Radio 3 Drama, 1996
Compiled by Stephen Shaw, Oct 2016
7th January 1996:
19.30
The Sunday Play: The Real Don Juan
Every year on All Souls' Night, Jose Zorrilla 's version of this classic tale is performed somewhere in Spain. Ranjit Bolt's translation presents Juan, the infamous anti-hero, in full glory - but in this tale there's a unique twist.
Director Clive Brill
Don Juan Tenodo: Gerard Murphy
Don Luis Mejia: Burt Caesar
Don Gonzalo De Ulloa: Joseph O'Conor
Dona Ines De Ulloa: Rachel Joyce
Brigida: Shelley King
Buttarelli/Sculptor: Jonathan Adams
Ciutti: Tony Armatrading
Centellas: David Solomon
Avellandeda: David Learner
Abbess: Gudrun Ure
Don Diego Tenoho: Terence Edmond
Dona Ana De Pantoja: Clara Onyemere
Pascual: Matthew Morgan
Lucia: Theresa Streatfeild
Repeated from 24th May 1992
14th January 1996:
19.30
The Sunday Play: The Double Dealer
By William Congreve , adapted by Kevin Elyot.
Congreve's brilliant comedy was written in 1693, when he was 23. A house party gathers in celebration of an impending marriage, but little do the bride and groom realise what plots are afoot to prevent their reaching the altar. The play features original music by Henry Purcell.
Paul Agnew (tenor)
New London Consort, director Philip Pickett Musical supervision and additional music composed by Mia Soteriou
Director Phyllida Lloyd
Lord Touchwood: Robin Bailey
Lady Touchwood: Sheila Gish
Mellefont: Jonathan Cullen
Sir Paul Plyant: Clive Swift
Lady Plyant: Penelope Wilton
Cynthia: Claire Skinner
Lord Froth: Christopher Benjamin
Lady Froth: Celia Imrie
Brisk: Mark Lockyer
Careless: Richard Bonneville
Maskwell: Robert Glenister
Repeated from 14th May 1995
21st January 1996
22.00
The Sunday Play: for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf
By Ntozake Shange. [all lower case is deliberate here]
Five coloured girls embark on a journey of healing, utilising black musical forms to celebrate and mourn. With honesty and wit, their odyssey commemorates the triumphs of endurance, the joys of love, the survival of betrayal and what it means to be a coloured girl and find God in yourself.
Adapted by Bonnie Greer Musical director P P Arnold
Director Heather Goodman A Big World Pictures production
Lady blue: P Arnold
Lady brown: Pat Bowie
Lady yellow: Nimmy March
Lady red: Suzanne Packer
Lady purple: Shezwae Powell
Programme repeated on 11th August 1996
28th January 1996
17.45
The Sunday Feature: Orlando and Friends
By Michelene Wandor , inspired by Ludovico Ariosto 's 16th-century epic poem Orlando Furioso. Produced by Piers Plowright
Music arranged by Michelene Wandor and performed by Siena.
Orlando: Sam Dastor
Bradamante: Gemma Redgrave
Angelica: Nisha K Nayar
Ruggiero: Anton Phillips
Melissa the Sorceress: Joan Walker
Magic Sword Durindana: Richard Pearce
Dame Discord: Tessa Worsley
Repeated from 10th June 1995
28th January 1996
19.30
The Sunday Play: A View to a Haunt
A new kind of ghost story by Prix Italia-winning author Peter Redgrove. It's May Day night. While the Padstow 'Obby 'Oss, ancient, immortal, weaves its way through the village, three women share stories which have something oddly in common, drawing them remorselessly to what waits for us all at the dream centre.
Director Nigel Bryant
Kate: Janet Dale
Sophie: Kathryn Hurlbutt
Anne: Anne Atkins
Laura's mother: Sheila Kelley
Laura: Susan Mann
Laura's father: Gordon Reid
Laura's brother: David Holt
Michael: Struan Rodger
Patty: Kathryn Hunt
Mrs Bright: Mary Wimbush
Fountaineer: David Robb
Damaris: Susan Jeffrey
Rupert: Andrew Wincott
Jemima: Lisa Bowerman
Sally: Tamsin Greig
Peter: Simon Chandler
Yuko: Veronica Needa
repeated from 3rd May 1992
4th February 1996
19.30
The Sunday Play: The Jew of Malta
This Christopher Marlowe classic stars Ian McDiarmid as Barabas, a Jew whose assets are stripped by the Christians and who wreaks a terrible revenge. A savage, comic tragedy of intrigue, murder and love.
Music composed by Paddy Cuneen
Director Michael Fox
Barabas: Ian McDiarmid
Machevil/Femeze: Ken Bones
Abigail: Kathryn Hunt
Ithamore/2nd Merchant: Kieran Cunningham
Don Lodowick: Michael Grandage
Don Mathias: Neal Swettenham
Friar Jacomo/lst Jew: David Fleesham
Calymath/Friar Bernadine/2nd Jew: Rod Arthur
Bellamira/Abbess: Sue Jenkins
Pilia Borza/3rd Jew: Cliff Howells
Katherine: Delia Corrie
First Officer: Robert Whelan
Martin Del Bosco/lst Merchant/ Messenger: Oliver Beamish
1st Knight/2nd Officer/Carpenter: Dave Bond
repeated from 3rd October 1993
11th February 1996:
19.30
The Sunday Play: The Tempest
By William Shakespeare.
Magically, Prospero creates a storm at sea and causes the ship bearing his enemies to be shipwrecked off southern Ireland, where for 12 years he and his daughter Miranda have been exiled.
Singers:
Music by Anthea Gomez. performed by Colin Crabbe. Linda Rhodes. Martha Ann Brooks , David Howles , Audrey Douglas and the Composer.
Director Sue Wilson
Prospero: Ronald Pickup
Anal: Richard Derrington
Caliban: Michael Siberry
Miranda: Sarah Woodward
Ferdinand: Roger May
Stephano: Norman Rodway
Trinculo: Philip Franks
Alonso: Peter Jeffrey
Gonzalo: Clifford Rose
Sebastian: Bill Wallis
Antonio: Keith Drinkel
Adrian: Andrew Branch
Boatswain: David Timson
Ariel: Ashley Stafford
Iris: Judith Harris
Juno/Ceres: Mary Lincoln
Repeated on 25th May 1997
18th February 1996
19.30
The Sunday Play: Transit of Venus
By Maureen Hunter.
In 1760, astronomer Le Gentil set out to chart the transit of Venus, leaving his much younger fiancee at home. Six years later, he returns to find that she's older, wiser and less willing to be kept waiting.
Director Alison Hindell
Le Gentil: Anton Lesser
Celeste: Kelly Hunter
Margot: Dinah Stabb
Mme Sytvie: Doreen Mantle
Demarais: Simon Ludders
Repeated on 3rd August 1997
25th February 1996
19.30
The Sunday Play: The Life of Galileo
By Bertolt Brecht.
Richard Griffiths plays Galileo in David Hare 's intimate version of the play, commissioned by the Almeida Theatre. Brecht revised his original version in the 1940s to reflect growing concerns about the moral responsibility of scientists. The action starts in Padua, in 1609. . Music by Jonathan Dove
Director Janet Whitaker
Andrea. aged 10: Daniel Worters
Andrea, aged 24: Stephen Tompkinson
Virginia: Natasha Pyne
Signora Sarti: Jill Graham
Old Cardinal: Maurice Denham
Inquisitor: John Moffat
Cardinal Baberini: Bernard Hepton
Cardinal Bellamin: David Collings
Little Monk: Mark Lambert
Federzoni: George A Cooper
Philosopher: Peter Howell
Mathematician: Ian Masters
Sagredo: Gavin Muir
Ludovico: Andrew Branch
Chancellor: Derek Waring
Vanni: Michael Tudor-Barnes
Cosimo, aged 9: Benjamin Guy
Cosimo, aged 33: Jonathan Keeble
Monk: Oliver Senton
Boy singer: Connor Burrowes
Repeated from 5th March 1995
3rd March 1996
19.30
The Sunday Play: A Raisin in the Sun
By Lorraine Hansberry.
