Radio 3 Drama & Readings, 2001

General notes: As programming is generally scheduled around evening concerts, start times have been noted after the date. Information for 08 to 14-09-2001 and 22 to 28-12-2001 are scant/absent at present.

B.H.

THE SUNDAY PLAY:

7:30pm Sunday evenings, moving to 6:30pm from 15/04/2001 (with a few exceptions as noted); Various durations as noted.

(07-01-2001) The Constant Prince (Calderon de la Barca, trans/adap John Clifford)
A poetic and profound meditation on the value of human life, from the 17th-century Golden Age of Spanish drama. When Prince Fernando of Portugal is captured during a raid on North Africa, the King of Fez offers to free him in exchange for the Portuguese-held town of Ceuta. However, Fernando refuses - an act both foolish and heroic. (105m)

(14-01-2001; 10:00pm) The Ghost Of Federico Garcia Lorca - Which Can Also Be Used As A Table
(Peter Straughan) A look at the life of Federico Garcia Lorca, combining humour, tragedy, surrealism and poetry, with Salvador Dali acting as a reluctant narrator. Melanie Harris directs John Lloyd Fillingham (Lorca), James Duke (Dali), Sian Thomas (Margarita), John Griffin (Bunuel and Raphael), Malcolm Raeburn (Ramon and Magro) and Glenn Cunningham (Azana and Malo). Music composed and performed by Olly Fox. (75m) (NB: Repeated 19-08-2001.)

(21-01-2001; Rpt) Heartbreak House (George Bernard Shaw)
A fantasia in the Russian manner on English themes. In his 1919 preface, Shaw described the play as `cultured, leisured Europe before the war'. Begun in 1916, the play is a witty satire on the Bohemian classes, the horse-riding classes and the pragmatic politicians and capitalists who hover between the two. Amidst the farce, they are not indifferent to the impending danger but seem unable to help themselves, `like moths round a candle'. With John Wood, Eleanor Bron, Cheryl Campbell and David Troughton. Director Janet Whitaker. (155m)

(28-01-2001; Rpt) Major Barbara (George Bernard Shaw)
Peter Hall directs Bernard Shaw's devastatingly witty comedy, featuring the cast from his West End production: Anna Carteret, Crispin Bonham Carter, Stephen Noonan, Jemma Redgrave and Peter Bowles. (145m)

(04-02-2001) 'Tis A Pity She's A Whore (John Ford)
David Lan directs Ford's tragedy of incest and murder. With Jude Law (Giovanni), Eve Best (Annabella), Lloyd Owen (Soranzo), Annette Badland (Putana), Des McAleer (Friar), Philip Whitchurch (Vasques), Catherine Bailey (Philotis), Tom Hodgkins (Richardetto/Donato), Christopher James (Bergetto/Cardinal/Grimaldi), Penny Downie (Hippolita), David Lyon (Florio). Music composed by Jonathan Dove. (135m) (NB: Repeated 29-10-2001.)

(11-02-2001) Mary Queen Of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off (Liz Lochhead)
A darkly comic portrayal of the life and times of Mary, Queen of Scots. Premiered during the 1987 Edinburgh Festival, the play looks at Mary's legacy through the eyes of Corbie, a carrion crow who is her unseen attendant through life and death. With Myra McFadyen (Corbie), Gerda Stevenson (Mary, Queen of Scots/Marian), Siobhan Redmond (Elizabeth I/Bessie), Bill Paterson (John Knox), John Kazek (James Hepburn of Boswell), Daniel Brocklebank (Henry, Lord Darnley), Forbes Masson (Riccio/Second Mummer) and Jon Glover (Leader of the Mummers). Directed by Marilyn Imrie. (120m)

(18-02-2001) Autumn Sonata (Ingmar Bergman)
Following the death of her lover, a concert pianist visits her estranged daughter, and a dark story of a divided family unfolds as the two women start to reveal the sorrow and bitterness of their shared past. With Corin Redgrave (Viktor), Victoria Hamilton (Eva), Francesa Annis (Charlotte) and Barbara Peirson (Helena). Directed by Catherine Bailey, with music performed by Olga Thomas-Bosovskaya. (110m)

(25-02-2001) Three Sisters Two (Reza de Wet)
Set in post-revolutionary Russia, de Wet's play offers both a sequel to Chekov's `Three Sisters' and - in its investigation of the confusions resulting from political upheaval - a comment on the author's homeland of South Africa at the end of the 20th century. With Janet Maw (Masha), Anna Calder-Marshall (Olga), Amanda Root (Irena), Bernard Hepton (Vershinin), Bill Nighy (Andrey), Eve Matheson (Natasha), Sean Baker (Igor), Clare Corbett (Sofia) and Barbara Lott (Anfisa). Music composed and performed by Janet Davey. Directed by Gordon House. (120m)

