Radio 3 Drama & Readings, 2012
8 Jan 2012 Drama on 3 - Living with Princes
By Stephen Wakelam. In 1588, the essayist and landowner Michel de Montaigne, set out on a journey round the troubled kingdom of France. He was on a mission - to reconcile the Valois King Henri the Third, a Catholic, with his likely successor, the Bourbon King of Navarre, a Protestant. It's high stakes: intensified Civil War the consequence of failure. Michel de Montaigne - Roger Allam; Peslier - James Norton; Catherine de Medici - Jane Lapotaire; Henri Navarre - Elliot Levey; Henri Valois - Sam Dale; Francoise de Montaigne - Sally Orrock; Marie de Gournay - Leah Brotherhead; Sergeant Soumillon - Adeel Akhtar; Captain Guyon - Lloyd Thomas; Courtier - Henry Devas; Directed by Jeremy Mortimer; First broadcast 23 January 2011.
15 Jan 2012 Drama on 3 - The Lost Salford Sioux
By Anjum Malik. Alison's PhD in death ritual around the world is not going well. Despite misgivings and her poor relationship with her Nan, she returns home to Salford hoping that a job with a local funeral firm will help her unlock the secrets around her mother's death and complete her doctorate. She is alarmed when a strange man starts to follow her, begging her to help him, and then disappearing as quickly as he appeared. She struggles with her new job, her Nan and finally collapses under the pressure of it all. Only then does she find out the truth, that the man who dogged her footsteps is in fact the spirit of a 19th century Native American, who came to Salford with Buffalo Bill's Wild West circus and died there, his body mysteriously disappearing for ever. She must help him get his bones back to his homeland in order to release his spirit and in so doing, help her get her own life on track. Surrounded by the Enemy - Anthony Forrest; Alison - Lorraine Cheshire; Violet - Sue Jenkins; Charlie - Darren Kuppan; Stanley Claxton - Roger Morlidge; Dramatist - Anjum Malik; Producer/director, Polly Thomas; Sound design, Eloise Whitmore; Executive producer, Robert Abel; A Somethin Else production for BBC Radio 3; Singers from Gemini and Salford Community Choirs; Musical director, Paul Trimble, assistant head of Salford Music and Performing Arts Service; Piano accompanist, Kathleen Hesford.
22 Jan 2012 Drama on 3 - Things Might Change or Cease
Linda Marshall Griffiths' original play explores illusion and disillusion. When Maggie sees an illusionist on television she becomes convinced that he is her half-brother and that through him she and her sisters Lena and Nell will finally find the father, Austin Birtwhistle, who walked out on them thirty seven years before. Maggie - Julia Ford; Lena - Deborah McAndrew; Nell - Jo Hartley; Ivan - Tom Rolinson; Austin - Oliver Cotton; Charlie - Ifan Meredith; Tom - Jake Norton; Terry/Dave - Russell Richardson; Directed by Nadia Molinari; Featuring music from 'Infra' composed by Max Richter
29 Jan 2012 Drama on 3 - Sea Change
By John Fletcher. This is the story of the battle between appeasers and anti-appeasers in the period before -and just after -the start of the Second World War, and the formation of a coalition which, like the election of 2010, abruptly ruptured all previous political alignments. New political alliances and social organizations - which had first arisen in the Bridgwater by-election of 1938, but which had been ignored by the London-based political and media establishments - united in their fight against appeasement. Suddenly and dramatically, in May of that year, this new united front rose against the government and, in the space of only three days, overthrew it. Somewhat surprisingly, the magnificent story behind this overthrow is little known. The appeasers are principally represented by Neville Chamberlain and his ruthless, over-protective spin doctor Joseph Ball - a man who would have eaten Alistair Campbell for breakfast. The fascinating and little known story of the struggle to establish the coalition government of 1940 - a story of idealism, blackmail, and political skulduggery. Based on real events. Harold Nicolson - Charles Edwards; Joseph Ball - Kim Wall; Neville Chamberlain - John Rowe; Rex Leeper - Richard Dillane; Guy Burgess - Carl Prekopp; Vernon Bartlett - Adam Billington; Rev. Cresswell Webb - Gerard McDermott; Metford Bown - James Lailey; Queen Elizabeth - Adjoa Andoh; Other parts played by Christopher Webster and Rikki Lawton; Directed by Marc Beeby.