When this play opened on Broadway in 1959, it made the playwright an instant celebrity. It was the first serious work by an African American to hit the mainstream. The Younger family live in Chicago's
Southside. They dream of a better life and are about to come into money. Some of their dreams can be realised, but not all.
Director: Claire Grove
Mama: Claire Benedict
Walter Lee: Ray Shell
Ruth: Pat Bowie
Beneatha: Lachelle Carl
Travis: Garren Givens
Joseph Asagai: Akim Mogaji
George Murchison: Ray Fearon
Karl Lindner: John Sharion
Bobo: Dean Hill
(Not a repeat and not repeated)
4th March 1996:
22.05
The Quatermass Memoirs: Part 1
The Quatermass adventures scared a generation witless. In this five-part drama-documentary, Quatermass creator Nigel Kneale reflects on the fearful fifties atmosphere by which he was inspired, and creates a further adventure for Professor Bernard Quatermass. Having saved the Earth from alien invasion three times, Quatermass looks forward to a peaceful retirement.
Producer: Paul Quinn
Quartermass: Andrew Keir
Mandy: Emma Gregory
Maire: Zulema Dene
5th March 1996:
21.30
The Quatermass Memoirs: Part 2
A five-part drama-documentary by Nigel Kneale, mixing interview, archive and adventure.
While in the real world the most pressing threat is the Bomb, Quatermass confronts something even more terrifying in Westminster Abbey!
For cast see yesterday
6th March 1996
21.00
The Quatermass Memoirs: Part 3
A five-part drama-documentary by Nigel Kneale, mixing interview, archive and adventure.
In the real world, Burgess and MacLean defect, trailing their secrets behind them.
Meanwhile, Quatermass confronts the horrible secret behind a mysterious fenced-off village.
For cast see Monday
7th March 1996:
22.15
The Quatermass Memoirs: Part 4
A five-part drama-documentary by Nigel Kneale, mixing interview, archive and adventure.
While revolution grips the world, Professor Bernard Quatermass faces a more ominous threat from outer space.
Contributors
Quartermass: Andrew Keir
Mandy: Emma Gregory
Maire: Zulema Dene
8th March 1996:
21.40
The Quatermass Memoirs
The conclusion of a five-part drama-documentary by Nigel Kneale , mixing interview, archive and adventure.
5: Race riots grip the 1950s and Quatermass confronts an evil more ancient than man himself.... For cast see Monday
10th March 1996:
19.30
The Sunday Play: John Dollar
Adapted from her own novel by Marianne Wiggins.
Cast ashore on a deserted island off the Burmese coast during the Raj, sea captain John Dollar finds himself the sole surviving male among a group of English schoolgirls. This is a strange, passionate tale of an end of an era, and an end of hope, innocence and reason.
Music by Stephen Warbeck
Director Kate Rowland Rpt
Adult Monkey: Leena Dhingra
Charlotte: Alex Kingston
Monkey: Jhumma Ghosh
Oopi: Flora Plumpstead Coleman
Sybil: Amelia Ward
Sloan: Kate Ward
Jane: Sandeep Mann
Gaby: Henrietta Roussoullis
Amanda: Carla MacKinnon
Nolly: Alicia Page
Fitzgibbon/Steward: Sam McKenzie
Ogilvy/Conductor: Dominic Letts
Vicar/Mr Frazer: James Taylor
Sutcliffe: Michael Onslow
Lord Eatwell: Colin Pinney
Kitty Ogilvy: Lesley Nightingale
Mrs Frazer: Jane Maud
Tim/Mrs Sutcliffe: Elaine Caxton
Repeated from 17th April 1994.
17th March 1996:
19.30
The Sunday Play: Boy
Jim Morris 's dramatisation of a neglected James Hanley novel of the thirties which follows the young life of a Liverpool lad, Arthur Fearon. Forced to leave school at 13 to work on the docks, he stows away aboard a merchant ship bound for Alexandria but is exploited by other crew members.
Music by Stephen Warbeck performed by the Composer, John Pamcelli , Nick Cooper , Sara Homer and Tim Garside
Director Kate Rowland
Arthur Fearon: Russell Parry
Mr Fearon/Captain: John McArdle
Mrs Fearon/Egyptian woman: Ayse Owens
Bosun: Ricky Tomlinson
Donagon: Colum Convey
Steward: Dave Hill
Cook: Rod Arthur
First Officer: Mickey Poppins
Boss Scaler: James McMartin
Freckles: Paul Kirkham
Other boys at Docks: Jay French
Other boys at Docks: Anthony Wall
Other boys at Docks: John Gannon
Other boys at Docks: Dean Pendleton
(Not a repeat and not repeated)
24th March 1996:
19.30
The Sunday Play: The Tenth Man
By Paddy Chayefsky.
Possessed by a soul in torment, young Evelyn announces she is the Whore of Kiev, the companion of sailors. The elders of a New York synagogue decide to exorcise the offending dybbuk but find it resides in an unexpected quarter.
Religious adviser Rabbi Barry Marcus
Director David Blount
Cabalist: Cyril Shaps
Sexton/Harris: Michael Roberts
Schlissel: Harry Towb
Zitorsky: John Bluthal
Alper: David Kossoff
Foreman/Arthur: Kerry Shale
Evelyn: Barbara Barnes
Rabbi: David Jarvis
Elder Kessler/Policeman: Stephen Critchlow
Younger Kessler: Joshua Towb
(Not a repeat and not repeated)
31st March 1996:
17.45
The Sunday Feature: Over the Precipice
Roberta Berke's play based on the life and work of Italian poet Torquato Tasso (1544-1595), with Anton Lesser as Tasso, Edward de Souza as Scipione Gonzaga and John Moffatt as Alfonso II Duke of Ferrara.
Music By: Richard Attree
Producer: Piers Plowright
Repeated from 19th June 1995.
31st March 1996
19.30
The Sunday Play: Happy Days
A new radio version of the Samuel Beckett play first performed in New York in 1961. Winnie is buried up to the waist and seems likely to be sucked down even further into the earth.
Her bright chatter keeps Nemesis at bay, but for how long?
Winnie GERALDINE MCEWAN
Willie CLIVE SWIFT
Narrator Phil Daniels. Director Peter Wood
A Catherine Bailey production
Repeated 10th August 1997
Original title of play: Oh Les Beaux Jours
7th April 1996:
19.30
The Sunday Play: Measure for Measure
Saskia Reeves plays Isabella in William Shakespeare 's study of power and morality. When the Duke leaves Angelo in charge of his dukedom, he has no idea how his trust will be abused. Angelo, charged with the task of cleaning up vice in Vienna, promptly becomes its main instigator - with the beautiful Isabella in his sights.
Music by Stephen Warbeck Adaptor and director Peter Kavanagh
Isabella: Saskia Reeves
Duke: Ronald Pickup
Angelo: John Shrapnel
Escalus: Norman Rodway
Claudio: James Frain
Lucio: Simon Russell Beale
Provost: Bill Nighy
Mariana: Linda Marlowe
Elbow: John Baddeley
Pompey: Adrian Edmondson
Friar Peter: Gavin Muir
Barnadine: Don McCorkindale
Juliet: Alison Reid
Mistress Overdone: Tina Grey
Francisca: Frances Jeater
Froth: Ian Kelly
Gentleman: Peter Kenny
Repeated from 19th June 1994
14th April 1996:
19.30
The Sunday Play: The Dark Tower
Another chance to hear this production of Louis MacNeice's classic radio parable play, first produced in 1946. When Roland, the youngest of seven sons, sets off in the well-worn footsteps of family tradition, his journey brings him to the Dark Tower that has loomed perilously over his family for generations. Now Roland must make a crucial decision - a choice between blind obedience or free will - to confront the evil that never dies.