(04-03-2001) The Emigrants - Ambros Adelwarth
(W G Sebald, adap Edward Kemp) The acclaimed novel about the experiences of Jewish emigrants. Inspired by an old photograph album to investigate the life of a lost relative, a man finds himself on a journey that traverses the 20th century, leading him from an American asylum to the shores of the Dead Sea. With John Wood (W), Henry Goodman (Ambros Adelwarth), Eleanor Bron (Aunt Fini), Ed Bishop (Uncle Kasimir), Margaret Robertson (Aunt Lina), Andrew Sachs (Dr Abramsky), Cosmo Solomon (John Schwab), Thomas Arnold, Jamsine Hyde and Maximilian Graber. Music by Gary Yershon. Directed by Edward Kemp. (80m)

(11-03-2001) Every Bit Of It (Jackie King)
Two women who share a fascination with the American blues singer Bessie Smith meet on a train and strike up a conversation, revealing more and more about themselves as they talk about Smith's life. Gradually, as their journey progresses, the two are taken over by their idol. With Gerda Stevenson (Georgia), Suzanne Bonnar (Cathy) and James Nickerson (Train Announcer). Music performed by Suzanne Bonnar and Paul Harrison. Directed by Susan Roberts. (75m)

(18-03-2001) Rossum's Cyber-Cafe (Jeffrey Robinson)
A science fantasy about a world in which our lives are dominated by the internet, inspired by Czech playwright Karl Capek's 1921 play `RUR' (for Rossum's Universal Robots), in which robots had similarly insinuated themselves into every facet of human life. With Gayanne Potter, Angus MacInnes, Henry Ian Cusick, Joanna Tope, Derwent Watson, Simon Tait and Emma Currie. (80m) (NB: Repeated 12-08-2001.)

(25-03-2001; Rpt) Summerfolk (Maxim Gorky)
A group of middle-class Russian holidaymakers spend a summer together, passing the time with affairs, intrigues and amateur dramatics, but eventually having to confront the hollowness of their lives. Written in 1904 as a response to Chekov's `The Cherry Orchard', this adaptation by Nick Dear was first performed at the Royal National Theatre. Cast: Simon Armstrong, Kelly Hunter, Jennifer Vaughan, John Labanowski, Ronan Vibert, Patrick Brennan, Nickie Rainsford, Ruth Jones, Christine Pritchard, Siriol Jenkins, Rhodri Hugh, Christopher Hampson, David Middleton, Richard Elfin and Norman Rodway. (135m)

(01-04-2001) The Magic Mountain (Thomas Mann, dram Olwen Wymark)
The classic tale about a man who visits his brother in an Alpine sanitorium where, isolated from the rest of the world, the man loses all sense of time and surrenders to the influence of the sanitorium community. Cast includes Paul Schofield (narrator), Robert Whitelock (Hans Castrop), Clive Merrison (Settembrini), Sian Thomas (Clavdia), Simon Ludders (Joachim), John Hartley (Dr Behrens), Norman Rodway (Peeperkorn), Rhodri Hugh (Naphta), Richard Elfyn (Dr Krokowski) and Christine Pritchard (Frau Stohr). Directed by Alison Hindell, with music by Colin Sell. (135m)

(08-04-2001) All That Fall (Samuel Beckett)
Beckett's radio play, originally commissioned in 1957. Ostensibly an anecdote set in a rural community in Ireland, the play is a careful synthesis of speech, sound and silence, constructed with Beckett's unique blend of desperate humour and despairing tragedy. With Anna Manahan (Mrs Rooney), Pat Laffan (Christy), David Kelly (Mr Tyler), John Kavanagh (Mr Slocum), Michael Devaney (Tommy), James Ellis (Mr Barrell), Jean Ann Crowley (Miss Fitt), Sharon Hogan (Female voice/Dolly), Niall Toibin (Mr Rooney), Dan Colley (Jerry). Directed by Bill Bryden. (70m)

(15-04-2001) Baltasar & Blimunda (Jose Saramago, dram John Clifford)
Dramatisation of Portuguese writer's novel `Memorial do convento', a blend of realism and fantasy set in early 18th-century Portugal during the reign of King Juao V. The plot involves a one-armed soldier besotted with a woman with magical powers, a flying machine designed by a priest, and the composer Domenico Scarlatti. With Liam Brennan (Baltasar), Katherine Igoe (Blimunda), John Paul Hurley (Padre Bartolomeu), Richard Greenwood (Scarlatti), Jamie Newall (The King), Emma Currie (The Queen), Joanna Tope (Sebastiana) and James Bryce (The Inquisitor). Directed by Patrick Rayner. (110m) (NB: First play in the 6:30pm slot which would continue, for the most part, for the rest of the year.)