05 Feb 2012 Drama on 3 - My Generation
By Alice Nutter. My Generation is a family saga covering four decades. Set in the counter culture, it offers a window onto the drug- and pop-fuelled protest movement. A story of flawed attempts to make a better world. In a time of job cuts, rising unemployment and the re-structuring of the benefits system, this play examines the effectiveness of the protest movement to change lives through the stories of four characters from one family over four decades. Mum Cath - 1970's, 80's for Dad - Mick, 90's for son Ben, and 00's - daughter Emma. Cath - Jo Hartley; Mick - Jason Done; Young Emma - Aimee Leigh Foster; Susie/Older Emma - Emma Rydall; Young Ben - Harvey Chaisty; Freya/Carmel - Carla Henry; Helen/Sky - Rachel Austin; Valley - Alun Raglan; Bug/Ty - William Ash; Richie/Biker Bernard/Phil - Graeme Hawley; Ben - John Catterall; Original Music by Harry Hamer; Directed in Salford by Susan Roberts
12 Feb 2012 Drama on 3 - A Man's World
By Adrian Mead. A Man's World is a compelling new drama following the lives of four violent male offenders thrown together on a six-month rehabilitation course. Attendance is compulsory at The Men's Group as all the participants have recently been convicted of a serious violent crime. This pioneering course works to challenge and radically alter the participants' behaviour by forcing them to confront and recognise why aggression and violence shapes their lives. At stake is their freedom. Upon completion of the twenty-five-week course the courts ask the tutor, the central character Angela (played by Siobhan Redmond), to recommend either a community sentence or a jail term. Angela - Siobhan Redmond; Vincent - Chris Connel; Paul - Paul McCole; Gary - Sean Hay; Darren - Garry Collins; Louise - Vicki Liddelle; Mark's - Tom Freeman; Chloe - Mairi Goodall; Directed by Turan Ali; A Bona Broadcasting production for BBC Radio 3
19 Feb 2012 Drama on 3 - Sunset
Russia,1984. Andrei Demidov, an internationally-acclaimed, and controversial, novelist has just been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Outspoken and notoriously critical of the Soviet authorities, Demidov's novel 'Sunset', an exploration of the realities of the Soviet Union's involvement in Afghanistan, has been banned in his homeland, but thanks to the actions of Andrei's English publisher, Michael, has qualified and been awarded literature's most prestigious honour. Living under a restricted movement order in the countryside outside Moscow with his wife Alexandra, Andrei is faced with a difficult decision. The Soviet Authorities are not about to let one of their most vociferous critics travel to make an acceptance speech in Sweden denouncing the regime to an international audience. They might permit him to leave the country and live out the rest of his days as an exile, never to return to his beloved Russia. Or, he could acquiesce with the authorities, refuse the award, and in doing so ensure the freedom of his estranged son Nikolai. Andrei Demidov - Julian Glover; Alexandra - Stella Gonet; Nikolai - Leo Bill; Michael - David Bamber; Yuri - Nicholas Woodeson; Sergei - Jason Watkins; Joe - Jim Norton; Marina - Tracy Wiles; Producer - Heather Larmour;
26 Feb 2012 Drama on 3 - Woyzeck
By George Buchner. Translated by Gregory Motton. Franz Woyzeck, a lowly soldier stationed in a provincial German town, is the father of an illegitimate child by his mistress Marie. He earns extra money for his family by performing menial jobs for his captain and agreeing to take part in medical experiments conducted by the regimental doctor. But then an act of betrayal shatters his brittle life.
Woyzeck - Lee Ingleby; Marie - Deborah McAndrew; Drum Major - Derek Riddell; Andres - Gerard Fletcher; Margret - Becky Hindley; Captain - Rob Pickavance; Doctor - Jonathan Keeble; Child - Perveen Hamilton; Original Music by Tom Lingard; Produced by Gary Brown; First broadcast 20 February 2011
04 Mar 2012 No Drama on 3
[Music Nation]
11 Mar 2012 Drama on 3 - Chowringhee
Mani Shankar Mukerji's 'Chowringhee' is a gentle comedy of life in a grand Calcutta hotel in the late 1950s adapted for radio by Roger James Elsgood from a translation from the Bengali by Arunava Sinha. The story ,against the backdrop of a newly independent India in a time of austerity and social unrest, tells of the events that befall a bright but naive young Bengali when he is unexpectedly given a job behind the reception counter in 'The Shahjahan', Calcutta's finest hotel. He becomes entangled in the rocky romantic life of the manager, Marco Polo, he is caught in the crossfire of a diva of the silver screen and her possessive husband and witnesses the tragedy that befalls the beautiful but vulnerable resident hostess. Sankar - Joy Sengupta; sound recordist - Ross Adams; director - Willi Richards; Producer - Roger James Elsgood; The production was recorded entirely on location in Calcutta with a cast of Bengali actors.
18 Mar 2012 Drama on 3 - Migrant Mother
by Michael Symmons Roberts. A lyrical drama inspired by the events which led to Dorothea Lange's iconic photograph of Florence Owens Thompson. California 1936. Florence Owens Thompson and her family have joined the thousands of migrant workers flocking across America in search of work. Homeless, desperately hungry and faced with the threat of mob violence, her hopeful resolution is quickly fading. Photographer Dorothea is following the migrants to their make-shift refugee camps, desperate to find the image which will capture the extent of their hardship, to bring about a change in American policy and hearts. A chance meeting with Florence could bring about the image she is looking for. Dorothea -Teresa Gallagher; Paul - Ian Porter; Florence - Anne Wittman; Jim - Kerry Shale; Henry - Allen Lidkey; Troy - Oliver Lee; Receptionist - Kathryn Hunt; Director - Susan Roberts; Producer - Charlotte Riches; Music by Pat Mo Sheeran; Written by Michael Symmons Roberts; First broadcast 28 November 2010