Music by Philip Hammond performed by the Renaissance Singers
Director Michael Quinn
Sergeant-Trumpeter: John Hewitt
Gavin: Sean Kearns
Roland: Sean Campion
Mother: Eileen Pollock
Tutor: J J Murphy
Sylvie: Lynn Cahill
Blind Peter: Mark Mulholland
Soak: Niall Cusack
Barmaid: Amanda Maguire
Stentor: Wesley Murphy
Steward: Paddy Scully
Neaera: Roma Tomelty
Child's voice: Joe Keenan
Repeated from 19th March 1995
15th April 1996:
22.20
Emotion Pictures
Five nightly tributes to German film director Wim Wenders, dramatised by Neil Cargill.
1: Despising What You Sell Wenders admits he learned more from writing reviews than from his studies at film school in Munich. He watched four films a day, elements of which were to give his own work its unmistakable identity. His essays provide a route as the director sets out on the road to meet an old film hero.
A KDMH production
Wenders: Peter Capaldi
Last: James Cosmo
Ladwig: David Ryall
Hanna: Gina McKee
16th April 1996:
21.45
Emotion Pictures
By Wim Wenders , dramatised by Neil Cargill.
2: Silly Asses, Irritations, Lydia
A road movie for radio.
Films about America should be composed entirely of long and wide shots, as music about America already is.
Conductor/Bruno DAVID RYALL
Wenders: Peter Capaldi
Hanna: Gina McKee
Lydia: Saskia Reeves
17th April 1996:
21.55
Emotion Pictures
3: Dream to Nightmare
The road movie continues.
Suddenly startled by the closed curtains and the general crush, you find yourself on the street, not awake at all but in the middle of a film-dream.
Wenders: Peter Capaldi
Lydia: Saskia Reeves
Melster: James Cosmo
Charles: David Ryall
Mignon: Katy Odey
18th April 1996:
21.20
Emotion Pictures
By Wim Wenders , dramatised by Neil Cargill. 4: The American Dream
What happened to my own American Dream? And can it be separated from the dream that America dreams of itself - if it is still dreaming at all?
Wenders: Peter Capaldi
Harry: Harry Dean Stanton
Dennis: Dennis Hopper
Raphaels: Saskia Reeves
Therese: Katy Odey
19th April 1996:
21.20
Emotion Pictures
By Wim Wenders , dramatised by Neil Cargill. 5: New Hat, Same Old Scars
Someone closes his eyes for a few seconds. When he opens them again, he sees nothing has changed in the street outside his window.
He gives a start: a moment of truth in film.
Wenders: Peter Capaldi
Hanna: Gina McKee
Constantine: Ricky Tomlinson
Lydia: Saskia Reeves
Mignon: Kate Odey
21st April 1996:
21.15
The Sunday Play: Victory (Choices in Reaction) By Howard Barker.
This modern classic is set at the time of the Restoration: Charles II has been returned to the throne by the Bank of England and modern money forms the new power. The widow Bradshaw is searching for her husband's remains.
Music by Elizabeth Parker
Director Richard Wortley
Bradshaw: Juliet Stevenson
Scrope/Street: Robert Glenister
Charles Stuart: Nicholas Le Prevost
Nodd/Roast: Charles Simpson
Devonshire: Samantha Bond
Ball/Soutwark: Nigel Anthony
McConochie/Gloucestershire: Peter Kenny
Boot/Hambro: Jane Whittenshaw
Boot/Hambro: John Rowe
Undy MICHAEL: Tudor Barnes
Milton/Derbyshire: Derek Waring
Gaukroger/Hampshire: Dominic Letts
Clegg: David Collings
Cleveland/Pyle: Kristin Milward
Ponting/Footman/Feak/Parry: Paul Gregory
Wicker/Somerset/ Edgbaston/ Moncrieff: Sean Barrett
Mobberley: Danny Schiller
Repeated from 1st October 1995
28th April 1996:
21.35
The Sunday Play: The Spanish Tragedy
Thomas Kyd 's heady brew of revenge, blood and murder was an immediate hit in the late 1580s and has inspired other writers - including Shakespeare.
Director Alan Drury
Hieronimo: Oliver Cotton
King of Spain: Derek Waring
Lorenzo: Jonathan Cullen
Bel-Imperia: Hilary Lyon
Balthazar: Andrew Wincott
Isabella: Kristin Milward
Horatio: Nicholas Boulton
Boy: Nicholas Boulton
Viceroy of Portugal: Nicholas Boulton
Pedringano: Ian Masters
Painter: Ian Masters
Revenge: Don McCorkindale
Castile: Don McCorkindale
Hangman: Don McCorkindale
Andrea: David Bannerman
Ambassador: David Bannerman
Serberine: David Bannerman
Repeated from 6th November 1994
5th May 1996
21.25
The Sunday Play: The Secret Commonwealth
John Purser's play is set in the late 17th century and takes its inspiration from the old Scots ballad Mill
O'Tiftie's Annie, based on the true story of a miller's daughter who fell in love with the trumpeter at Fyvie Castle in Aberdeenshire.
The play's title comes from a work of the period by the Rev Robert Kirk about the world of elves and fairies.
Music by John Purser performed by Hamish Moore , Mary Ann
Kennedy, Rick Bamford and Nigel Boddice Director Patrick Rayner
Contributors
Annie Smith: Vicki Masson
Helen: Anne Kristen
William: Derek Anders
Donald: Kenneth Glenaan
Andrew Lammie: Jimmy Chisholm
Lord Fyvie: Andrew Dallmeyer
Lady Fyvie: Anne Lacey
Rev Kirk: Paul Young
Gregory: Robert Paterson
Spirit Voices: Gerda Stevenson
Spirit Voices: Kern Falconer
Repeated 14th Dec 1997
12th May 1996:
19.30
The Sunday Play: Brahms on a Slow Train
David Pownall - winner of the 1995 Sony Gold Award for his play Elgar's Third - returns to the theme of composers with a fascinating look at the complex relationship between the young eagle Johannes Brahms and his devoted mentors Robert and Clara Schumann.
Pianist Terence Allbright
Director Martin Jenkins
Brahms: Denis Quilley
Brahms as a young man: Roger May
Robert Schumann: Geoffrey Whitehead
Clara Schumann: Maureen O'Brien
The Conductor: Robert Glenister
Christiane: Jane Whittenshaw
Jakob: Keith Drinkel
Coffee Woman: Zulema Dene
Agathe: Teresa Gallagher
Asylum Doctor: David Timson
Repeated 1st June 1997
13th May 1996:
21.15
Picasso's Women
The first of four monologues which seek to uncover the buried histories of the women in the artist's life.
1: Olga By Brian McAvera.
Barbara Flynn plays Picasso's first wife.
Producer Michael Quinn
14th May 1996:
21.30
Picasso's Women
2: Fernande By Brian McAvera.
Hannah Gordon plays one of Picassos's models.
16th May 1996:
21.35
Picasso's Women
3: Marie Therese by Brian McAvera.
Josette Simon plays one of Picassos's models.
17th May 1996:
21.15
Picasso's Women
The last of four dramatic monologues by Brian McAvera which seek to uncover the histories of the women in the great artist's life.
4: Dora
Lindsay Duncan plays Picasso's mistress of long standing.