(22-04-2001) An Experiment With An Air Pump (Shelagh Stephenson)
Psychological thriller set in the house of scientist and political radical Joseph Fenwick on the eve of the 19th century. Directed by Eoin O'Callaghan, with Lindsay Duncan (Susannah Fenwick), Tim Piggot Smith (Joseph Fenwick), Simon Russell Beale (Peter Mark Roget), Tim McInnerny (Armstrong), Amanda Root (Maria Fenwick), Rebecca Saire (Harriet Fenwick) and Pauline Lockart (Isobel Bridie). (120m)

(29-04-2001) Ancient Lights (Shelagh Stephenson)
A Hollywood star and his girlfriend spend Christmas with old friends in a house in rural Northumberland. When one of them tells a ghost story, each starts thinking not only about things supernatural but also about themselves and what they have become. Directed by Ian Brown, with Joanne Pearce (Bea), Dermot Crowley (Tad), Don McManus (Tom), Gwyneth Strong (Kitty), Sheridan Smith (Joni) and Ruth Gemmell (Iona). (110m)

(06-05-2001) Clavigo
(Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, trans/dir Robert David MacDonald) Goethe claimed to have written his 1774 romantic tragedy `Clavigo' in a week. It was based on then-recent true events and tells the story of a playwright who travels to Spain to avenge his sister, who has been abandoned by her betrothed, a writer wishing to further his career. With Brendan Hooper (Clavigo), Derwent Watson (Carlos), Jay Manley (Buenco), Andrew Joseph (Beaumarchais), Candida Benson (Sophie) and Katherine Burford (Marie). (70m)

(13-05-2001; Rpt) She Stoops To Conquer (Oliver Goldsmith, adap Sue Wilson)
When Young Marlow comes to court Kate Hardcastle at her father's house in Yorkshire, he finds himself the butt of a mischievous prank. Tony Lumpkin revels in the misunderstanding he causes during `the mistakes of a night'. Cast includes Julia McKenzie, Clive Francis, Amanda Root, Adrian Scarborough, Norman Rodway, Martin Ball, Jonathan Clarke, Cathy Sera, Terry Molloy, Ian Brooker, Naomi Harris and Richard Neale. Music composed and played by Anthea Gomez with Martha Ann Brooks (trombone) and Katherine Gittings (violin). Director: Sue Wilson. (155m)

(20-05-2001) Greek Day - Medea
(trans Kenneth McLeish and Frederic Raphael) Fiona Shaw stars in and directs Deborah Warner's acclaimed production of Euripides's two-and-a-half-thousand-year-old tragedy of betrayal and vengeance. Fiona Shaw (Medea), Jonathan Cake (Jason), Janny Galloway (Nurse), Jonathan Slinger (Tutor), Struan Rodger (Kreon), Leo Wringer (Aegeus), Robert Hines (Messenger), Mikey Press and Jack Richards (children), Gabrielle Lloyd, Moya Brady, Gillian Hanna, Emma Dewhurst, Kate Fleetwood, Joyce Henderson and Pauline Lynch (Chorus). Music by Mel Shaw, with Rhonwyn Hayes (singer). (80m)

(27-05-2001) Iph... (Colin Teevan)
Based on Euripides's `Iphigeneia in Aulis'. When the Greek fleet is becalmed at Aulis, the gods require a tribute before they will grant a fair wind. And so King Agamemnon is forced to choose between sacrificing his daughter Iphigeneia and abandoning his nation's ambitions of revenge on Troy. With Nuala O'Neill (Iphigeneia), Gerard McSorley (Agamemnon), Eleanor Methvyn (Klytemnestra), James Ellis (Old Man), Richard Dormer (Menelaus), Matt McArdle (Achilleus), and Amy Sands, Rosie Sands, Niki Doherty, Bronagh Taggart and Lucy McAnespie (chorus). Directed by Stephen Wright, with music by Mich Sands. (75m)

(03-06-2001) Heresy (John Spurling)
The story of Hypatia - known to history as the first female mathematician and philosopher - who was killed by a mob in AD415 following a power struggle between Cyril, Archbishop of Alexandria, and Orestes, the Prefect of Alexandria and a friend of Hypatia. The play explores the conflict between early Christian orthodoxy and the less belligerent doctrines of neo-Platonism, and investigates the consequences of mixing politics and belief. With Julia Ford (Hypatia), John Rowe (Orestes) and Robert Glenister (Cyril). Directed by Richard Wortley. (120m)

