Radio 3 Drama & Readings, 2000
Barry Hodge
THE SUNDAY PLAY:
7:30pm Sunday evenings (unless otherwise noted), various durations as noted.
(02-01-2000) The Vortex (Noel Coward)
A production of the play which catapulted Coward to fame in 1924. Starring Harriet Walter and Paul Rhys with Frances Jeater, John Rye, Jenny Funnell, Robert Portal, Peter Blythe, Federay Holmes, Keith Drinkel, Pamela Grace and Mike Sykes. Directed by John Tydeman. (90m)
(09-01-2000) Resident Alien (Tim Fountain)
A radio production of the acclaimed stage drama in which Bette Bourne recreates his role as Quentin Crisp in New York. (70m)
(16-01-2000) Mya (Gill Adams)
An experimental drama telling the harsh story of a young prostitute in Hull in the 90s and the apocalyptic events that unfold when she takes up lodgings with old Rosie, a drunken old prostitute, and Danny, her isolated and naive young son. The play uses strong language and contains disturbing scenes. Mya (Katie Cavanagh), Rosie (Fiona Shaw), Danny (Ian Thompson). Directed by Polly Thomas and Melanie Harris. (75m)
(23-01-2000) Amy's View (David Hare)
The award-winning play, first produced for the National Theatre by Richard Eyre in 1997, is both a moving study of a mother and daughter's long-term relationship and a testimony to the dignifying importance of the artistic life. With Judi Dench (Esme), Samantha Bond (Amy), Ronald Pickup (Frank), Alexander Hanson (Dominic), Joyce Redman (Evelyn), Christopher Kelham (Toby), John Rowe (Narrator). Original music composed and played by Janet Davey. Director: Gordon House. (135m)
(30-01-2000) The Sea (Edward Bond)
A remote Sussex village, 1907. The drowning of Mrs Rafi's nephew is the catalyst for unleashing a storm which will change the life of this small community for ever. Rosemary Leach (Mrs Rafi), Ronald Pickup (Evens), Anton Lesser (Hatch), Josephine Tewson (Jessica Tilehouse), David Tennant (Willy Carson), Richard Derrington (Hollarcut), Cathy Sara (Rose Jones), Stephen Boswell (Vicar), Sunny Ormonde (Mafanwy Price), Christopher Scott (Thompson), Terry Molloy (Carter), Tracy Wiles (Jilly), Tina Gray (Rachel), Joyce Gibbs (Davis). Director: Sue Wilson. (120m)
(06-02-2000; Rpt) The Doctor's Dilemma (George Bernard Shaw)
A special studio recording of the Almeida Theatre's acclaimed, fast and funny 1998 production of Bernard Shaw's play, which reveals the piece as a love story of great passion and a psychological thriller, as well as a dramatic expression of the kind of dilemmas that still face the medical profession as acutely as they did when the play was written in 1906. Cast: Laurence Mitchell, Patsy Byrne, Ian McDiarmid, Toby Salaman, Bernard Horsfall, Martin Jarvis, Tony Britton, Robert Demeger, Victoria Kamilton, James Callis, Harriet Cater and Simon Scott. Director: Michael Grandage. (120m)
(13-02-2000; Rpt) The Silver Tassie (Sean O'Casey)
The antiwar play adapted and directed by BBC producer R D Smith in 1966, featuring actors from the heart of the great Irish tradition. Susie (Elizabeth Morgan), Mrs Heegan (Mary O'Farrell), Sylvester Heegan (Brian O'Higgins), Simon Norton (Harry Webster), Mrs Foran (Marie Consee), Harry Heegan (Jim Norton), Jessie Taite (Eileen Colgan), Barney Dagnal (Kevin McHugh), The Croucher (Stephen Thorne), Corporal (Harry Locke), Visitor (Alan Lawrence). Music by Frederick Marshall. (90m)
(20-02-2000) Stanley (Pam Gems)
Stanley Spencer, the exuberant visionary of 20th-century British art, had a life tinged with tragedy and farce, which included two disastrous marriages. Stanley (Michael Maloney), Patricia Preece (Cheryl Campbell), Hilda Carline (Susan Wooldridge), Dorothy Hepworth (Rowena Cooper), Mrs Carline (Janet Henfrey), Henry Lamb (Jonathan Cake), Gwen Raverat (Abigail McKern), Dudley Tooth (John Rowe), Augustus John (Gavin Muir), Elsie (Alison Pettitt), Nurse (Beth Chalmers). Director: Janet Whitaker. (110m)
(27-02-2000) Tomorrow Week (Samuel Adamson)