25 Mar 2012 No Drama on 3
[The Spirit of Schubert]
1 Apr 2012 Drama on 3 - Kafka the Musical
Murray Gold's new play starts from the suitably Kafkaesque premise that Franz Kafka finds he has to play himself in a musical about his own life. The play - or is it the musical? - introduces Kafka and the audience to some of the key characters in his life, Milena Jesenska, Dora Diamant and Felice Bauer. Franz Kafka - David Tennant; Father - David Fleeshman; Mother - Joanna Monro; Milena - Naomi Frederick; Felice - Jessica Raine; Dora - Emerald O'Hanrahan; Barman / Singer / Doctor - Trevor Allan Davies; Newspaper Seller / Man - Brian Bowles; Music by Murray Gold; Directed by Jeremy Mortimer; ProducerJeremy Mortimer; First broadcast 24 April 2011
8 Apr 2012 Drama on 3 - Gilead
by Marilynne Robinson adapted for radio by Mike Kenny. Reverend John Ames (Roger Allam) is nearing the end of a long life. His son is still a young boy, the product of a late flowering love. Ames knows he will never see his son grow to be a man and, given that he owns nothing and lives in a tied church house, all he can pass on is what he knows and the life he has lived. So, the letter he writes to his son is both a memoir of a life lived, and the journal of the present in which it is being written. The tale is set in the 1950s, but takes us back through generations of preachers as far as the American Civil war, and projects into a future in which we now live. Ames - Roger Allam; Lila - Elizabeth McGovern; Boy - Taran Stanzler; Glory - Nancy Crane; Boughton - Colin Stinton; Jack - Elliot Cowan; Directed by Annie Castledine; A Catherine Bailey Production; First broadcast 12 December 2010
15 April 2012 Drama on 3 - Vaclav Havel - Largo Desolato
When the death of the former President of the Czech Republic Vaclav Havel was announced last year, Europe lost one of its great dissident voices. From the 1960s to the 1980s, BBC radio broadcast many new productions of Havel's plays - plays that were usually banned in his then-Communist homeland because of the way they mocked and interrogated the absurd nature of totalitarian rule. Richard Briers stars as Leopold, a philosopher who has offended the authorities in an unnamed country. He has written a certain philosophical essay and anxiously each day awaits the knock on the door. His friends, of course, expect him to act like a hero.... Professor Leopold Nettles - Richard Briers; Edward - Paul Gregory; Suzanna - Jennifer Piercey; First Sidney - Philip Jackson; Second Sidney - David Goodland; Lucy - Belinda Lang; Bertram - John Moffatt; First Chap - Anthony Jackson; Second Chap - Ian Thompson; Marguerite - Sue Broomfield; Produced by Matthew Walters
22 Apr 2012 Drama on 3 - Shakespeare on 3, 1/3 Twelfth Night or What You Will
by William Shakespeare. Shakespeare's comedy of misrule and a trenchant attack on puritanism as disguise and deceit leads to misadventure, madness and mistaken love in one of Shakespeare's happiest plays. Orsino loves Olivia but she loves Cesario who really does love Orsino for Cesario is actually Viola. But Malvolio believes his mistress Olivia loves him as he is a victim of a trick played on him by those who would make him mad. Viola/Cesario - Naomi Frederick; Sebastian - Trystan Gravelle; Sea Captain - Gerard McDermott; Orsino - Paul Ready; Valentine - Harry Livingstone; Maria - Rosie Cavaliero; Sir Toby Belch - Ron Cook; Sir Andrew Aguecheek - Adam James; Olivia - Vanessa Kirby; Feste - James Lailey; Malvolio - David Tennant; Fabian - Don Gilet; Antonio - Peter Hamilton Dyer; Music composed by Roger Goula; Directed by Sally Avens
29 Apr 2012 Drama on 3 - Shakespeare on 3, 2/3 Episode 2 of 3 Romeo and Juliet
Shakespeare's quick witted summer tragedy. In a town full of hatred, where the streets ring with the Capulet Montague feud, and swords are too easily drawn, Romeo and Juliet find each other, and love, and never let go. Trystan Gravelle and Vanessa Kirby as the lovers, and David Tennant as the Prince; Sound Design, Colin Guthrie
6 May 2012 Drama on 3 - Shakespeare on 3, 3/3 Episode 3 of 3 The Tempest
Four hundred years after its first performance, Shakespeare's play still captivates audiences with its story of usurping brothers, monsters, magic and romance. Significantly it is also a world in which sound plays a crucial part, with Prospero's island being 'full of noises'. Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place, using illusion and skilful manipulation. A tempest brings Prospero's brother Antonio and Alonso, King of Naples to the island. Once there, Ariel and Prospero's machinations bring about the revelation of Antonio's evil cunning, the redemption of Alonso, and the marriage of Miranda to Alonso's son, Ferdinand. Prospero - David Warner; Miranda - Rose Leslie; Ariel - Carl Prekopp; Caliban - James Garnon; Ferdinand - Al Weaver; Alonso - Paul Moriarty; Antonio/Boatswain - James Lailey; Sebastian - Peter Hamilton Dyer; Gonzalo - Don Warrington; Trinculo - Don Gilet; Stephano - Gerard McDermott; Ceres - Deeivya Meir; Music written and performed by The Devil's Violin Company Sarah Moody, Luke Carver Goss and Oliver Wilson-Dickson; Sound production by Caleb Knightley; Adapted for radio and directed by Jeremy Mortimer.