(10-06-2001) No programme (New Generation Artists Day)

(17-06-2001) The Conquest Of The South
(Manfred Karge, adap Anthony Vivis, trans Anthony Vivis & Tinch Minter) Four of society's rejects seek to escape the depressing emptiness of their lives by acting out Amundsen's famous expedition to the South Pole. With Matthew Dunster (Slupianek), James Weaver (Buscher), Ralf Little (Seiffert), Andrew Lancel (Braukmann), Katy Kavanagh (La Braukmann), Nicholas Gleaves (Rudi), Lucy Akhurst (Rosi), John Lightbody (Frankieboy). Music by Simon Fraser. Directed by Toby Swift. (80m)

(24-06-2001; 8:45pm) Rita, Sue & Bob Too (Andrea Dunbar)
The tough, funny play, a no-holds-barred story about a menage a trois between two teenage girls and a married man, set on a Northern estate during the 1980s. With Emily Aston (Rita), Emma Rydal (Sue), Matthew Wait (Bob), Ian Redford (Dad), Jane Wood (Mum), Gary Whitaker (Sam) and Sally Rogers (Michelle). Directed by Max Stafford Clark. (65m)

(01-07-2001) Laughter When We're Dead (Sean O'Brien)
The funny and frightening take on the genre of Jacobean revenge tragedy. As an autumn general election approaches, with the Labour government on the ropes, a Labour Party conference on Tyneside reveals contemporary politics to be a violent, corrupt and sexually driven milieu. With Deka Walmsley (James Jackson), Gavin Muir (William Farr), Charlie Hardwick (Elizabeth Jackson), Sasha Pick (Miranda), Michael Hodgeson (Bobby Brammer), Donald McBride (Gregor Glass), Suzy Cooper (Daisy Gates), Grace Stillgrove (Denise), Joe Caffrey (Heavy). Directed by Melanie Harris. Music composed by Keith Morris. (125m)

(08-07-2001) Wit (Margaret Edson, adap Judith Adams)
The Pulitzer Prize-winning play in which a brilliant scholar discovers that she has cancer and, through several courses of exhausting chemotherapy treatments, is forced to learn about wit, compassion and - finally - death. With Nancy Crane (Professor Vivian Bearing), Jasmine Hyne (Technician/Student/Clinical Fellow), John McGlynn (Doctor Harvey Kelikian), Stuart Milligan (Mr Bearing/Code Team Head), Margaret Robertson (Professor Ashford), John Sharian (Jason Posner), Adam Sims (Technician/Student/Clinical Fellow), Tracy Wiles (Susie Monahan). Directed by Gaynor Macfarlane. (75m)

(15-07-2001) The Bogus Woman (Kay Adshead)
The painstakingly researched and searingly truthful account of the experiences of a young woman seeking asylum in Britain. Performed by the young Nigerian actress Noma Dumezweni. Directed by Lisa Goldman, with sound designer Leon Chambers. (90m)

(22-07-2001; 10:00pm; Rpt) Moonlight (Harold Pinter)
Pinter heads a distinguished cast in this first radio production of his own play. A man is on his death bed, but where is his loving family...? With Sara Kestelman, John Shrapnel, Jill Johnson, Douglas Hodge, Harry Burton and Indira Varma. Music by Elizabeth Parker. Directed by Janet Whitaker. (60m)

(29-07-2001; 9:50pm; Rpt) Requiem (Bryony Lavery)
A moving portrayal of the last day in the life of French composer Lili Boulanger, who died in 1918 at the age of 24. Cared for by her sister - the composer and teacher Nadia Boulanger - and her loving mother, Lili is suffused by thoughts of the music she has created and that which will never be written. With Imogen Stubbs (Lili), Claire Bloom (Raisa), Richard Johnson (Ernest) and Deborah Findlay (Nadia). (70m)

(05-08-2001; 10:15pm; Rpt) An Insular Motet (David Pownall)
In 1213, Pope Innocent issues an edict proscribing any form of music in the churches of England, and a beleaguered King John commissions a young composer to write a form of music without music. With Gerard Murphy (King John), Lizzie McInnerny (Madge), Hugh Ross (Frank), Tim McInnerny (Dawson) and Ben Crowe (Hedley). Directed by Eoin O'Callaghan. (45m)

(12-08-2001; 9.40pm; Rpt) Rossum's Cyber-Cafe (Jeffrey Robinson)
(NB: Repeat of 18-03-2001 - see above.)