Olivia is pregnant and married to Guy. The play explores one week in her life - the week of her birthday - when family reunions, significant meetings and chance encounters are all on the agenda. Where will Olivia find herself tomorrow week? Olivia (Imogen Stubbs), Justin (Malcolm Sinclair), Guy (James Wilby), Charlie (Simon Prestage), Kath (Kelly Reilly), Betsy (Rosalind Knight), Bob (Patrick Godfrey), Sophia (Sara Kestelman), Elizabeth (Mathilda O'Neill). Director: Simon Callow. (80m)
(05-03-2000) Kangaroo (D H Lawrence)
On the seventieth anniversary of the author's death, a dramatisation of his classic novel set in Australia in 1922. The play is a political thriller and a study of marriage centring on English writer Lovat and his wife, who arrive in Sydney in search of a new life. Lovat (Simon Harris), Harriet (Clare Holman), Jack (Douglas Walker), Victoria (Lucinda Cowen), Jaz (Richard Curnow), Struthers (David Henry). Dramatised by David Britton. Music by Iain Grandage. Music performed by Eric Clarke and Billy Thompson. Director: Alison Hindell. (135m)
(12-03-2000) Billy Budd, Sailor (Herman Melville, dram John Harrison)
The famous story of an innocent handsome sailor - a conflict between good and evil, duty and compassion. Captain Vere (Paul Scofield), Billy Budd (Charles Simpson), Claggart (Matthew Morgan), Lt Ratcliffe (Timothy Bentinck). With Nicholas Boulton, Keith Drinkel, David Jarvis, Ian Masters, Brian Parr and Richard Pearce. Director: John Tydeman. (75m)
(19-03-2000; Rpt) Fugitive Pieces (Anne Michaels)
An award-winning story of love, exile, concealment, loss and the damage inflicted by the Holocaust on the lives of two survivors. With Timothy Ackroyd, John Hug, Dee Hart and Ray Singer. Adapted and directed by Roger Elsgood. (85m)
(26-03-2000; 9:30pm) Bash (Neil Labute)
The Almeida Theatre's production of Labute's triptych of one-act plays. `Medea redux': a woman tells of her relationship with her high-school teacher. Mary McCormack (Woman). `Iphigenia in Orem': a businessman confesses his crime to a stranger in a Las Vegas hotel room. Zeljko Ivanek (Young Man). `A Gaggle of Saints': a Mormon couple's account of violence at a party in New York. Mary McCormack (Sue), Matthew Lillard (John). Directed for the stage by Joe Mantello. (100m)
(02-04-2000; Rpt) Last Days Of Mankind. Part 1 (Karl Kraus, trans Robert David MacDonald, adap Giles Havergal)
The play deals with man's inhumanity to man in the First World War and the decline of a corrupt civilisation into the brutality of war. Cast includes John Bett, Chris Delaney, Anna Ford, Patrick Hannaway, Giles Havergal, Crawford Logan, Robert David MacDonald, Stephen MacDonald, Sandy Neilson, Alison Peebles, Laurance Rudic, Paul Scofield, Gerda Stevenson, Finlay Welsh, Sandy Welsh and Matthew Whittle. Director: Giles Havergal. (135m)
(09-04-2000; Rpt) Last Days Of Mankind. Part 1 (Karl Kraus, trans Robert David MacDonald, adap Giles Havergal)
The First World War continues to wreak destruction on the subjects of the Habsburg Empire both physically and mentally. Their reaction to living in an increasingly surreal world is a retreat into unreality. Cast includes John Bett, Chris Delaney, Anna Ford, Patrick Hannaway, Giles Havergal, Crawford Logan, Robert David MacDonald, Stephen MacDonald, Sandy Neilson, Alison Peebles, Laurance Rudic, Paul Scofield, Gerda Stevenson, Finlay Walsh, Sandy Welsh and Matthew Whittle. (120m)
(16-04-2000; Rpt) Hedda Gabler (Henrik Ibsen, trans/adap Helen Cooper)
So exasperated with her narrow bourgeois marriage, Hedda she decides to make her mark upon the world in the gravest way imaginable. Harriet Walter (Hedda), Corin Redgrave (Judge Black), Nicholas Farrell (Tesman), Michael Feast (Lovberg), Julie Legrand (Mrs Elvstead), Jill Balcon (Julia Tesman), Merelina Kendall (Bertha). Directed by Eoin O'Callaghan. (115m)
(23-04-2000) Shakespeare Day - As You Like It (William Shakespeare)
Initially about fear and dividion, Shakespeare's play metamorphoses into a triumph of inclusiveness, with each person able to lead their life as they like it. Helena Bonham Carter (Rosalind), Natasha Little (Celia), James Fleet (Touchstone), David Morrissey (Orlando), Gerard Murphy (Oliver), Stephen Boxer (Duke Frederick/Sir Oliver Martext), Gavin Muir (Charles/Jaques de Boys/Second Lord), John McEnery (Duke Senior), Nicholas Le Prevost (Jaques), Mark Springer (Amiens/Hymen), Trevor Peacock (Corin/Adam), Paul Hilton (Silvius/Le Beau), Katy Murphy (Phebe). Director: Kate Rowland. (120m)