19th May 1996:
19.30
The Sunday Play: A Doll's House
By Henrik Ibsen , adapted for radio by Martyn Wade. Janet McTeer and Ciaran Hinds play Nora and Torvald Helmer in this production of one of the most famous plays of the 19th century. The true nature of the Helmers' marriage is exposed when Torvald discovers that Nora has forged a signature on a loan. His reaction forces Nora to leave him in one of the most devastating closing scenes ever written.
Director Cherry Cookson
Nora Helmer: Janet McTeer
Torvald Helmer: Ciaran Hinds
Dr Rank: Alan Howard
Christina Linde: Penny Downie
Nils Krogstad: John Shrapnel
Anna: Jilly Bond
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 13th November 1995
26th May 1996
19.30
The Sunday Play. The Sisterhood
(Les femmes savantes)
In Ranjit Bolt's sparkling adaptation of Moliere's assault on feminism, Henhette's engagement is threatened as her bluestocking mother Philaminte tries to marry her off to pedant Trissotin.
Director Peter Kavanagh
ChrysaJe: Benjamin Whitrow
Belise: Jean Boht
Henriette: Haydn Gwynne
Philaminte: Judy Parfrrr
Armande: Brenda Blethyn
Trissotin: Simon Russell Beale
Clitandre: Christopher Scott
Ariste: James Greene
Martine: Jane Whittenshaw
Vadius: Nicholas Boulton
Repeated 27th July 1997
2nd June 1996:
21.15
The Sunday Play: Roberto Zucco
By Bemard-Marie Koltes , adapted and translated by David Zane Mairowitz.
A young thug imprisoned for murdering his father escapes and returns home to strangle his mother and embark on a trail of killings. In this modern French classic, heroism and bloodletting are intertwined.
Director Peter Kavanagh
Roberto Zucco: Alistair McGowan
Lady: Judy Parrtt
Old Gentleman: Robin Bailey
Zucco's mother: Ann Beach
Young girl: Colleen Prendergast
Her sister: Jane Whittenshaw
Her brother: Shaun Prendergast
The Lady's son: Robert Harper
Melancholy Inspector: Ronald Herdman
Madame: Patience Tomlinson
Whore: Alice Arnold
Police Inspector: Geoffrey Whitehead
Police Commissioner: Stephen Critchlow
Policeman: Jonathan Adams
Four blokes: Keith Drinkel
Four blokes: Kim Wall
Four blokes: Roger May
Four blokes: David Timson
Repeated on 13th July 1997.
9th June 1996:
19.30
The Sunday Play: LeCid
By Pierre Corneille , translated from the French by Jeffrey Wainright.
Rodrigo - son of veteran warrior Don Diego - and the Count's daughter Ximene seem set for a life of happiness together. But when the Count insults Diego in a fit of jealousy, Rodrigo challenges him to a duel: an action that has terrible consequences. Rodrigo's family honour is satisfied. but can Ximene ever accept his hand?
Music by Mia Soteriou .
Director Peter Kavanagh
Ximene: Imogen Stubbs
Rodrigo: Nicholas Farrell
The Infanta: Kate Buffery
Count Gormas: Barry Foster
The King: T P McKenna
Don Sanchez: Pip Torrens
Don Diego: Harry Towb
Elvira: Ingrid Craigie
Don Arias: Gareth Armstrong
Don Alonso: Don McCorkindale
Leonora: Serena Gordan
Page: Tom Bevan
Repeated from 5th June 1994
10th June 1996:
21.20
Are You Still Awake?
Five 15-minute plays by Russell Davies , set in bed and starring real-life couples.
1: Timothy West and Prunella Scales play a wartime civil servant and his wife who cannot get to sleep in their Morrison shelter. Producer Jonathan James-Moore
The dramas are written by Russell Davies who explains that they came from the idea that people talk differently in the dark, they reveal more, and talking lying down has a special sound!
Previously broadcast 28/11/94 There was a prior series in 1984 with different couples.
11th June 1996:
21.30
Are You Still Awake?
Five 15-minute plays by Russell Davies , set in bed and starring real-life couples.
2: Natasha Pyne and Paul Copley endure a cold night under canvas on Snowdon.
Repeat of 29/11/1994
12th June 1996:
21.15
Are You Still Awake?
Five 15-minute plays by Russell Davies , set in bed and starring real-life couples.
3: Imelda Staunton and Jim Carter have an uncomfortable stay at theatrical digs.
Repeat of 30/11/1994
13th June 1996:
21.10
Are You Still Awake?
Five 15-minute plays set in bed starring real-life couples.
4: Judi Dench and Michael Williams travel on the sleeper from Edinburgh. Written by Russell Davies
Repeat of 1/12/1994
14th June 1996:
21.45
Are You Still Awake?
The last of five 15-minute plays by Russell Davies. set in bed starring real-life couples.
5: Diana Quick and Bill Nighy steal away from an overnight sitting in the House.
Repeat of 2/12/1994
16th June 1996:
19.30
The Sunday Play: The Nuremberg Trial
A dramatic reconstruction of the most significant trial of the 20th century in which key members of the Nazi leadership were indicted for waging aggressive war and crimes against humanity. With the current war-crimes tribunal in the Hague, does the trial still have resonances today? Those taking part include Luise Jodl , Niklas Frank (relatives of the defendants); Otto Krantzbuehler (defence lawyer); Lord Shawcross, Whitney R Harris , Drexel Sprecher (prosecutors); together with interrogators, intelligence officers, interpreters, stenographers, journalists and historians.
Trial transcripts dramatised by Peter Goodchild Producers Martin Jenkins and John Theocharis
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4
Geoffrey Lawrence: Bernard Hepton
Robert Jackson: Henry Goodman
Hartley Shawcross: David Timson
Maxwell-Fyfe: Geoffrey Whitehead
John Harlan Amen: Nigel Anthony
Francis Biddle: Bob Sherman
Griffiths-Jones: John Rowe
Dr Gilbert: Mike Nussbaum
Hermann Goering: Gerard Murphy
Rudolf Hess: Andrew Branch
Joachim von Ribbentrop: David Collings
Ernst Kaltenbrunner: Ian Hogg
Hans Frank: John Hartley
'Khaki' Roberts: John Hartley
Julius Streicher: John Hollis
Fritz Sauckel: Paul Copley
Alfred Jodl: John Shrapnel
Grand Admiral Doenitz: John Castle
Albert Speer: Michael Cochrane
Ohlendorff: Paul Jenkins
Hoess: Robert Glenister
Krantzbuehler: Michael Maloney
Flaeschner: Crawford Logan
Kaufmann: Ross Livingstone
Dr Thoma: Stephen Critchlow
Dr Blaha: Roger May
Vaillaint-Courturier: Tessa Worsley
Commentator: Jane Wittenshaw
2nd Commentator: Caroline Strong
US journalist: Linda Regan
Previously on Radio 4 on 1st January 1996
23rd June 1996:
19.30:
The Sunday Play: Pentecost
David Edgar 's play - winner of the 1995 Evening Standard Award for
Best Play - comes to radio in a new adaptation by the playwright. The work is an urgent and powerful response to the turbulent past and uneasy present of Eastern Europe: an intellectual thriller and complex political parable.
Director Hilary Norrish
Oliver Davenport: Oliver Ford Davies
Gabriella Pecs: Sian Thomas
Leo Katz: Michael Feast
Yasmin: Suzan Sylvester
Amira: Kate Fenwick
Mikhail Czaba: Glenn Hugill
Fr Karolyi: Stephen Critchlow
Fr Bojovic: Kevork Malikyan
Toni: Matilda Ziegler
Anna Jedlikova: Janice McKenzie
Abdul: Raad Rawi
Nico: Stephen Elliott
Grigori: Jason Watkins
Antonio: Burt Caesar
Cleopatra: Kate Steavenson-Payne
Repeated on 8th June 1997
30th June 1996:
19.30
The Sunday Play: After Easter
A radio production of Anne Devlin 's critically acclaimed stage play, first produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1995. Greta has mystic visions - are they premonitions or a lament for her soul which she "left" behind in Ireland?