(19-08-2001; 9.45pm; Rpt) The Ghost Of Federico Garcia Lorca - Which Can Also Be Used As A Table
(Peter Straughan) (NB: Repeat of 14-01-2001 - see above.)

(26-08-2001; 9:35pm; Rpt) Dr Ibsen's Ghosts (Robert Ferguson)
The story of the illegitimate son and the forgotten mother of the great Norwegian poet and playwright Henrik Ibsen. Directed by Ned Chaillet, with Paul Scofield (Henrik Ibsen), Morag Hood (Suzannah Ibsen), Edna Dore (Else Sofie Jensen) and Michael N Harbour (Henrik Jaeger). Music composed by Julie Cooper and performed by Sophie Langdon (violin), Gordon Hunt (oboe) and Julie Cooper (piano). (85m)

(02-09-2001; 9:20pm; Rpt) A Fairly Honourable Defeat (Iris Murdoch, dram Brian Friel)
On a hot summer's day, Rupert and Hilda celebrate their long and happy marriage. However, death and despair stalk their sunlit garden, and by the end of the summer good has been defeated by evil and all is terribly changed. Anna Carteret (Hilda), Steven Mangan (Simon), Malcolm Sinclair (Axel), Julian Glover (Rupert), Penny Downie (Morgan), Terence Longdon (Leonard), Daniel Brocklebank (Peter), Alex Jennings (Julius), Karl Johnson (Tallis). Director: Maria Aitken. Music by Howard Davidson. (100m)

(09-09-2001) No information (see note at top).

(16-09-2001) King Lear (William Shakespeare)
Corin Redgrave stars as Lear in this new production of Shakespeare's tragedy directed by Cherry Cookson. A distinguished cast also includes David Troughton and John Carlisle of Cornwall), Paul Copley (Fool), Struan Rodger (Oswald), Sean Baker (King of France) and Gavin Muir (Old Man/Gentleman). Music by Elizabeth Parker. (150m)

(23-09-2001) Much Ado About Nothing (William Shakespeare)
A new production of Shakespeare's delightful comedy with David Tennant as Benedick and Samantha Spiro as Beatrice, introduced by Sir Richard Eyre and directed by Sally Avens (Dogberry), Peter Gunn (Verges), Maxine Peake (Margaret), Helen Ayres (Ursula), Dermot Crowley (Friar Francis). Original music written and performed by Simon Oakes and Adam Wolters. (135m)

(30-09-2001) Othello (William Shakespeare)
A new production of Shakespeare's play with Ray Fearon in the title role, adapted for radio and directed by Jeremy Mortimer. With James Frain (Iago), Anastasia Hille (Desdemona). (190m)

(07-10-2001) The Tempest (William Shakespeare)
A new production of Shakespeare's play with Philip Madoc as Prospero, Nina Wadia (Ariel), Catrin Rhys (Miranda) and Josh Richards (Caliban). Directed by David Hunter David Hunter. Music by Billy Cowie. (125m)

(14-10-2001; 9:30pm) Walk To The Paradise Garden (Terence Davies)
Davies's debut radio play is an elegiac story of four old people in a hospital ward. With Nicholas Amer, Marjorie Yates, Jane Lapotaire and Colette O'Neil Colette O'Neil and Marlene Sidaway. (90m)

(21-10-2001) Ivanov (Anton Chekhov, adap David Hare)
A new version of the play based on the production at London's Almeida Theatre. Ralph Fiennes is Ivanov, with Anthony O'Donnell and Harriet Walter. (110m)

(28-10-2001; Rpt) 'Tis A Pity She's A Whore (John Ford)
(NB: Repeat of 04-02-2001 - see above.)

(04-11-2001) Pembroke Arcadia (D J Britton)
The play interleaves the life and work of Sir Philip Sidney. Alison Hindell directs a cast including William Houston, Beth Chalmers, Greta Scacchi and Philip Madoc. (135m)

(11-11-2001; 8:00pm) Alcestis (Euripides, adap Ted Hughes)
Cast includes Joanne Thirsk, Andy Cryer, Barrie Rutter and David Hounslow. Directed by Susan Roberts. (100m)

(18-11-2001) Delores (Euripedes, adap Phyllis Nagy)
Based on 'Andromache'. With Nichola McAuliffe, Madeleine Potter, Katherine Tozer, Oliver Cotton, William Hope and Nicholas le Prevost. (70m)

(25-11-2001) Medea - Mapping The Edge (Amanda Dalton, Alison Fell & Bernadine Evaristo)
The story of three women with diverse backgrounds whose lives echo the story of Medea. (100m)

(02-12-2001; Rpt) The Trojan Women (Euripides)
The tragedy spans the centuries as a voice of protest against the inhumanity of slavery. This performance, recorded in Toronto, includes original blues by Colin Linden. (140m)

(08-12-2001; 10:45pm) Democracy & Language, Pt 1 - Greece Versus Persia (John Fletcher)
A trilogy of plays commissioned by Radio 3. (55m) (NB: This first part was braodcast on the Saturday, in The Wire's usual slot.)