(30-04-2000) Richard II (William Shakespeare)
Richard Eyre introduces a new production of Shakespeare's play. Samuel West (Richard II), Janet Suzman (Duchess of Gloucester), Joss Ackland (John of Gaunt), Damian Lewis (Henry Bolingbroke), Ronald Pickup (Duke of York), Toby Jones (Duke of Aumerle), James Laurenson (Earl of Northumberland), Jamie Bamber (Henry Percy), Philip Voss (Bishop of Carlisle), Timothy Bateson (Gardener), Sophie Okonedo (Queen Isabella), Margot Leicester (Duchess of York), Stephen Critchlow (Thomas Mowbray/Sir Piers of Exton), Ioan Meredith (Lord Marshall/Stephen Scroop). Adapted and directed by Jeremy Mortimer. (180m)
(07-05-2000) Art (Yasmina Reza, trans Christopher Hampton)
When Serge buys an expensive modern painting, the reaction of his friends tests their friendship to the limit. Michael Gambon (Marc), Alan Bates (Serge), Simon Russell Beale (Yvan). Music composed by Stephen Warbeck. Director: Christopher Morahan. (70m)
(14-05-2000) Woman In Mind (Alan Ayckbourn)
In her suburban garden, a vicar's wife struggles to come to terms with the contrast between her real life and the fantasy she has created. A masterpiece of dark comedy played by a distinguished cast, including Julia Mackenzie and Martin Jarvis, who recreate the roles they first played at the Vaudeville Theatre, London. Julia Mackenzie (Susan), Jon Strickland (Bill), Jonathan Hyde (Andy), (120m)
(21-05-2000; Rpt) Perfect Days (Liz Lochhead)
A romantic comedy starring Siobhan Redmond as Barbs. Premiered at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, during the 1998 Edinburgh Festival, it is a sharp and poignant comedy about how romantic love, mother love and friendship affect one woman as she goes about trying to get what she really wants. With Anne Kidd, Ann Scott-Jones, Jon Kazek, Vincent Friell and Enzo Cilenti. Directed by Marilyn Imrie. (100m)
(28-05-2000) No programme (the two-day Music Live took its place).
(04-06-2000) Knives In Hens (David Harrower)
A new version for radio by the author. Set in a pre-industrial community of unquestioning faith and relentless labour, the story follows a young woman's dream of extending the boundaries of her world - a passion which involves her ploughman husband and the village miller in a powerful tale of lust, love and murder. Catherine McCormack (Young Woman), Tony Curran (Pony William the Ploughman), Douglas Henshall (Gilbert Horn the Miller). Music composed and performed by Melanie Pappenheim and Anne Wood. Director: Marilyn Imrie. (90m)
(11-06-2000) Phedre (Racine)
Acclaimed New York theatre company the Wooster Group direct and perform in this powerful interpretation of Racine's 17th-century tale of passion and political intrigue in Ancient Greece. Kate Valk (Phedre), Bill Raymond (Theseus), Suzzy Roche (Oenone), Ari Fliakos (Hippolyte), Scott Shepherd (Thermanes), Guy Larkin (Guard). Directed by Lance Dann and Kate Valk. (90m)
(18-06-2000) She Stoops To Conquer (Oliver Goldsmith, adap Sue Wilson)
When Young Marlow comes to court Kate Hardcastle at her father's house in Yorkshire, he finds himself the butt of a mischievous prank. Tony Lumpkin revels in the misunderstanding he causes during `the mistakes of a night'. Cast includes Julia McKenzie, Clive Francis, Amanda Root, Adrian Scarborough, Norman Rodway, Martin Ball, Jonathan Clarke, Cathy Sera, Terry Molloy, Ian Brooker, Naomi Harris and Richard Neale. Music composed and played by Anthea Gomez with Martha Ann Brooks (trombone) and Katherine Gittings (violin). Director: Sue Wilson. (160m)
(25-06-2000) Momentum (Lavinia Murray)