Original music composed and played by Anthea Gomez.
Director Sue Wilson
Greta: Stella Gonet
Aoife: Sorcha Cusack
Helen: Michelle Newell
Rose: Doreen Flynn
Michael: James Ellis
Manus: William Houston
Elish: Janice McKenzie
Emer: Sunny Ormonde
Dr Campbell: Denys Hawthorne
Paul: Roger May
Melda: Diane O'Kelly
Commanding Officer: Mark Finn
Soldiers: Alex Jones
Soldiers: Richard Da Costa
Violinist: Linda Rhodes
Repeated 11th January 1998
7th July 1996
19.30
The Sunday Play: Death of a Salesman
John Tydeman 's new radio adaptation of Arthur Miller 's famous work was first broadcast to mark the playwright's 80th birthday last October. With Timothy West as Willy Loman , Rosemary Leach as his wife Linda, and John Guerrasio and Adam Henderson as Biff and Happy, their two sons.
Other parts played by Paul Jenkins , Jane Whittenshaw and Tracy Wiles. Music by John White. Director John Tydeman.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4
Music By: John White.
Director: John Tydeman.
Willy Loman: Timothy West
Linda: Rosemary Leach
Charley: Peter Banks
Howard: Colin Stinton
Uncle Ben: John Hartley
Bernard: Roger May
Woman: Caroline Strong
Biff: John Guerrasio
Happy: Adam Henderson
????? : Paul Jenkins
????? : Jane Whittenshaw
????? : Tracy Wiles.
First broadcast on Radio 4: 16th October 1995
Repeated on Radio 4: 11th Feb 2006
14th July 1996- NO PLAY- the weekend afternoons and evenings were live music from Tanglewood, Boston.
21st July 1996:
13.00
New for Old: Myths Retold
Eight myths retold, written by Michelene Wandor.
1: Persephone and Ceres
The story of Ceres, goddess of the earth, and her daughter Persephone, who was abducted to the underworld.
With music by Stravinsky. Producer Jessica Isaacs
Persephone: Charlotte Coleman
Ceres: Eleanor David
21st July 1996:
17.45
The Sunday Feature: The Tree of Life
On the 200th anniversary of Robert Burns 's death, John Purser discovers a man who - in his radical inspirations, his Masonic ideals, his understanding of the land on which he was raised and his relationship with women - is very different from the poet celebrated at Burns suppers.
With music performed by Jo Miller. Producer Dave Batcheior
Robert Burns: John Hannah
Isabella Burns/Jean Armour: Louise Ironside
Thomas Muir/Gilbert Burns: Jimmy Chisholm
Lord Justice Clerk: Hamish Wilson
22nd July 1996:
22.00
The Sunday Play: The Gods Are Not to Blame
By Ola Rotimi. From the ancient Yoruba culture comes a myth with a surprising similarity to Oedipus Rex. King Odewale has ruled the land of Kutuje for 11 years. Now, with plague devastating its people, an oracle decrees that the curse on the land can only be lifted when the murderer of the previous king is punished. King Odewale vows to pursue the killer without mercy. Adapted and directed by Yvonne Brewster.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4
King Odewale: Jeffrey Kisson
Babe Fakunle: Robert Stephens
Narrator: Trevor McDonald
Queen Ojuola: Jenni George
Chief Balogun: Ben Thomas
Ogun Priest: Don Warrington
Alaka: Stefan Kalipha
Aderopo/Akilapa: Akim Mogaji
Chief Otun: Jacqui Chan
Gbonka: Tyrone Huggins
First Broadcast on Radio 4 on 4th September 1995
23rd July 1996:
22.45
Harrison's Bigwigs
Last Thoughts upon St Paules
John Gielgud plays Sir Christopher Wren , and author Carey Harrison is the Neapolitan architect Gianlorenzo Bernini , in the first of two fantastical portraits of eminent contemporaries of Henry Purcell. The architect and Surveyor-General Sir Christopher Wren defends the principles and design of his masterwork, St Paul 's Cathedral.
Director David Benedictus
Sir Christopher Wren: John Gielgud
King Charles II: John Moffatt
Chiffinch: Sam Dastor
Gianiorenzo Bemini: Carey Harrison
Isaac Barrow: Bill Wallis
Repeated from 4th June 1995
24th July 1996:
22.45
Harrison's Bigwigs
Self Portrait with Dog
Carey Harrison plays painter Sir Godfrey Kneller in the second of two fantastical portraits of eminent contemporaries of Henry Purcell.
Director David Benedictus
Sir Godfrey Kneller: Carey Harrison
Rembrandt van Rijn: Jack Klaff
Peter the Great/John Evelyn: Michael Kilgarriff
Three Wits: Sam Oastor
Three Wits: Brian de Salvo
Three Wits: Roger May
Jeremy Kneller's servant: Garard Green
Repeated from 12th November 1995
(Harrison's Bigwigs: The third program in the series, Newton in Love, was not repeated in 1996)
28th July 1996:
21.50
The Sunday Play: No Way Out
Or Huis Clos , written by Jean-Paul Sartre and translated by Frank Hauser. A modern European classic and a dramatic representation of Sartre's philosophy of existentialism. Three characters find themselves trapped together in a Second Empire drawing room. But the room is in Hell, and the characters will be yoked together for eternity, tormenting each other with the vicious and shameful events in their lives.
Director Michael Earley
Estelle: Zoe Wanamaker
Ines: Imogen Stubbs
Garcin: Ciaran Hinds
Waiter: David Collings
Repeated from 12th March 1995
4th August 1996:
21.50
The Sunday Play: The Death of Alexander Scriabin
Written and directed by Ken Russell. In 1914. two men with more than a passing interest in the occult meet in St Basil's Cathedral, Moscow: the Russian composer Alexander Scriabin and the notorious English mystic Aleister Crowley.
Pianist Dmitri Sladkowski
Aleister Crowley: Oliver Reed
Alexander Scriabin: James Wilby
Olga: Hetty Baynes
Police Sergeant: Brian Murphy
Headman: Don Warrington
Tanya Schloezer: Kristin Milward
Professor R J Stone: Ken Russell
Ernie Gross: Joshua Towb
Arensky: Gavin Muir
Rimsky-Korsakov: Don MacCorkindale
Announcer: Donald MacLeod
Repeated from 18th June 1995
11th August 1996:
22.45
The Sunday Play
for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf By Ntozake Shange.
[all lower case is deliberate here]
Five young coloured women embark on a journey of healing, utilising black musical forms to celebrate and mourn.
With honesty and wit, their odyssey commemorates the triumphs of endurance, the joys of love, the survival of betrayal and what it means to be a coloured girl and find God in yourself. Ntozake Shange 's Spell Number 7 is on Radio 4 tomorrow at 7.45pm.
Adapted by Bonnie Greer. Musical director P P Arnold.
Director Heather Goodman. A Big World Pictures production.
lady blue: Pp Arnold
lady brown: Pat Bowie
lady yellow: Nimmy March
lady red: Suzanne Packer
lady purple: Shezwae Powell
First broadcast 21st January 1996
18th August 1996:
21.55
The Sunday Play: The Amazons
By Arthur Wing Pinero , adapted by Stephen Wyatt.
In this comedy of role reversal, three girls are brought up as boys by their eccentric mother, Lady Castlejordan. It's a man's world - until they fall in love.