(09-12-2001) Democracy & Language, Pt 2 - Great Britain Versus Germany (John Fletcher)
(65m)

(09-12-2001; 7:35pm) Democracy & Language, Pt 3 - Everyone For Themselves (John Fletcher)
(85m)

(16-12-2001; 9:30pm) Hecuba (Euripides, trans/adap Timberlake Wertenbaker)
The tragedy with Olympia Dukakis, Timothy West, Emma Fielding, Greg Hicks and Nicholas Woodeson. Directed by Ned Chaillet. (90m)

(23-12-2001) No information (see note at top).

(30-12-2001) Sunday At Sant' Agata (Ronald Frame)
The imagined account of a surprising summer's day at Verdi's country retreat. The ageing composer intends a quiet Sunday, but his plans are disturbed by three visitors. (90m)

THE SUNDAY FEATURE

5:45pm Sundays; 45mins; Usually a documentary series, some episodes include dramatic themes and have actors listed so I've included these for completeness sake.

(28-01-2001) The Road To Ruin
- Robert McNab reconstructs the extraordinary journey across a bombed-out Europe made by the French novelist Louis Ferdinand Celine towards the end of the Second World War. Celine had made his name in the 1930s with the novel `Journey to the End of the Night', before siding with the Vichy regime during the occupation and fleeing to Germany just before the Normandy landings. This flight provided material for a final trilogy of halucinatory novels - `Castle to Castle', `North' and `Rigadoon'. With Kenneth Cranham as Celine. (NB: Repeated at 9.45pm, 15-08-2001.)

(30-09-2001) The Opium Eater
- Jonathan Bate explores the relevance to today's drugs debate of Thomas De Quincey's `Confessions of an English Opium Eater' of 1821. With Simon Russell Beale as De Quincey

TWENTY-MINUTES:

Various dramatic twenty-minute pieces that are used as mid-concert interval pieces during Performance On 3 and Opera On 3; Writer/reader credits have been noted where available; Documentaries/talks have been omitted; Note that editions broadcast during Saturday performances are usually marked just as 'Interval'.

(17 to 19-01-2001) Ivan Klima Stories

1: Uranus In The House Of Death
(read by James Fleet) A famous theatre director decides to travel to the Adelaide Festival despite zodiacal premonitions from his girlfriend that the plane will crash. (8.20pm)

2: Rich Men Tend To Be Strange
(read by Ian McDiarmid) A rich car dealer, dying from cancer, withdraws all his money from his bank account and takes it to hospital with him, stuffed in his slippers. (8.10pm)

3: Honeymoon
(read by Jonathan Keeble) A newly-married young woman goes on holiday with her lover - who is not her husband. (8.20pm)

(30-03-2001; 8:15pm) Pilgrimage
- Susan Sontag's account of her teenage visit to Thomas Mann in California in 1947, shortly after she had read his masterpiece `The Magic Mountain'.

(09 to 11-04-2001) The War Against Cliche
(Martin Amis, read by Bill Nighy) A series of three essays from the new collection by Amis.

1: The Force Of Love - Amis's idiosyncratic take on Jane Austen's `Pride and Prejudice'. (8.20pm)

2: Zeus & The Garbage - An investigation into what, exactly, the men's movement is. (8.10pm)

3: Chess - A look at a game which - according to Amis - is undergoing a stylish face-lift. (8.30pm)

(22-05-2001; 8:55pm; Rpt) Verdi & Boito
(Jules Mascarenhas) A dramatisation of the relationship between Giuseppe Verdi and the librettist and composer Arrigo Boito, who collaborated on Verdi's great Shakespearean operas `Otello' and `Falstaff'. With John Woodvine (Verdi), Jennie Stoller (Signora Verdi), Denys Hawthorne (Faccio), Thomas Arnold (Boito) and Stephen Critchlow (Ricordi).

(26-06-2001; 8:50pm; Rpt) Theory & Practice
(Candia McWilliam, read by Sirio Kenkins) A story commissioned with BBC Music Magazine. A boat trip to the Highlands provides the setting for an exploration of the differences between a musician and a singer.