The 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin signified the start of the Third Reich's reign of terror and the fusion of sport and politics. Pilot and cameraman Walter Loeb, Jewish high-diver Misha, and Dieter of the Hitler Youth are all engaged in the making of Leni Riefenstahl's legendary propaganda film `Olympia'. Stephen Crichtlow (Walter Loeb), Alison Pettitt (Misha), Tom George (Dieter), Sean Arnold (Goebbels), Robin Brown (Devil), Suzanna Hamilton (Mother), Andrew Wincott (Father), Briony Glassco (Anne), Garrick Hagon (Horace), David Holt (Martin), David Thorpe (Tankred). Director: David Hunter. (90m)
(02-07-2000) Guesses At Most (Doug Lucie)
Lucie's theatre plays are scathing satires on aspects of modern Britain, and in his first radio play, he explores life under New Labour for two middle-class sisters. Diana Quick (Jill), Bill Nighy (Stan), Julie Legrand (Lisa), Amy Shindler (Daisy), Andrew Howard (Ash), Victoria O'Donnell (Zoe). Director: Janet Whitaker. (120m)
(09-07-2000; Rpt) Skylight (David Hare, adap Richard Eyre)
The acclaimed Royal National Theatre production of David Hare's play. In the 1980s, married entrepreneur Tom Sergeant had a brief affair with his assistant Kyra. Now his wife is dead, and Kyra is a teacher in the East End. During a long night, Tom and Kyra try to explore what happened to them and to find new meeting grounds between them. They are still in love, but can there be any future for them as a couple? With Bill Nighy, Stella Gonet and Theo Fraser Steele. Director: Janet Whitaker. (120m)
(16-07-2000; 10:15pm; Rpt) Albertina (Howard Barker)
Subtitled `The 20 Duologues', the Bishop of Albertina, a tiny state in old Europe, has proposed to Rocklaw, the town's intellectual, that all undesirables should be carried off on a Ship of Fools. But Rocklaw is plagued by jealousy when his wife follows her lover on board. Nicholas Le Prevost, Juliet Stevenson, Robert Glenister (Rocklaw), Ian McDiarmid (the Bishop), Eleanor Tremain, Bill Stewart, Gavin Muir, Nigel Anthony, Stephen Thorne, Deborah Berlin. Music by Elizabeth Parker. Director: Richard Wortley. (135m)
(23-07-2000; 9:10pm; Rpt) Easy Virtue (Noel Coward)
Adapted for radio by Maria Aitken. Larita is a beautiful woman with a past, who has recently married John Whittaker, the eldest son of an upper-middle class family. Her arrival among his family provokes a clash with their sense of propriety, but she fends off their attacks with wit and charm until she loses control - and her husband. With Anna Massey, Victoria Hamilton, Michael Elwyn, Elisabeth Dermot-Walsh, Jimmy Gardner, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Lia Williams, Geraldine Alexander, Anton Lesser, Rupert Penry-Jones, Jack Davenport, Ruth Sillers and Mary Wimbush. Director: Maria Aitken. (85m)
(30-07-2000; 9:45pm; Rpt) The Vortex (Noel Coward)
A production of the play which catapulted Coward to fame in 1924. Starring Harriet Walter and Paul Rhys with Frances Jeater, John Rye, Jenny Funnell, Robert Portal, Peter Blythe, Federay Holmes, Keith Drinkel, Pamela Grace and Mike Sykes. Directed by John Tydeman. (90m)
(06-08-2000; 10:15pm; Rpt) Art (Yasmina Reza, trans Christopher Hampton)
(NB: Repeat of 07-05-2000 - see above.)
(13-08-2000 10:00pm; Rpt) Resident Alien (Tim Fountain)
Based on the writings of Quentin Crisp. From `The Naked Civil Servant' to a grandly camp exile in New York City, Quentin Crisp was one of the strangest exports. Laughter and poignancy greeted the opening of this acclaimed stage drama of Crisp in New York, with Crisp's death in Manchester immediately following the first performances. Bette Bourne recreates his powerful interpretation for the radio. Director Mike Bradwell. (70m)
(20-08-2000) 9:30pm; Rpt) The Father (August Strindberg, trans/adap Eivor Martinus)
In the 150th year after his birth, the sex war dramas of Strindberg still find a resonance in our age of gene mapping and DNA headines. A mother knows her own child, but the seed of paternal doubt can poison a father's mind. Ronald Pickup (The Captain), Cheryl Campbell (Laura), Eleanor Moriarty (Bertha, their daughter), Tom Mannion (Dr Ostermark), Christopher Good (The Pastor), Eve Pearce (Margaret, the nurse), Ben Crowe (Noid, a servant), Paul Panting (The Captain's batman). Directed by Ned Chaillet. (100m)
(27-08-2000) No programme (Proms coverage).
(03-09-2000) No programme (Proms coverage).