Director Nandita Ghose Repeat
Lady Castlejordan: Su Douglas
Noeline: Emma Croft
Thomasin: Pooky Quesnel
Wilhelmina: Joanne Sherry
Tweenways: Richard Pearce
Utterly: Nicolas Boulton
Repeated from 29th January 1995
25th August 1996:
21.50
The Sunday Play: Oh What a Lovely War
Malcolm McKee 's adaptation of the theatrical entertainment which originated at the Theatre Workshop in Stratford East. Set in a fictional playhouse at the end of the pier in Scarborough, this theatrical chronicle of the First World War is told through songs, sketches and documents of the period.
With Judy Cornwell , Kim Durham , Chris Emmett , Peter Jeffrey , Mary Lincoln , Malcolm McKee , Michael Mears , Michael Onslow , Norman Rodway , Cathy Sara , Christopher Scott , Jan Shand , Rob Swinton , John Webb and Rebecca Wright.
Arrangements and musical direction by Malcolm McKee. Research by Gerry Raffles and Charles Chilton. Director Sue Wilson
Repeat from 11th June 1995
1st September 1996:
21.45
The Sunday Play: Before and after Summer
Martyn Wade's play about the composer Gerald Finzi (1901-1956), starring Hugh Ross as the composer, Janet McTeer as Joy Finzi , and Anna Massey as Finzi's mother. Poetry was often the source of Finzi's elegaic and beautiful music, which captures the spirit of the English countryside. He decided at the age of 11 to become a composer and gained the confidence to pursue his chosen profession from his marriage to an exceptional woman.
Director Cherry Cookson
Gerald Finzi: Hugh Ross
Joy Finzi: Janet McTeer
Finzi's mother: Anna Massey
Howard Ferguson: Keith Drinkel
Young Finzi: Peter England
Ernest Farrar: David Collings
Vaughan Williams: Geoffrey Whitehead
Marion Scott: Tessa Worsley
Headmaster: John Turner
Village Woman: Zulema Dene
Repeated from 20th August 1995
8th September 1996:
13.00
New for Old: Myths Retold The last of eight myths rewritten by Michelene Wandor.
Pandemonium
With music by Roussel and Sibelius. Producer Jessica Isaacs
Bacchus: Denys Hawthorne
Ariadne: Elaine Pyke
Pan: Christopher Pavlo
Echo: Colleen Prendergast
8th September 1996:
21.45
The Sunday Play: Shoot-Out at St David's
By John Fletcher and Stan Hey.
Mick Manic , Liverpool's most successful comedian, is so traumatised after discovering a pile of corpses "left" in a cellar by his criminal brother Terry that he loses the power of speech. He is pursued by his brother across the Welsh hills to seek sanctuary at St David's.
Music by John Thomas.
Director Shaun MacLoughlin
Mick Manic: Stephen McGann
Terry Manic: Neville Smith
Dog: Bill Monks
Angel: Carolyn Backhouse
McKenna: Richard Tate
Cato: Christian Rodska
Barnes: Cornelius Garrett
Apparatchik: Bill Wallis
Big-Bollux: Ian Sanders
Mum: June Barrie
Young Mick: William Denys
Young Terry: Floriano Areal-Carter
Repeated from 5th November 1995
15th September 1996:
21.20
The Sunday Play: The Man in the Trees
By Peter Jukes , and starring Juliet Aubrey as Gabi, Henry Goodman as Zvi, Bernard Hepton as Adam and Miriam Karlin as Kasia.
When an English company begins excavation work at a remote site in the Polish countryside, repeated sabotage suggests the site is not as unimportant as it seems. Gabi, a young liaison officer, meets the enigmatic Adam and uncovers a dark past ...
Music composed by Malcolm Singer
Director Alby James
Gabi: Juliet Aubrey
Henry Goodman: Zvi
Bernard Hepton: Adam
Miriam Karlin: Kasia
Henek: Barry Farrimond
Ryan: Ian Masters
Jan: Michael Tudor Barnes
Elzbieta: Eva Stuart
Viktor: Oliver Senton
Chairman of Tribunal: George Parsons
Samuel Sabin: Derek Waring
Repeated from 8th October 1995
22nd September 1996:
19.30
Drama Now: David By Tina Pepler.
Based on a true story, this is a traumatic and touching drama of bravery and faith, as a man struggles to recover from extensive brain damage. David is a carpenter. He is happily married with two small children and has a tendency to go sleepwalking. One night in his sleep he breaks a window and severs an artery in his arm. Doctors tell him it will have to be amputated, but his deeply religious wife, Susannah, refuses to give up hope. She makes a bargain with God and the arm is saved. True to Susannah's promise that her husband will be of service to
God, David discovers a kind of faith and becomes a priest -just at the time that Susannah contracts cancer, putting his faith and family under tremendous strain. When she dies, David attempts to gas himself in his car, inflicting massage brain damage upon himself. The play documents his slow, but extraordinary, recovery, which was made possible only with the help and support of his two small children. with Eric Allen , William Eedle ,
Cornelius Garrett , Andy Hockley and Sunny Ormonde
Director: Shaun MacLoughlin
Unknown: Eric Allen
Unknown: William Eedle
Unknown: Cornelius Garrett
Unknown: Andy Hockley
David: Jack Klaff
Susannah: Maureen O'Brien
Tom: Tom Jones-Berney
Jessica: Jessica Jones-Berney
Alice: Mary Wimbush
Ruth: Janet Dale
Mary: June Barrie
Elizabeth: Jenny Funnell
The Angel: Simon Carter
Repeated from 29th October 1995
29th September 1996:
21.35
The Sunday Play: All That Fall
A chance to hear the first production of Samuel Beckett 's original radio play, commissioned and broadcast in 1957. On the face of it. the play is an anecdote set in a rural community of Ireland - in reality, it is a careful synthesis of speech, sound and silence, hectically funny and bitterly tragic.
Director Donald McWhinnie
Mrs Rooney: Mary O'Farrell
Christy: Alan McClelland
Mr Tyler: Brian Ohiggins
Mr Clocum: Patrick Magee
Mr Barrell: Harry Hutchinson
Tommy: Jack MacGowran
Miss Fitt: Sheila Ward
Female Voice: Peggy Marshall
Mr Rooney: J G Devlin
Jerry: Terrance Farrell
This is a repeat of the original 1957 broadcast on The Third Programme on 13th January 1957, repeated on 19th January 1957, 23rd February 1957, 19th March 1957, 18th June 1959, 26th February 1961, 6th March 1966, 1st January 1970.
For 1972 there was a new stereo production with Marie Kean replacing Mary O'Farrell but by 1986 we were back to the 1957 version.
6th October 1996:
19.30
The Sunday Play: Henry IV Part One
Robert Hardy stars as Sir John Falstaff , Shakespeare's greatest comic creation, who sees it as his duty to educate Hal - the young Prince of Wales - in the vices of the tavern. When Hotspur leads a rebellion against the king, Henry despairs of his son's degradation and neglect of duty. The time has come for Hal to redeem himself. Part Two is broadcast next Sunday.
Musicians Sue Baxendale , Elizabeth Brierley , Steven Magee , Alan Morrison and Valerie Stark. Composer Paddy Cuneen.
Director Michael Fox.
Sir John Falstaff: Robert Hardy
Hal: Robert Glenister
Henry IV: Barrie Rutter
Glendower: Ian Meredith
Hotspur: Bill Fellows
Northumberland: James Tomlinson
Worcester: Russell Dixon
Prince John: Antony Byrne
Lady Percy: Geraldine Alexander
Sir Walter Blunt: Colin Prockter
Mistress Quickly: Jane Cox
Bardolph: Robert Whelan
Poins: John Lloyd-Fillingham
Peto: Andy Wear
Gadshill: Cliff Howells
Scroop: Rob Pickavance
Douglas: Malcolm Raeburn
Vernon: Stefan Escreet
Mortimer: Simon Green
Lady Mortimer: Vanessa Woodfine
A repeat of the broadcast of 16th April 1995
13th October 1996:
19.30
The Sunday Play: Henry IV Part Two
By William Shakespeare.