13 May 2012 Drama on 3 - A Midsummer Night's Dream
The play revolves around the adventures of four young lovers, a group of amateur actors and their interactions with the fairies who inhabit a moonlit forest. The story takes place in Midsummer and is a complex farce featuring Hermia and Lysander, Helena and Demetrius. Their romantic intrigues are confused and complicated still further by entering the forest where Oberon King of the fairies and his queen Titania, preside. Puck (or Robin Goodfellow) is a major character who is full of mischief and tricks. Other visitors to the enchanted forest include Bottom, the Weaver and his friends Snug, Snout, Quince and Flute, the amateur dramatists who want to rehearse their terrible but hilarious version of the play Pyramus and Thisbe. Recorded last summer on location in 22 acres of Sussex woodland. Titania - Lesley Sharp; Oberon - Toby Stephens; Peter Quince - Robert Pugh; Nick Bottom - Roger Allam; Puck - Freddie Fox; Theseus - Nicholas Farrell; Hippolyta - Emma Fielding; Lysander - Joseph Timms; Demetrius - Ferdinand Kingsley; Hermia - Emerald O'Hanrahan; Helena - Anna Madeley; Egeus / Starveling - David Collings; Philostrate / Snug - Nicholas Boulton; Fairy - Sara Markland; Francis Flute - Sam Alexander; Tom Snout - Sam Dale; Peaseblossom - Jessica Sian; Cobweb - Jay Carter; Moth - Tressa Brooks; Mustardseed - Stuart Walker; Director - Celia de Wolff; Music by Stephanie Nunn; First broadcast 11 September 2011
20 May 2012 Drama on 3 - Chicken Soup with Barley
By Arnold Wesker. The kettle boils in 1936 as the fascists are marching. Tea is brewed in 1946, with disillusion in the air at the end of the war. Twenty years on in 1956, as rumours spread of Hungarian revolution, the cup is empty. Sarah Kahn, an East End Jewish mother, is a feisty political fighter and a staunch communist. Battling against the State and her shirking husband she desperately tries to keep her family together. This landmark state-of-the-nation play is a panoramic drama portraying the age-old battle between realism and idealism. Sarah Kahn Samantha Spiro; Harry Kahn Danny Webb; Monty Blatt Harry Peacock; Dave Simmonds Nitzan Sharron; Prince Silver Rene Zagger; Hymie Kossof Steve Furst; Cissie Kahn Alexis Zegerman; Ada Kahn Jenna Augen; Ronnie Kahn Tom Rosenthal; Bessie Blatt Rebecca Gethings; directed by Simon Godwin; produced by Catherine Bailey.
27 May 2012 Drama on 3 - The Comic Illusion
Ranjit Bolt's reworking of Pierre Corneille's classic comedy. An old man seeks his estranged son with the help of a wizard. The magician shows the grieving father the boy's recent life in the form of an action-packed comedy adventure. Matamore - John Sessions; Alcandre - Richard Johnson; Clindor - Michael Maloney; Isabelle - Hattie Morahan; Geronte - Benjamin Whitrow; Adraste - Pip Torrens; Lyse - Rosie Fellner; Pridamant - Paul Moriarty; Dorante - Simon Bubb; Jailer - James Lailey; Page - Jonathan Forbes; Empress, Queen - Victoria Inez-Hardy; Original music composed and performed by Russell Taylor and Steve Cooke; Director: Peter Kavanagh; First broadcast 25 September 2011
03 Jun 2012 Drama on 3 - Tennyson and Edison
By David Pownall. Alfred Lord Tennyson spent half a century mourning his college pal Arthur Hallam. He laboured for decades on an epic poetic tribute to him. So, in Pownall's wry comedy, when inventor and businessman Thomas Edison - a very different kind of genius - asks Tennyson for a short poem to promote his new phonograph, there can only be one choice. Lord Alfred Tennyson - Richard Johnson; Thomas Edison - Toby Stephens; Emily and Queen Victoria - Sian Thomas; Steigler - Sam Alexander; Arthur - Carl Prekopp; Hallam - Patrick Brennan; Sheela Na Gig - Tracy Wiles; Verger - Robert Blythe; Directed by Peter Kavanagh
10 Jun 2012 Drama on 3 - Henceforward
It's sometime in the near future. Composer Jerome has been suffering a creative block. His only company is his beloved music, the ultra-modern recording devices that surround him, and a malfunctioning humanoid robot, NAN 300F. Jerome has been unable to work since his wife, Corinna, left with their daughter Geain 4 years ago. Desperate to see Geain again and hoping she'll release the flood-gates, he engages a young actress, Zoe, to pretend to be his fiancee. He wants to deceive his ex-wife into believing he's a fit person to be allowed to spend time with Geain. But, owing to his obsession with recording every intimate moment, Zoe quits. Can Jerome now re-programme robot Nan to sound and look like "perfect" Zoe?
Jerome - Jared Harris; Lupus - Simon Templeman; Zoe - Sophie Winkleman; Geain, aged 9 - Rosa Calcraft; Corinna - Joanne Whalley; Mervyn - Darren Richardson; Geain, aged 13 - Moira Quirk; Mrs Hope-Fitch - Daisy Hydon; Technician - Matthew Wolf; NAN 300F - Herself; Specially composed music: Mark Holden and Michael Lopez; Producer - Rosalind Ayres; Director - Martin Jarvis; A Jarvis & Ayres Production for BBC Radio 3
17 Jun 2012 Drama on 3 - Courtly Love
In Renaissance Italy, women might have intelligence and a degree of power, but their lives are limited by the number of pregnancies they have to undergo. Michelene Wandor's play springs from a visit to Mantua, her love of Renaissance music and her fascination with the powerful women of history. Her Lucrezia Borgia shows us a vulnerable woman, but also of course, a ruthless one and Isabella d'Este is revealed as a woman of taste and sensitivity, but one who can be equally ruthless. Lucrezia Borgia - Nathalie Buscombe; Francesco Gonzaga - Nicholas Boulton; Angela - Clare Corbett; Alfonso d'Este - Edward Evans; Isabella d'Este - Grainne Keenan; Pietro Bembo/Alfonso Bisceglie - Tai Lawrence; Cesare Borgia - John McAndrew; Mantegna - Ronald Pickup; The Devil - Struan Rodger; Roderigo Borgia (Pope Alexander VI) - Philip Voss; Vanozza/Osanna - Jane Whittenshaw; Producer - Jane Morgan; Courtly Love is a Unique production for BBC Radio 3.