(10-09-2000) Macbeth (William Shakespeare)
A new production for Radio 3 directed by acclaimed director Richard Eyre in his radio debut. Ken Stott (Macbeth), Phyllis Logan (Lady Macbeth/Third Witch), Tom Mannion (Macduff), Liam Brennan (Banquo), Hugh Ross (Duncan), Alan Cox (Malcolm), Paul Higgins (Lennox), Alastair Galbraith (Ross), Kenny Ireland (Porter), Graham Crowden (Old Man), Ken Drury (Doctor), Iain Stuart Robinson (Seyton), Tracy Wiles (First Witch/Lady Macduff), Kathleen McGoldrick (Second Witch/Gentlewoman), William McBain (Sergeant/Second Murderer), Gavin Muir (First Murderer/Siward), Stuart Wilkinson (Fleance/Young Siward). (110m)
(17-09-2000) The Taming Of The Shrew (William Shakespeare)
Directed by Melanie Harris, music by Patrick Dineen. Gerard McSorley (Petruchio), Ruth Mitchell (Katherina), Julia Ford (Bianca), Dave Hill (Baptista), Christopher Colquhoun (Lucentio), Deka Walmsley (Hortensio), Maggie Tagney (Widow), Russel Dixon (Gremio), Burn Gorman (Grumio), James Quinn (Tranio), Seamus O'Neill (Pedant), Geoff Hinsliff (Vincentio), Jeff Hordley (Curtis). (105m)
(24-09-2000; Rpt) Stanley (Pam Gems)
(NB: Repeat of 20-02-2000 - see above)
(01-10-2000; Rpt) Dianeira (Timberlake Wertenbaker)
A group of students meet a storyteller in a cafe who recounts an angry story of passion, jealousy, sexual betrayal and revenge. Cast includes Olympia Dukakis, Harrier Walter, Jenny Quayle, Sandra Voe, Joseph Fiennes, Alan Howard, Emily Bruni, Joy Richardson, Jonathan Tafler, David Bradley and Simon Callow. Directors: Catherine Bailey and Timberlake Wertenbaker. Original music composed by Stephen Warbeck. (105m)
(08-10-2000) Moonlight (Harold Pinter)
Pinter heads a distinguished cast in this first radio production of his own play. A man is on his death bed, but where is his loving family...? With Sara Kestelman, John Shrapnel, Jill Johnson, Douglas Hodge, Harry Burton and Indira Varma. Music by Elizabeth Parker. Directed by Janet Whitaker. (55m)
(15-10-2000) Summerfolk (Maxim Gorky)
A group of middle-class Russian holidaymakers spend a summer together, passing the time with affairs, intrigues and amateur dramatics, but eventually having to confront the hollowness of their lives. Written in 1904 as a response to Chekov's `The Cherry Orchard', this adaptation by Nick Dear was first performed at the Royal National Theatre. Cast: Simon Armstrong, Kelly Hunter, Jennifer Vaughan, John Labanowski, Ronan Vibert, Patrick Brennan, Nickie Rainsford, Ruth Jones, Christine Pritchard, Siriol Jenkins, Rhodri Hugh, Christopher Hampson, David Middleton, Richard Elfin and Norman Rodway. (135m)
(22-10-2000; 9:40pm) Monument (Eduardo de Filippo)
To mark the centenary of the Italian playwright Eduardo de Filippo, his widow Isabella introduces a performance of his play about an Italian Sergeant Major living inside a monument in Naples 25 years after the end of World War II. Directed by Sue Wilson, the cast includes Tom Georgeson, Anna Keaveney and Michael Mears, with music by Anthea Gomez. (160m)
(29-10-2000) 2000 Tales (Various)
A series of modern-day Chaucerian tales, told by a group of travellers who are forced to take shelter from a storm in a motorway service station. `The Prologue and Nisha's Tale' by Sebastian Backiewicz. `The Colonel's Tale' by Leigh Jackson. `The Actor's Agent's Tale' by Iain Heggie. `Max's Tale' by Harwant Bains. `The Tale of a Mother Feeding Her Child' by Mahesh Dattani. `The Former Househusband's Tale' by Liz Lochhead. `The Shepherd's Tale' by Barrie Keeffe. `The Young Man's Tale' by Sally Pomme Clayton. Part of Radio 3's celebrations to mark the 600th anniversary of Geoffrey Chaucer's death. (120m)
(05-11-2000) The Devil's Disciple (George Bernard Shaw)
To mark the 50th anniversary of the death of George Bernard Shaw, Martin Jenkins directs a performance of Shaw's paradoxical masterpiece `The Devil's Disciple', set against the background of the American War of Independence. Cast includes Shirley Knight (Mrs Dudgeon), Melissa Greenspan (Essie), Paul Gutrecht (Christy), Stacy Keach (The Rev Anderson), Cindy Katz (Judith Anderson), Norman Lloyd (Lawyer Hawkins), Frank Muller (Uncle Titus), John Chardiet (Uncle William), Carolyn Seymour (Mrs W Dudgeon), Jane Carr (Mrs T Dudgeon), Tate Donovan (Richard Dudgeon), and Kenneth Danziger (Sergeant). (120m)
(12-11-2000; 9:45pm) Wystan (Gordon MacDougall)
Paul Schofield plays W H Auden in MacDougall's one-man play celebrating the poet's life and work. In a New York hotel room, the elderly Auden reviews his life and thinks back over the people he has known and loved. (90m)
(19-11-2000) Requiem (Bryony Lavery)
A moving portrayal of the last day in the life of French composer Lili Boulanger, who died in 1918 at the age of 24. Cared for by her sister - the composer and teacher Nadia Boulanger - and her loving mother, Lili is suffused by thoughts of the music she has created and that which will never be written. With Imogen Stubbs (Lili), Claire Bloom (Raisa), Richard Johnson (Ernest), Deborah Findlay (Nadia). (70m)
(26-11-2000) Dr Ibsen's Ghosts (Robert Ferguson)