Despite defeat, the rebels are still plotting against King Henry, who has fallen sick. Hal is weary of life at court, and continues his adventures in the tavern. The dying king despairs once more of his wayward son. Falstaff profits again from his relationship with Hal, believing that high office awaits him when Hal is crowned king.
Musicians Sue Baxendale , Elizabeth Brierley , Steven Magee. Alan Morrison and Valerie Stark.
Composer Paddy Cuneen.
Director Michael Fox
Falstaff: Robert Hardy
Hal: Robert Glenister
Henry IV: Barrie Rutter
Northumberland: James Tomlinson
Lord Chief Justice: Russell Dixon
Prince John: Antony Byrne
Lady Percy: Geraldine Alexander
Mistress Quickly: Jane Cox
Bardolph: Robert Whelan
Scroop: Rob Pickavance
Mowbray: Stefan Escreet
Poins: John Lloyd-Fillingham
Justice Shallow: Peter Copley
Page: Nina Wadia
Peto/Snare/Moldy: Andy Wear
Pistol: Cliff Howells
Silence/Rumour/Beadle: Keith Clifford
Lord Bardolph/Harcourt: Malcolm Raeburn
Doll Tearsheet: Frances Jeater
Warwick/Morton: Wyllie Longmore
Gloucester/Hastings: Lyndam Gregory
Westmoreland/Davy: Peter Whitman
Clarence/Will: Adam Sutherland
Repeated from 23 April 1995
14th October 1996:
22.45
Between the Ears: Signal to Noise
Neil Gaiman's radio adaptation of his own award-winning graphic novel, with original music by Dave McKean translated from his own visual images in the novel. It is 999AD, the last day of the last month of the year. On the mountain top, the villagers wait for the end of the world. In London, 1,000 years later, a film-maker waits for his own world to end.
Other parts, ensemble playing and improvisation supplied by Colleen Prendergast, Robert Harper, Kim Wall, Alice Arnold, David Timson and Stephen Critchlow
Director [credit]: Anne Edyvean
Director [character]: Warren Mitchell
Julia: Elaine Pyke
Ianna: Souad Faress
20th October 1996:
17.00
The Sunday Feature: Me and Louis MacNeice
With Timothy Davies as Christopher Taplin and Fiona Walker as Dame Lucy Taplin.
Colin McLaren 's version of the golden age of radio features, seen through the life of an imaginary producer of the time. With Denise Bryer , Peter Howell , Timothy Bateson , Eva Stuart and Mary Wimbush as themselves.
Readers: Ann Beach, Garard Green, Alex Lowe and Hugh Walters
Director Louise Greenberg
20th October 1996:
18.45 to 23.15
The Sunday Play: Man and Superman
A new production, directed by Peter Hall , of George Bernard Shaw 's masterpiece of language and comic invention, which was the first play to be broadcast on the Third Programme.
Starring Ralph Fiennes , Juliet Stevenson , Judi Dench , Paul Merton and John Wood. First staged in its full-length version in 1905, Shaw's play inverts the Don Juan legend: the rapacious hunter becomes the prey, in an exploration of the role of the artist, the place of women in society, and the Life Force.
Narration by Niall Buggy Music by Mark Thomas
Producer Catherine Bailey
[Intervals, 8.15-8.25, 10.25-10.30 ]
Don Juan/John Tanner: Ralph Fiennes
Old Woman/Ann Whitefield: Juliet Stevenson
Mrs Whitefield: Judi Dench
Chauffeur/Henry Straker: Paul Merton
Devil/Mendoza: John Wood
Roebuck Ramsden: John Standing
Octavius Robinson: Nicholas Le Prevost
Miss Ramsden: Selina Cadell
Violet Robinson: Victoria Hamilton
Hector Malone: Jack Davenport
Mr Malone: Colin Stinton
Maid: Loveday Smith
Anarchist: Peter Gordon
Brigand: Peter Needham
Duval: Eric Ramon
27th October 1996:
21.45
Drama Now: Talking to Mars
By David Edgar.
A new play by one of Britain's leading contemporary dramatists opens the new season. Spanning 30 years of postwar history, the play examines the collapse of the Cold War through the eyes of an international radio station.
Director Hilary Norrish
Teddy: Henry Goodman
Dima: Andy Serkis
Sonia: Selina Cadell
Pavlova: Dorothy Tutin
Natasha: Kate Fenwick
Zygulsky: Norman Rodway
Henderson: Colin Stinton
Tyne: Kim Wall
Gromov: Sean Baker
Tanya: Adjoa Andoh
Yelena: Janet Maw
Sergei: Mark Bonnar
Fisher: Stephen Thorne
Sophie: Alice Arnold
Congressman: Chris Pavlo
3rd November 1996:
21.55
Drama Now: Barking
By Tony Ramsay. A dog eats a heretic's tongue and discovers the world of man's speech. While modelling for an altar piece (Virgin with Dog), he also discovers the dichotomy between man's godlike aspirations to high art and the beastlike reality of his carnal lusts.
Music by Elizabeth Parker and the Vasari Choir.
Director Janet Whitaker
The Dog: Steve Hodson
Don Alonso: Michael Williams
Dona Isabella: Frances Barber
Escalera: Robin Bailey
Don Venerio: Peter Woodthorpe
Piedad: Abigail Docherty
The Cardinal: Geoffrey Whitehead
Madame: Ann Beach
Hebe: Jane Whittenshaw
Amparo: Colleen Prendergast
10th November 1996:
21.50
Drama Now: Copper Sulphate
The arrival of young playwright David Greig as a new force in British theatre was confirmed by the success of his stage play The Architect at this year's Edinburgh Festival. This new play, his first for radio, is set in West Africa. A young man returns to the former colony of Bushiya to discover more about the death of Innocence Andeyaba, a prominent political activist and once his boyhood friend.
Director Patrick Rayner
Leonard: Tom Smith
Charity: Bella Enahoro
Ake: Benon Wukwe
Governor: Ben Thomas
Victor: Jude Akuwudike
Terry: Michael MacKenzie
Nicola: Mairi Gillespie
Young Leonard: Grace Glover
17th November 1996:
22.00
Drama Now: Noman By David Calcutt.
With Alun Armstrong as Odysseus. On the island kingdom of Ithaca live the ageing Odysseus and his daughter Nausikaa. Afraid of no man, Odysseus is haunted by one vision - that of death itself. Believing himself to be invincible, he is only brought face to face with his final adversary through the skill and determination of a blind poet and a young scholar, 500 years on. Mixing myth and reality, dreams and fantasy, the very art of storytelling takes its toll on the human soul and changes the truth for ever.
Music composed and performed by John Themis and Sugar Hajishacalli
Directed by Kate Rowland
Odysseus: Alun Armstrong
Demodokos: Oscar James
Omeros: Patrick Robinson
Nausikaa: Lena Headey
Telegonos: John Padden
Polyphemos: Martin Reeve
Pan: Martin Reeve
Penelope: Kathryn Hunt
Athene: Mary Cunningham
Tiresias: John Jardine
24th November 1996:
21.50
Drama Now: Sea Urchins
Sharman Macdonald's first play for radio is directed by actor Richard Wilson and stars Celia Imrie and Sylvestra Le Touzel. Music brings together two families who are holidaying in the sixties on a beach in Wales. The events of this year's holiday reveal too much for there ever to be another.