(03-07-2001; 8:20pm) Somerleyton Hall
(W G Sebald, read by John Rowe) An extract from `The Ring's of Saturn', Sebald's fictionalised account of his travels through Suffolk.

(06-07-2001; 8:20pm) The Voice Of The Archangel
(John Donne, read by Ian McDiarmid) A selection of passages from the eloquent and impassioned sermons of Donne, ranging from fire-and-brimstone images of hell to awe at the glory of heaven.

(12-07-2001; 8:20pm) Sunstroke
(Ivan Bunin, trans Sophie Lund, read by David Horovitch) A story about cruising the Volga and falling in love. (NB: Repeated 23-11-2001.)

(27-07-2001; 8:30pm) The Secret Sin Of Septimus Brope
(Saki, read by Simon Russell Beale) The tale of scandal at a country house in Edwardian England.

(06-08-2001; 7:50pm) No title
- The second of three specially commissioned pieces (the first being documentary) on one of this year's key Proms themes - exile. Jamila Gavin, who recently won the Whitbread Children's Book of the Year award for `Coram Boy', reads her new short story set in a post-nuclear desert of the future.

(10-08-2001; 8:35pm) The Cave
(Irmelin Sandman Lilius, read by Saskia Reeves) A tale in which the Finnish author uses fantastic elements to illustrate psychological action. A young girl moves with her family to a new town, where she feels lonely and isolated. One day, she discovers a mountainside cave whilst walking in the forest. Later, she returns with her brother, and the two are drawn into a fantastical and perilous realm deep inside the mountain.

(16-08-2001; 11:55am) A Dip Into The Book Festival
(wri/read by T E Carhart) The American author reads extracts from his novel `The Piano Shop on the Left Bank', presenting a tableau of his life in Paris, focusing on the piano repair shop which lies hidden down a street near his apartment. (NB: A rare pre-noon entry during Proms season - all others were documentary/interview-based.)

(03-09-2001; 8:05pm) A Race Through Prague
(Ota Pavel, read by David Timson) A tragi-comic story about an unusual race set in the Czech capital just after World War II.

(02-11-2001; 8:00pm) Majed (Leila Aboulela, unknown reader) A short story by the award-winning Egyptian-Sudanese author, whose writing often reflects the culture clash of Muslim emigrant experience in Scotland.

(23-11-2001; 8:25pm) Sunstroke
(Ivan Bunin, trans Sophie Lund, read by David Horovitch) (NB: Repeat of 12-07-2001 - see above.)

(13-12-2001; 8:20pm) Nobody Will Laugh
(Milan Kundera, trans Suzanne Rappaport, read by Robert Lindsay) A Czech short story in which a university lecturer makes an insincere promise that sets off a chain of lies.

BETWEEN THE EARS

Saturday nights; 45mins (unless otherwise noted); Experimental radiophonic features (the actual dramatic content being unknown); Writer credits aren't always given; One series was broadcast.

(27-01-2001; 10:00pm) My Month With Carmen
(Lou Stein) Against the Kafkaesque background of a busy hospital ward, Stein combines drama, music and documentary in a sound diary drawing on his experience of a month spent with his dying mother, interweaved with extracts from C S Lewis's `A Grief Observed', read by Julian Glover. With Lou Stein (son), Mirian Colon (Carmen), Ed Bishop (Dr Williamson), Andrew Sear (Dr Veetash), Prof Stanley Dische (as himself), Stuart Milligan (Dr Lang) and Barbara Rosenblat (Nurse/Trixie). Music by Deirdre Gribbin. (50m)

(03-02-2001; 9:45pm) Everything Will Be Alright
(Rib Davis) A selection of asylum seekers' stories. With Sara Barr (interviewer), Sofia Buchuk (Elvira) and Vladimir Vega (Juan). Music from Sofia Buchuk, Murat Kaya and Salah Dawson Miller. Directed by Jeremy Mortimer. (60m)

(10-02-2001; 10:00pm) Monogamy
- An investigation into the hypothesis that `for some of us - perhaps the fortunate, or at least the affluent - monogamy is the only serious question'. With Adam Phillips, who throws down a challenge to society's traditional values in his book `Monogamy', and Russell Davies, who responds with an exploration of infidelity and commitment `in the animal kingdom, in marriage and in music'.

(17-02-2001; 9:45pm) An Insular Motet
(David Pownall) In the year 1213, Pope Innocent issues an edict proscribing any form of music in the churches of England, and a beleaguered King John commissions a young composer to write a form of music without music. With Gerard Murphy (King John), Lizzie McInnerny (Madge), Hugh Ross (Frank), Tim McInnerny (Dawson) and Ben Crowe (Hedley). Directed by Eoin O'Callaghan.