The story of the illegitimate son and the forgotten mother of the great Norwegian poet and playwright Henrik Ibsen. Directed by Ned Chaillet, with Paul Scofield (Henrik Ibsen), Morag Hood (Suzannah Ibsen), Edna Dore (Else Sofie Jensen) and Michael N Harbour (Henrik Jaeger). Music omposed by Julie Cooper and performed by Sophie Langdon (violin), Gordon Hunt (oboe) and Julie Cooper (piano). (85m)
(03-12-2000) Ghosts (Henrik Ibsen, adap Doug Lucie)
A new adaptation of one of Ibsen's most controversial plays, the story of a mother and son struggling to come to terms with the past. Directed by Janet Whitaker, with Penelope Wilton (Mrs Helene Alving), Paul Rhys (Oswald Irving), Patrick Malahide (Pastor Manders), Michael Elphick (Jakob Engstrand), and Letitia Dean (Regine Engstrand). Translation by Margaretha Danbolt Simon. (110m)
(10-12-2000) A Fairly Honourable Defeat (Iris Murdoch, dram Brian Friel)
On a hot summer's day, Rupert and Hilda celebrate their long and happy marriage. However, death and despair stalk their sunlit garden, and by the end of the summer good has been defeated by evil and all is terribly changed. Anna Carteret (Hilda), Steven Mangan (Simon), Malcolm Sinclair (Axel), Julian Glover (Rupert), Penny Downie (Morgan), Terence Longdon (Leonard), Daniel Brocklebank (Peter), Alex Jennings (Julius), Karl Johnson (Tallis). Director: Maria Aitken. Music by Howard Davidson. (100m)
(17-12-2000; 9:00pm) The Judas Kiss (David Hare)
The story of Oscar Wilde's relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas, focusing on the day when Wilde decides to stay in England and face imprisonment and on the night after his release from prison two years later. Simon Callow (Oscar Wilde), Martin Freeman (Arthur Wellesley), Patsy Palmer (Phoebe Cane), Rupert Penry-Jones (Lord Alfred Douglas), John Quentin (Sandy Moffat), Simon Russell Beale (Robert Ross), Marcello Walton (Galileo Masconi). Directed by David Hare. Music composed by Nick Bicat. (105m)
(24-12-2000) The Importance Of Being Earnest (Oscar Wilde)
Written in the summer of 1894 while on holiday with his family in Worthing, Wilde's `trivial comedy for serious people' has gone on to become one of the best-loved plays in British theatre. Directed by Howard Davies, with Julian Wadham, Patrick Godfrey, Simon Russell Beale, Geraldine McEwan and Victoria Hamilton (Gwendoline Fairfax), Celia Imrie (Miss Prism), Emma Fielding (Cecily Cardew), Geoffrey palmer (The Rev Canon Chasuble) and Hugh Ross (Merriman). Music composed by Dominic Muldowney. (90m)
(31-12-2000) Shakespeare's Fools (Karl Minns & Owen Evans)
Live from Wilton's Music Hall in the East End of London, the Nimmo Twins - Minns and Evans - host a guide to fooling illustrated by a selection of scenes from Shakespeare. Excerpts from `As You Like It', `Twelfth Night', `Macbeth', `Anthony and Cleopatra', `Hamlet', `The Merchant of Venice' and `King Lear' are performed by Joss Ackland, Roger Lloyd Pack, Matilda Ziegler, Sylvestra Le Touzel, Sylvester McCoy and Louis Hilyer. Directed by Kate Rowland, with music by Harvey Brough. (60m)
THE SUNDAY FEATURE
5:45pm Sundays; 45mins; Usually a documentary series, some episodes include dramatic themes and have actors listed so I've included these for completeness sake.
(05-03-2000) Boris Pasternak After The Blizzard - Tom de Waal, in Moscow and at Boris Pasternak's dacha outside the city, talks to those who knew the author of `Dr Zhivago' in the years after Stalin's death on 5 March 1947. Pasternak spent much of the Stalin era in isolation, unpublished, working on translations of Shakespeare and Goethe. Having survived the worst of the purges, the last phase of his life became one of turbulence, fame, creativity and persecution. In dramatised readings the role of Boris Pasternak is played by Ronald Pickup. Cast also includes Neville Jason, Colin Pinney and David Timson. (NB: Repeated 19-07-2000 at 9:30pm.)
(24-12-2000) The Ballad Of Reading Gaol - Sean Street introduces a reading by Simon Callow of Oscar Wilde's great poem `The Ballad of Reading Gaol' - a sombre reflection on the execution of a prisoner and the cruelty of humanity, written out of his own experience of imprisonment.
TWENTY-MINUTES:
Various dramatic twenty-minute pieces that are used as mid-concert interval pieces during Performance On 3 and Opera On 3; Writer/reader credits have been noted where available; Documentaries/talks have been omitted; Note that editions broadcast during Saturday performances are usually marked just as 'Interval'; Some editions broadcast during the Proms season were subtitled Poetry Proms, and included poetry readings (though mainly talk).
(03-01-2000; 7:20pm) The White Cat (E Nesbit, read by Jenny Agutter)
A king sends his sons on adventurous tests to win the crown. Who will bring home the spoils?
(07-01-2000; 8:30pm) Something Special (Iris Murdoch, read by Catherine Cusak)
Murdoch's rarely heard work. Yvonne passionately believes that there is more to life than marriage to Sam, a respectable tailor's apprentice. A night out in Dublin forces her to confront reality.
