan 06. A fictional drama inspired by the meeting between Paul Celan, poet and holocaust survivor, and Nazi philosopher Martin Heidegger, at Heidegger's mountain retreat in 1967. No record was kept of this meeting. The only mention is a poem by Celan, "Todtnauberg". It troubled Celan that Heidegger, one of the greatest of modern thinkers, was a Nazi; something he never renounced. Late in life, Heidegger became interested in Celan's work. He attended some of his public readings and in 1967 invited him to his Black Forest retreat at Todtnauberg.
Heidegger ...... Joss Ackland,
Paul Celan ...... Nicholas Farrell,
Hannah Arendt ...... Jemma Redgrave,
Gerhart Baumann ...... James Greene,
Karl Jaspers ...... Gerard Murphy,
Secretary ...... Michelle Simms.
Producer Gemma Mcmullan.
KEPLER....2004
John Banville's Kepler explores the clash between two of the 17th century's leading Astronomers -
the assured, prickly and self-mocking Johannes Kepler, and the aristocratic, overbearing and
secretly insecure Danish Nobleman, Tycho Brahe, during the last year of Brahe's life.
Johannes Kepler ...... Benedict Cumberbatch
Tycho Brahe ...... Alun Armstrong
Barbara ...... Arabella Weir
Sophie ...... Gillian Kearney
Longberg ...... Scott Handy
Rudolph II ...... Geoffrey Beevers
Jeppe ...... Kenny Baker
Christine ...... Marcella Riordan
Regina ...... Hannah R Gordon
Messenger ...... Simon Imrie
Court Official ...... Kevin Jackson
Producer Gemma McMullan.
ND / Diversity website
Asterisked plays known to exist in VRPCC collections