(24-02-2001; 10:20pm) Protest Song
(The Fratelli Brothers) A musical celebration of the tradition of British protest, including readings by Suzannah Hirst, Ian Kelly and Malcolm Ridley, and music by Ted Barnes, Ewan MacColl and Andrew Lovett. 2: `The Exeter Riddles' by Jeremy Arden. Four aural riddles inspired by the linguistic games of Anglo-Saxon kennings. Featuring Lore Lixenberg (alto), Jozik Kok (baritone), Liz Cowdrey (violin), G B Arden (speaker) and Tom Hollander (speaker).

THE WIRE

Saturday nights; Various times as noted; The year included the end of the first series, plus the start of a second (which had the subtitle 'New Writing On 3' on the first episode.)

(06-01-2001; 21:45) Lives Out Of Step
(Kaite O'Reilly) David Hunter directs a play which intertwines the stories an emigre stranded in an overheated retirement home and that of her son - an environmentalist caught in a frozen Antarctic sea with the ghosts of his heroes Shackleton and Scott. With Phyllida Law (Mother), Douglas Hodge (Son), Kazia Pelka (Mother Past), Tawno Harper (Boy), Alex Trinder (Helper), Kenny Blyth (Glasgee), Daniel O'Grady (Activist), Richenda Carey (Edie), Terence Edmond (Ponting), David Holt (Scott) and Andrew Wincott (Shackleton). (60m)

(13-01-2001; 21:30) Sea Symphony For Piano & Child
(Charlotte Jones) An innocent 1960s seaside outing takes an alarming turn when a child goes missing. With Emily Woof (Marnie), Becky Hindley (Mother), David Thorpe (Father), Nicola Wall (Young Marnie), Ben Crowe (Donkeyman), Helen Ayres (Clairvoyant), Alex Trinder (Lifeguard) and Clare Corbett (Mother 2). Directed by Claire Grove. Pianist: Colin Guthrie. (75m)

(20-01-2001; 21:30) Occy Eyes
(Gregory Burke) This play focuses on three teenagers growing up in Gibraltar whose friendship and allegiances are thrown into confusion by the escalation of the Falklands conflict. With Tom George (Doink), Richard Pearce (Darren), Martin Docherty (Jock) and Deborah Berlin (Tracey). Directed by Gaynor Macfarlane. (75m)

(03-11-2001; 21:50) Crowd Scan
(Tim Etchells) Using a collage of disturbing and comic voices, the piece explores the fantasies people construct in order to survive the chaos of the modern city. (55m)

(10-11-2001; 21:40) The Commuter
(David Greig) A darkly comic play features Liam Brennan as a man struggling to cross England following 40 days and nights of rain. Directed by Patrick Rayner. (65m)

(17-11-2001; 22:00) Exodus
(Joanna Lauren) This play explores notions of origin and identity, examining a young couple and their son. With Stuart McQuarrie, Daniel Anthony, Amy Shindler and Roger May. (45m)

(24-11-2001; 22:30) Text Message
(Jeanette Winterson) Amy Bright, a post-modern 29-year-old working at the zoo, starts getting a series of mysterious messages. (60m)

(01-12-2001; 21:50) Regenerations
(Daragh Carville) A group of six friends reunite for their annual Doctor Who convention. (55m)

(08-12-2001) No programme.
(Part 1 of Democracy & Language was broadcast - see other Radio 3 drama list for details.)

(15-12-2001; 22:15) The Froghunter's Kiss
(David Spencer) This challenging drama follows the struggles of an unconventional family unit formed when a woman fosters a troubled 12-year-old girl. (60m)

(22-12-2001) No information (see note at top).

(29-12-2001; 21:50) Fireface
(Marius von Mayenburg) From the award-winning German playwright. A teenage arsonist and his sister embark on a spree of destruction that nobody can contain, least of all their parents. (55m)

OTHER:

Pieces that were not broadcast in the usual slots.

(17 to 19-12-2001; 3.40pm) Ann Dante Investigates
- The Case Of The Vampire Count (Di Sherlock) A three-part spooky musical murder mystery for younger listeners.

1: Ann Dante begins her search for Count Korsakov

2: Ann Dante continues her search for Count Korsakov.

3: Ann Dante searches for Count Korsakov.

(20 to 21-12-2001; 3.40pm) Ann Dante Investigates
- Who Killed Ramona Rhapsody (Di Sherlock) (NB: Due to missing listings I don't know if the series continued through Christmas.)

1: Ann Dante travels to Hong Kong on board the Pearl Fisher.

2: Ann Dante encounters a robbery and a murder.

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