(28-03-2000; 8:10pm) Corporate Entertainment (Helen Simpson, read by Pat Kavanagh)
A new story commissioned with by Radio 3 and BBC Music Magazine.
(11 to 14-04-2000 7:30pm) Four Chekhov Comedies (read by Alistair McGowan)
1: Romance With Double Bass (7:30pm).
2: Boys (7:50pm).
3: In The Dark & He Quarrelled With His Wife (8:05pm).
4: A Dreadful Night (8:25pm).
(13-06-2000; 8:20pm) To Feed The Night, Part 1 (Phillip Hensher, read by Andrew Wincott) The tale set in the dangerous world of house-moving - dangerous, that is, when Mr Bell is in charge.
(16-06-2000; 8:00pm) To Feed The Night, Part 2 (Phillip Hensher, read by Andrew Wincott)
(22 to 25-07-2000) More Matter (John Updike) The first of three essays by Updike in which he embraces a variety of concerns - some serious, some odd. (NB: Broadcast on Saturday, Monday and Tuesday.)
1: The Burglar Alarm (8:20pm). (NB: Marked as 'Interval'.)
2: On The Edge & Car Talk (8:20pm).
3: The Short Story & I (7:45pm).
(30-07-2000; 8:15pm) Category 5 (wri/read by Liz Jensen) The first of a series of commissioned short stories on the themes of wine and food. Jenson's recent novels include `Eggdancing' and `The Paper Eater' - tells a dark tale of a shadowy enterprise, beginning in a bar called the Hectic Coast. (NB: Marked as 'Interval'; Entries in this series also included writers talking about other writers, which are not included.)
(07-08-2000; 8:20pm) No Title (wri/read by Leslie Forbes) Set in Italy, a romantic liaison attempts to flourish amidst the fine wines and lost vineyards.
(08-08-2000; 7:55pm) Les Menus Plaisirs (wri/read by Michele Roberts) Set in England and Paris, the novelist and poet gives us a retelling of the Greek legend of Psyche.
(13-08-2000; 8:30pm) Picnic Fever (wri/read by Helen Dunmore) The novelist and poet reads one of a series of commissioned short stories for the Proms.
(22-08-2000; 8:45pm) This Summer Last Summer (wri/read by Jeanette Winterson) The novelist's story about food and forgiveness.
(27 to 29-08-2000) Acting Up - The first in a three-part adaptation of writer David Hare's diary of his experiences on both sides of the Atlantic. At the age of 52, he forced himself to make his professional stage debut in New York, and he talks about the difficulties in coming to terms with his frightening change of career.
1: (7:45pm)
2: (7:50pm)
3: (8:15pm)
(10-10-2000; 8:00pm) Walter Benjamin's Paris, Part 1 - Janet Suzman reads the moving story of Walter Benjamin's escape across the Pyrenees from occupied France into Spain with a precious cargo in tow - the Arcades Project. (NB: This was billed as 'Part 1', though the second piece was a survery of Benjamin's Arcades Project.)
(25 to 29-12-2000) Dear Sarah Bernhardt (Francoise Sagan, adap Pamela Grace) An experiment in biography by the French writer Francoise Sagan in which she converses with Sarah Bernhardt 60 years after the great actress's death. Directed by Richard Wortley, with Eileen Atkins (Francoise Sagan) and Vanessa Redgrave (Sarah Bernhardt). (NB: Not marked as part of the slot, but otherwise fits the bill.)
1: (10:20pm)
2: (9:40pm)
3: (9:40pm)
4: (9:45pm)
5: (9:30pm)
BETWEEN THE EARS
Saturday evenings; 45mins (unless otherwise noted); Experimental radiophonic features (the actual dramatic content being unknown); Writer credits aren't always given; The end of a series, a one-off (revised) repeat and one short new series were broadcast - during breaks in series of 'The Brains Trust'.
(08-01-2000; 10:00pm) Three Women (Sylvia Plath) One of the first poems in the language to explore pregnancy and childbirth, Plath's powerful, long poem for three voices describes three different experiences, using characteristically strong, stark language. Lindsey Duncan (The wife), Harriet Walter (Secy), Amanda Root (The girl). With a specially composed electronic soundtrack written and performed by Robin Rimbaud, better known in the electronic music world as Scanner.
(15-01-2000 9:45pm) Underground (Nick Darke): South Crofty Mine in Cornwall closed in 1999. Tin had been extracted here since Tudor times. This is not only the last tin mine to close in Cornwall but the last working tin mine in Europe. Voice of miners and the families are woven into a text by Nick Darke and music by Jim Carey. Charles Barnecut (Charlie), Eddy (Carl Grose). Director: Claire Grove.