24 Jun 2012 Drama on 3 - Singles and Doublets
by Martyn Wade. Inspired by past events at Wimbledon, this comedy by Martyn Wade takes as its theme a famous duel between Elizabethan rivals the Earl of Oxford and Philip Sidney on a Real tennis court. Having failed to satisfy an argument with a more traditional duel, the pair resort to a five-set game in front of Queen Elizabeth herself - the outcome of which will decide not only personal pride but also the marital fate of the Queen, as she decrees that proposed nuptials with a French duke will only take place if Oxford wins... Queen Elizabeth - Celia Imrie; Simier - Alex Jennings; Earl of Leicester - David Troughton; Earl of Oxford - Nicholas Boulton; Philip Sidney - Thom Tuck; Duke of Anjou - Michael Maloney; Crick - Geoffrey Whitehead; Benjamin - Philip Fox; William - Carl Prekopp; Spectator - Nick Saunter; Director - Cherry Cookson. Tennis scenes recorded at the Millennium Real Tennis Court, Middlesex University
1 Jul 2012 Drama on 3 - Money
Edward Bulwer-Lytton's vibrant and good-hearted satirical comedy was recorded on location at Knebworth House, Hertfordshire, the stately home of Edward Bulwer-Lytton, which he inherited in 1843 shortly after writing 'Money'. The music, specially recorded for the play, is performed by the Endellion String Quartet. Kate Clanchy's adaptation re-fashions the action around one grand house, modernises the heroine, Clara, and sets the action just before the 1832 Reform Act to accentuate the political plot. Alfred Evelyn - Blake Ritson; Clara Douglas - Laura Rees; Sir John Vesey - Ian McDiarmid; Lady Franklin - Celia Imrie; Henry Graves - Roger Allam; Georgina Vesey - Phoebe Waller-Bridge; Sir Frederick Blount - Bertie Carvel; Benjamin Stout - Richard Cordery; Captain Dudley Smooth - Tom Goodman-Hill; Flash - Nicholas Boulton; Recorded on location at Knebworth House, Hertfordshire; Music performed by the Endellion String Quartet; Sound Design - David Chilton; Director - Samuel West; Producer - Amber Barnfather; A Goldhawk Essential production for BBC Radio 3; First broadcast 19 June 2011
8 Jul 2012 Drama on 3 - The Go-Between
By L.P. Hartley. In his classic novel, a boy is betrayed by a sophisticated young rich woman and her farmer lover who use him to ferry letters back and forth in the blazing summer of 1900. It's best known from Joseph Losey's 1970 film, which focused on the main plot line, but on re-reading the book, adaptor Frances Byrnes found within it another drama, perfect for radio, in which an old man finds a boyhood diary and is forced to unlock the trauma inside. Re-visited by that summer for the first time since it happened, the older man (Richard Griffiths) turns detective. Leo, in his 60s, finds a locked diary in his attic; it was written in 1900, the last time he lived with any sense of possibility. Leo realises that his tidy life has been a living death and that that summer was to blame. There is a clear incremental, emotional journey of a fragile boy-man, who lives in his imagination and is destroyed by an increasingly separate reality. Lionel Colston - Richard Griffiths; Leo Colston - Oscar Kennedy; Mrs. Maudsley - Harriet Walter; Marian Maudsley - Lydia Leonard; Mrs Colston (Mother) - Amanda Root; Ted Burgess - Joseph Arkley; Viscount Trimingham - Blake Ritson; Mr Maudsley - Crawford Logan; Marcus Maudsley - Josef Lindsay; Musicians: Max Carsley - Chorister at St Mary's Cathedral Edinburgh; Duncan Ferguson - Organist & Master of the Music, St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh.; George Gillespie sings for Ted; Musical Director - Joe Acheson; Adaptor - Frances Byrnes; Producers - Matt Thompson and Frances Byrnes; Director and Sound - Matt Thompson
15 Jul 2012 No Drama on 3
[BBC Proms]
22 Jul 2012 No Drama on 3
[BBC Proms]
29 Jul 2012 No Drama on 3
[BBC Proms]
5 Aug 2012 No Drama on 3
[BBC Proms]
12 Aug 2012 No Drama on 3
[BBC Proms]
19 Aug 2012 No Drama on 3
[BBC Proms]
26 Aug 2012 No Drama on 3
[BBC Proms]
2 Sep 2012 No Drama on 3
[BBC Proms]
9 Sep 2012 Drama on 3 - The Product
Mike Walker's play is set in Vietnam shortly before Nixon's election in 1968. After their helicopter is shot down, a soldier and a journalist must battle their way through the jungle to safety. As they do so, they realise they were at the heart of opposing campaigns during the historic 1960 US presidential election which saw Kennedy defeat Nixon. Brookes - Nathan Osgood; Leroi - Alex Lanipekun; Actor - Sam Alexander; Actor - Don Gilet; Director & Producer - Toby Swift
16 Sep 2012 Drama on 3 - Tamburlaine
A new production of Christopher Marlowe's 16th century play about the growth to tyrannical power of a Scythian shepherd. Tamburlaine is a classic drama said to have changed the course of British drama and to have influenced the young Shakespeare. This is the first in a series of three plays from Radio 3 which portrays the ruthlessness and dilemmas of absolute rule. Tamburlaine - Con O'Neill; Mycetes, King of Persia - Oliver Ford Davis; Cosroe - Kenneth Cranham; Techelles - Shaun Prendergast; Theridamas - Ewan Bailey; Zenocrate - Susie Riddell; Zabina - Noma Dumezweni; Bajazeth - Danny Sapani; Agydas - Joseph Kloska; Sultan - Edward de Souza; Usumcasane - Don Gilet; Ortygius - Paul Stonehouse; Meander - Patrick Brennan; Menaphon - Bob Blythe; King of Morocco - Patrice Naiambana; Anippe - Stephanie Racine; Ebea - Eleanor Crooks; 2nd Virgin - Sarah Thom; Bassoe - Will Howard; Attendant - Adam Nagaitis; Director-Peter Kavanagh; Original music composed and performed by Nicolai Abrahamsen.