Musicians Martin Byatt and Harvey Hope
Ailsa: Celia Imrie
Nora: Sylvestra Le Touzel
Martin: Andrew Stone
George: Thomas Orange
Rena: Nadine Turner
John: Phillip Joseph
David: Anthony O'Donnell
Gareth: Tim Godwin
Rhiannon: Anna James
Noelle: Lucy Lloyd
Man: Ewan Stewart
1st December 1996:
21.45
Drama Now: Intimations for Saxophone
The world premiere of Sophie Treadwell 's play, written following her success with Machinal but judged to be too radical for American audiences in the 1930s, Lily, a New York socialite, is driven to self-realisation and self-destruction by the vulgar, empty world that surrounds her.
Marriage makes her lonely, and only the unwanted attentions of a sexually demanding knife thrower help her in her search for real love. Adapted for radio by Lavinia Murray.
Saxophone music by Keith Jafrate. Gypsy violinist Julian Gregory.
Director Kate Rowland
Lily Laird: Fiona Shaw
Gilbert Lethe: Tim McInnerny
Dr Kartner: Clive Russell
Millie: Matilda Ziegler
Blllle: John Padden
Gilbert's mother: Ellie Haddington
Samuel Laird: Davio Fleeshman
Maria trie maid: Kathryn Hunt
Stanllos: Alastair Galbraith
Cook: Jane Hollowood
Repeated 7th September 1997
-Sophie Treadwell (1885-1970).
-This play was first produced on stage in February 2005.
8th December 1996:
19.30
The Sunday Play: Taking Sides
By Ronald Harwood , starring Dennis Quilley as Wilhelm Furtwangler and Daniel J Travanti as Major Steve Arnold.
In a small office in the American sector in Berlin, Major Arnold is busy collecting evidence for the Tribunal of Artists of the De-Nazification Commission. Top of the list of the accused is conductor Wilhelm
Furtwangler. Will he manage to convince the philistine major that he stayed in Germany to fight the Nazis with music, and not because he supported them?
Adapted for radio and directed by Alby James
Helmuth Rode: Gawn Grainger
Tamara Sachs: Haydn Gwynne
Lieutenant David Wills: Willlam Marsh
Emmi Straube: Jacqueline Defferary
15th December 1996:
19.30
The Sunday Play: Dancing at Lughnasa
Brian Friel 's award-winning play, first staged at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in 1990. Ballybeg 1936, on the eve of the pagan feast of Lughnasa. A young man recalls growing up with his mother, four aunts, and an uncle sent home from the missions under a cloud.
Director Eoin O'Callaghan Repeat
Michael: Gerard McSorley
Chris: Catherine Byrne
Maggie: Sorcha Cusack
Agnes: Brid Brennan
Rose: Brid Ni Neachtain
Kate: Rosaleen Linehan
Father Jack: Alec McCowen
Gerry: Rober Gwilym
Repeated from 10th July 1994
(In 1998 this play was made into a film with Meryl Streep, with narration by Gerald McSorley. Brid Brennan reprised her role as Agnes. )
22nd December 1996:
21.00
The Sunday Play: Cymbeline
By William Shakespeare.
Juliet Stevenson stars as Imogen, whose love for Posthumus is tested to its utmost as her father rages against her marriage and banishes her husband. Vile deceit, farcical jealousy, lost children, and great deeds against an invading enemy combine to produce a romantic adventure and a final vision of harmony and peace.
Music by Patrick Cunneen. performed by Robert Buckland. Elizabeth Brierly & the composer.
Director Michael Fox
Imogen: Juliet Stevenson
Cymbeline: David Bradley
Posthumus: Robert Glenister
Lord Cloten: Timothy Walker
Queen: Marion Bailey
Guiderius: Danny Sapani
Arviragus: Clive Rowe
lachimo: Patrick Robinson
Pisanio: Neal Swettenham
Belarious: Burt Caesar
Philario: Will Tacey
Caius Lucius/2nd Gent: Stephen Tomlin
1st Lady/Soothsayer: Kathryn Hunt
1st Lord/Cornelius: Malcolm Hebden
2nd Lord/Frenchman: Adam Sunderland
23rd December 1996
21.35
.. by Woody Allen
Classic Woody Allen prose from his anthologies Without Feathers and Side Effects. In tonight's The
Shallowest Man. Lenny Mendel. hypochondriac and TV producer. overcomes his fear of hospitals and disease when he gets the hots for the nurse of his dying friend Meyer Iskowitz. Starring Garrick Hagon as Mendel and Robert Arden as Iskowitz. Narrator Mike McShane.
Producer Chris Neill
Mendel: Garrick Hagon
Iskowitz: Robert Arden
Narrator: Mike McShane.
Producer: Chris Neill
Sol Katz: Nathan Osgood
Phil Birnbaum: Kenneth Jay
Nurse Hill: Lachele Carl
24th December 1996:
22.00
.. by Woody Allen
i If the Impressionists Had Been Dentists A series of letters from Vincent van Gogh - the dentist - to his brother Theo, read by William Hootkins.
ii The Whore of Mensa Starring Jay Benedict as private eye Kaiser Lupowitz.
Jay Benedict: Kaiser Lupowitz.
Babcock: Michael J Shannon
Flossie: Eve Karpf
Sherry: Kim Criswell
Bookstore salesman: Russell Bentley
25th December 1996:
21.00
..by Woody Allen
The Kuglemass Episode
Sidney Kuglemass , a professor at City College, New York, sets his heart on an affair. With the help of a magician, he finds himself in Madame Bovary and romancing Emma. Starring Kerry Shale as Kuglemass and Doon MacKichan as Emma. Narrated by Greg Proops.
Kerry Shale: Sidney Kuglemass
Emma: Doon MacKichan
Narrator: Greg Proops.
Dr Mandel: Ian Porter
Persky: Cyril Shaps
Daphne: Joyce Springer
26th December 1996
21.25
.. by Woody Allen
A Guide to Some of the Lesser Ballets
A review of some of the truly lesser - and lesser-known - ballets.
Read by William Dufris , with original music composed and performed by John Whitehall. The Lunatic's Tale
The dark story of a New York doctor torn between the conflicting and yet necessary delights of two contrasting women. One offers intellect and wit, and the other provides thrills of a less cerebral kind. With Don Fellows as Dr Ossip Parkis.
Contributors
Read By: William Dufris
Don Fellows: Dr Ossip Parkis.
27th December 1996:
21.20
.. by Woody Allen
Retribution
Harold Cohen. a young writer, enters into a fabulous affair with sexy Wasp Connie Chasen. Neither can believe their luck at having found each other, but fate and wily desires of the flesh combine to take their relationship in unexpected directions. Starring Henry Goodman as Harold and Rebecca Front as Connie
Pianist Ian Harker
Harold Cohen: Henry Goodman
Connie Chasen: Rebecca Front
Emily Chasen: Myra Sands
Uncle Louie/Mr Cohen: Jonathan Kydd
29th December 1996:
19.30
The Sunday Play: The Libertine
By Stephen Jeffreys.
1675. London is a hothouse of gossip and intrigue, and at the centre of it all is John Wilmot , Earl of Rochester, poet, wit and Restoration hero. Regularly banished from the court of Charles II for excesses of every kind, his brilliant and sordid life embodied the spirit of the age.
Director Claire Grove
Rochester: Bill Nighy
Charles 11: James Laurenson
Etherege: Kim Wall
Sackville: Keith Drinkel
Downs: Richard Pearce
Elizabeth Malet: Adjoa Andoh
Jane: Colleen Prendergast
Alcock: Gavin Muir
Elizabeth Barry: Emma Chambers
Harris: Chris Scott
Huysmans: Ioan Meredith
Repeated 31/8/1997 when the credits added (without allocating a role): Marcia Warren
Thanks to Stephen Shaw for compiling the entries, and to Alison for doing the coding.