23 Sep 2012 Drama on 3 - Mary Stuart
by Friedrich Schiller. A version by David Harrower, adapted for radio by Robin Brooks. Mary Stuart is a thrilling account of the extraordinary relationship between England's Elizabeth I and her rival cousin, the imprisoned Queen of Scots. This is the second in Drama on 3's series of classic and new plays that portrays the ruthlessness and uncertainties of absolute power. Mary Stuart - Meg Fraser; Queen Elizabeth - Alexandra Mathie; Mortimer - Matthew Pidgeon; Leicester - Robin Laing; Burleigh - Richard Greenwood; Shrewsbury - Paul Young; Jane Kennedy - Wendy Seager; Paulet - Jimmy Chisholm; Davidson - Laurie Brown; Aubespine - Grant O'Rourke; Melville - John Buick; Produced and directed by Gaynor Macfarlane
30 Sep 2012 Drama on 3 - Collaborators
By John Hodge. Moscow, 1938: A dangerous place to have a sense of humour, even more so a sense of freedom. The writer Mikhail Bulgakov, living among the dissidents, stalked by secret police, has both. After 3 years rehearsal his new play about Moliere has just opened, and may be just about to close unless he accepts a commission from the secret police to write a play to celebrate Stalin's sixtieth birthday. A poison chalice which he struggles to accept, until he receives an offer of help from the most unlikely quarter. Mikhail Bulgakov - Alex Jennings; Yelena: his wife - Jacqueline Defferary; Vasilly an ex-aristocrat - Patrick Godfrey; Praskovya: a teacher - Maggie Service; Sergei: a young man - Pierce Reid; Grigory: a young writer - William Postlethwaite; Anna: an actress - Jess Murphy; Vladimir: an NKVD Officer - Lloyd Hutchinson..; Stepan: an NKVD Officer - Marcus Cunningham; Doctor - Nick Sampson; Moliere / Actor1 - Michael Jenn; Lagrange / Actor Peri Snowdon; Eva - Sarah Annis; Joseph Stalin: a dictator - Simon Russell Beale; Music by George Fenton; Directed for the National Theatre stage by Sir Nicholas Hytner; Adapted for radio by John Hodge and Chris Wallis; Radio adaptation directed by Nadia Fall; Technical Presentation Nick Taylor and David Fleming Williams; Produced by Chris Wallis
7 Oct 2012 Drama on 3 - A Doll's House
Tanika Gupta transposes the setting of Ibsen's classic play to India in1879 where 'Nora', now Niru, is an Indian woman married to 'Torvald', now Tom, an English man working for the British Colonial Administration in Calcutta. Niru risks her own reputation in order to save her husband's and in the process discovers herself. This new version of A Doll's House takes a fresh look at the play shining a light on British colonial history and race relations as well as gender politics and class. Niru - Indira Varma; Tom - Toby Stephens; Mrs Lahiri - Shaheen Khan; Kaushik Das - Shiv Grewal; Uma - Rani Moorthy; Dr Rank - Conrad Nelson; Bob - James Allen; Tabla Maestro - Shahbaz Hussain; Dancer - Anjum Malik; Director - Nadia Molinari
14 Oct 2012 Drama on 3 - Flare Path
by Terence Rattigan. Set in a hotel near an RAF Bomber Command airbase during the Second World War, the story involves a love triangle between a pilot, his actress wife and a famous film star. The title of the play refers to the flares that were used to light runways to allow planes to take off and land but the flare paths were also used by the Germans to target the RAF planes. Peter Kyle - Rupert Penry Jones; Patricia Graham - Ruth Wilson; Teddy Graham - Rory Kinnear; Doris Skriczevinsky - Monica Dolan; Mrs Oakes - Una Stubbs; Count Skriczevinsky - Tom Goodman-Hill; Dusty Miller - Justin Salinger; Swanson - Julian Wadham; Percy - David Hartley; Maudie Miller - Kelly Shirley.; Exec Producer - Catherine Bailey; Directed by Jeremy Herrin (Deputy Artistic Director of the Royal Court) For Catherine Bailey Ltd; First broadcast on 5 June 2011.
21 Oct 2012 Drama on 3 - The Strange Case of the Man in the Velvet Jacket
A powerful and intriguing original play by Robert Forrest based on the writer Robert Louis Stevenson's early life in Edinburgh. Set in 1873, the play focuses on Stevenson as a young man invigorated by the intellectual maelstrom that was still challenging the way people saw and navigated the world of arts, science and politics following the Enlightment. He may have been unsure of what his role in all this could be, but it was the things he knew he had to reject - belief in God, a career in law or engineering - that were creating turmoil in his own mind and heartache in his relationship with his parents. And meanwhile his discovery of the female species was also pre-occupying his thoughts and emotions. Louis - Tom Freeman; Thomas Stevenson - Alexander Morton; Margaret Stevenson - Carol Ann Crawford; Kate/Frances - Meg Fraser; John Todd - Paul Young; Mary Henderson/Henrietta/Ellen - Rosalind Sydney; Bob - Keith Fleming; Original music by Iain Johnstone; Singer - Dominic Barberi; Produced and Directed by David Ian Neville; First broadcast in October 2011.
28 Oct 2012 Drama on 3 - Midnight Cry of the Deathbird
Amanda Dalton. The Gothic Imagination. The Midnight Cry of the Deathbird, freely inspired by the classic silent film Nosferatu for radio. Poet Amanda Dalton was inspired to tell this story by her love of silent film and an interest in how we communicate with each other. Fascinated by silence, Nosferatu led her to imagine a version in which Ellen is deaf, living in a world of miscommunication and misinformation. In The Midnight Cry of the Deathbird, Mandy uses poetry, prose, song, monologue and dialogue to explore the ways people both talk to and miscommunicate with each other. When the film Nosferatu was made, soldiers were returning to Germany from WW1 broken men. An influenza epidemic spread through the country at the same time, killing many people. In The Midnight Cry of the Deathbird, Amanda Dalton taps into this fear which is still relevant to us now, of silent illness and epidemics which arrive unannounced and threaten our existence. Roger - Roger Morlidge; Ellen Hutter - Sophie Woolley; The Nosferatu - Valerie Cutko; Thomas Hutter - Henry Devas; Bulwer - Conrad Nelson; Knockv - Terence Mann; Count Orlok - Malcolm Raeburn; Ruth - Ruth Alexander Rubin; Music composed and played by Olly Fox; Directed in Salford by Susan Roberts
4 Nov 2012 Drama on 3 - The Torchbearers
Award winning poet and dramatist Simon Armitage captures our extraordinary relationship to the Olympic flame. In the aftermath of the Olympic Games, The Torchbearers tells the stories of five people whose lies and obsessions come within touching distance of the eternal flame. Can an illness be cured? Can a death be undone? Can the past start haunting the present? As their loved ones struggle to cope with their lies, a blazing torch passes through their worlds and changes things forever. Strangers meet in unexpected places. Ray - Kevin Whately; Paula - Julie Hesmondhalgh; Colin - Mark Benton; Chloe - Phillippa Wilson; Spencer - Christopher Connell; Director - Kate Rowland
11 Nov 2012 Drama on 3 - Lover's Rock
By Rex Obano. It is Brixton 1981 and the British brand of reggae, "Lover's Rock" reverberates from Blues parties. The legacy of the New Cross Fire, in which 13 young people died, spurs young black pacifist Ben into activism. He must grapple with both his politics and his sexuality to come to terms with his own identity. Both he and Monroe, aspiring producer of Lover's Rock, find themselves at the sharp end of the Riots. Ben - Kobna Holdbrook-Smith; Monroe - Tobi Bakare; Ray - Ben Crowe; Angela - Eleanor Crooks; Ginger - Will Howard; Sergeant Fraser - Gerard McDermott; Wells - Patrick Brennan; The Producer - Paul Stonehouse; The Controller - Stephanie Racine; Girl - Lizzie Watts; Director - David Hunter
18 Nov 2012 Drama on 3 - Skyvers
by Barry Reckord. 1960s London. A group of lads spends the last few days at their sink London comprehensive. What will become of the would-be footballer, the ambitious chancer or the boy on probation?
Cragge - Danny Worters; Brook - Jason Maza; Colman - Abdul Salis; Adams - Rikki Lawton; Jordan - Theo Barklem-Biggs; Helen - Joan Iyiola; Sylvia - Shannon Tarbet; Freeman - Carl Prekopp; Webster - Gerard McDermott; Headmaster - Paul Moriarty; Directed by Mary Peate; adapted by Kwame Kwei-Armah; First broadcast 11 December 2011
25 Nov 2012 Drama on 3 - Sunset
Russia,1984. Andrei Demidov, an internationally-acclaimed, and controversial, novelist has just been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Outspoken and notoriously critical of the Soviet authorities, Demidov's novel 'Sunset', an exploration of the realities of the Soviet Union's involvement in Afghanistan, has been banned in his homeland, but thanks to the actions of Andrei's English publisher, Michael, has qualified and been awarded literature's most prestigious honour. Living under a restricted movement order in the countryside outside Moscow with his wife Alexandra, Andrei is faced with a difficult decision. The Soviet Authorities are not about to let one of their most vociferous critics travel to make an acceptance speech in Sweden denouncing the regime to an international audience. They might permit him to leave the country and live out the rest of his days as an exile, never to return to his beloved Russia. Or, he could acquiesce with the authorities, refuse the award, and in doing so ensure the freedom of his estranged son Nikolai. Andrei Demidov - Julian Glover; Alexandra - Stella Gonet; Nikolai - Leo Bill; Michael - David Bamber; Yuri - Nicholas Woodeson; Sergei - Jason Watkins; Joe - Jim Norton; Marina - Tracy Wiles; Producer - Heather Larmour; First broadcast 19 February 2012.
2 Dec 2012 Drama on 3 - Napoleon Rising
An epic drama charting Napoleon Bonaparte's meteoric rise in the early years of the French revolution, set against his tumultuous relationship with Josephine. Written by Anthony Burgess but never performed in his lifetime and now adapted for radio by Anjum Malik. Part of Radio 3's Napoleon season, marking 200 years since his famous retreat from Moscow. This new radio version offers a vision of the young Napoleon finding his military and political feet in the early years of the French revolution, set against his tumultuous relationship with Josephine. Burgess's writing is full of humour, intelligence and historical detail. Napoleon Rising is an ambitious, unusual drama, focusing on Napoleon the man as much as the legend he became. Napoleon - Toby Jones; Josephine - Jenny Jules; Talleyrand - Alex Jennings; Massena - James Norton; Councillor La Harpe - Joseph Kloska; Augureau - Richard Katz; Charles - Richard Goulding; Sergeant - Danny Sapani; Dr Corvisart - Mark Straker; Sieyes - Trevor Cooper; Napoleon's mother - Frances Grey; Hortense - Effie Woods; Soldier - Rob Heaps; Fortune - Mouse; Adaptor - Anjum Malik; Producer/director - Polly Thomas; Sound design - Eloise Whitmore BA, Kate Cooper-Owen; Executive producer - Joby Waldman; With thanks to: Chris Elcombe, Peggy Sutton, Tom Green, Phil Smith, Wilf Dalton; Indie -Somethin' Else.
9 Dec 2012 Drama on 3 - Danton's Death
By Georg Buchner. It's 1794, and a new France is being born from the reign of terror that characterised the worst of the Revolution. Charismatic hedonist Danton, still tormented by his role in the killing of 1400 aristocrats in a single night, is losing his grip on power, and he is so tired. His political rival, the sober and focused Robespierre, is in the ascendant, and - with his efficient sidekick St Just - has power now over Danton's fate. But can Danton care enough to fight the terror that he himself set in motion? Georges Danton - Joseph Millson; Maximilien Robespierre - Khalid Abdalla; Camille Desmoulins - Patrick Kennedy; Marion - Claire Harry; Herault-Sechelles - Laurence Mitchell; Herrman - Adeel Akhtar; Thomas Payne - Sean Baker; Lacroix - David Seddon; Legendre - Lloyd Thomas; Julie - Leah Brotherhead; St Just - Iain Batchelor; Lucille - Sally Orrock; adapted by Simon Scardifield; Directed by Jessica Dromgoole; First broadcast 13 Feb 2011
16 Dec 2012 Drama on 3 - Austerlitz
Winfried Georg Sebald's masterpiece novel about remembering the Holocaust, in a new dramatisation for radio by Michael Butt. The narrator meets a quiet stranger in the Antwerp station cafe and he begins to confide an unsettling story of vanished identity - which travels through 1930s Czechosolovakia, the Kindertransport of Jewish children to Britain and adoption in Wales. Austerlitz - James Fleet; Narrator - Stephen Greif; Elias - David Sibley; Margaret - Poppy Miller; Evan - Michael Elwyn; Agata - Morven Christie; Maximilian - Timothy Watson; Marie - Amanda Drew; Vera - Deborah Findlay; Young Vera - Emma Powell; Young Austerlitz - Dyfan Dwyfor; Actor - Kim Guest; Child Austerlitz - Kalum Guest; Director - John Taylor; Adaptor - Michael Butt; Writer - Winfried Georg Sebald; Indie -Fiction Factory.
23 Dec 2012 Drama on 3 - A New Cycle of Mystery Plays
by Dawn King, Katie Hims, Frazer Flintham, Winsome Pinnock and Tom Wells. Rev Dr Giles Fraser introduces five New Testament stories revisited and set in present day pre-Christmas London by five great dramatists. Each play has been broadcast in the Essay, each night this week. Tony - Ben Crowe; Aleksy - Patrick Brennan; Joe - Will Howard; Eric - Paul Stonehouse; Nina - Liza Sadovy; Janine - Sarah Gordy; Ali - Lizzy Watts; Kofi - O-T Fagbenle; Wendy - Rosie Cavaliero; Rod - Will Howard; Loren - Christine Absalom; Alan - Adam Nagaitis; Christine - Noma Dumezweni; Larry - Robert Blythe; Martha - Sarah Thom; Mary - Stephanie Racine; Ellie - Katie Angelou; Miss - Eleanor Crooks; Marcus - Shaun Aylward; Daniel - Jack Boulter; Alice - Ellie Hopkins; Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.
30 Dec 2012 Drama on 3 - The Chalk Garden
Enid Bagnold's 1950s classic. In a Sussex country house, the elderly Mrs St Maugham lives with her unruly granddaughter Laurel. Though without references, Miss Madrigal becomes the paid companion to Laurel. Only when the Judge visits does the truth unravel. Mrs St Maugham - Margaret Tyzack; Miss Madrigal - Penelope Wilton; Laurel - Felicity Jones; The Judge - Clifford Rose; Maitland - Jamie Glover; Olivia - Suzanne Burden; Second Applicant - Steph Bramwell; Nurse & Third Applicant - Una Stubbs; Written by Enid Bagnold; Director Michael Grandage; Composer and sound design: Adam Cork; Radio production: Penny Leicester and Wilfredo Acosta; Producer: Nicolas Soames; Indie; Ukemi Productions Ltd. First broadcast 13 March 2011.
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.
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BETWEEN THE EARS
Saturday nights, 30mins unless otherwise noted; Writer credits, and in some cases entry titles, aren't always given.
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THE WIRE
Saturdays nights, times and durations as noted; Broadcast in batches again rather than monthly, including the usual run of repeats during the Summer months.
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OTHER
Dramatised pieces and readings that don't fit within the usual slots:
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