(29-06-2000; 8:40pm) Machaut Evening: Interval - Virtual Strangers Reunited (Richard Gaskell & Antony Pitts) A remix of `Virtual Strangers', a radiogenic fantasy first heard in Radio 3's 'Between the Ears' series, written by Richard Gaskell and Antony Pitts and based on Guillaume de Machaut's amorous and musical adventures. The programme includes humans improvising together with a computer program written by Jonathan Finn. (NB: Presumably this is what would be classed as a 'revised repeat'...?)
(01-07-2000 10:00pm) Thirteen Ways Of Looking At A Blackbird - An aural kaleidoscope in 13 parts evoking the blackbird - one of the most familiar and best-loved birds with one of the most beautiful songs in the world.
(08-07-2000 10:00pm) Three Places In New England - A meditation on the music, ideas and character of Charles Ives - insurance salesman and godfather of modern American music - focusing on his orchestral triptych about New England which portrays Boston Common, Putnam's Camp in Connecticut, and the Housatonic River at Stockbridge, Massachusetts. With conductor James Sinclair, Danbury tour guide Nancy Sudik, playwright John Grissmer and and composer Richard Boulanger.
(15-07-2000 10:00pm) A Parisian In Paradise - It is Paris 1943, and two parallel worlds collide - the inner musical visions of Olivier Messiaen and the public noise of war, collaboration, resistance and impossible love. From the debris of this encounter, a cycle of seven movements is born - `Creation', `Stars', `Agony', `Desire', `Angels', `Judgement' and `Consummation'. With additional music performed by Bing Crosby, George Formby and Dooley Wilson, and the voices of Winston Churchill, C S Lewis, Kathryn Oswald, Peter Ustinov and many others.
THE WIRE
Saturday nights; Various times as noted; This was the first set of plays in the long-running series - this series continued into 2001.
(18-11-2000; 21:45) Feed Me (Mark Ravenhill)
Ravenhill directs his first original play for radio, about a group of people struggling to keep up with the latest cultural phenomena and finding themselves facing some uncomfortable truths about the world around them. With David Sibley (Peter), Nicola Redmond (Jan), Kate Ashfield (Sally) and Charlie Condou (Paul). Music by Bessa Berberi. (60m)
(25-11-2000; 22:00) Swallow (Lavinia Murray)
Comedy, tragedy and farce ensue when an opera singer discovers that she is the victim of a serial killer who has killed and revived her 17 times. Directed by Melanie Harris, with Lorcan Cranitch (DI Meeson), John Lloyd Fillingham (DS Simp), Kulvinder Ghir (Clarence Joblet) and Margaret Preece (Della Winsort). Music by Patrick Dineen, performed by Patrick Dineen and Margaret Preece. (45m)
(02-12-2000; 21:45) Unsinkable (Richard Bean)
A dramatic account of the sinking of a Hull trawler. Directed by Paul Miller, with Tom Courtenay (narrator), Ian Dunn (Len), Deborah McAndrew (Nancy), Paul Copley (Dillinger), Michelle Holmes (Kath). (60m)
(09-12-2000; 22:45) Crush (Gill Adams)
Kate Rowland directs Lucy Beaumont as teenage mother Maria in a searing monologue of curtailed expectation and youthful anger. (45m)
(16-12-2000; 21:45) Poppy Q (Nicola Baldwin)
In a stark thriller set in seedy underworld of a northern town, Poppy Q is always on the run, while Anita shelters a secret from Poppy's past. Katy Cavanagh (Poppy Q), Claudie Blakley (Anita), Emma Ashton (Lisa), Susan Twist (Marlene), Graeme Hawley (Alex) and Glenn Cunningham (Big Scary Bob). Directed by Polly Thomas. (60m)
(23-12-2000; 21:25) Electricity (Murray Gold)
Michael and Katherine have three builders in to do some work on their flat. However, the longer Leo, Jake and Bizzy spend, the more work there is to do, and soon cracks are appearing both in the fabric of the house and in the relationship between the builders and their employers. With Andrew Tiernan (Jake), Owen Teale (Leo), Claire Rushbrook (Katherine), Jonathan Cake (Michael) and Alex Trinder (Bizzy). Directed by Jeremy Mortimer. (80m)
(30-12-2000; 21:45) Elasticity Of Supply & Demand (Owen McCafferty)
McCafferty's first play for radio is a story about love - a mixture of comedy and tragedy following a relationship from its end to its beginning and back again. With Gerard Murphy (Him) and Frances Tomelty (Her). Music composed by David Chilton. (60m)
OTHER:
Pieces that were not broadcast in the usual slots.
(14-05 to 18-06-2000; Rpt) Piers Plowman (William Langland) (NB; No broadcast 28-05-2000) (Saturday nights; 30m)
1: Kevin Jackson presents an introduction to four new translations of Langland's visionary allegorical poem `Piers Plowman', which satirised church and state and contributed to the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. (11:15pm)
2: Ken Smith's version of the `Confession of the Seven Deadly Sins'. (11:45pm)
3: John Burnside's version of `The Ploughing of the Half-Acre'. (11:15pm)
4: Helen Dunmore's version of `The Crucifixion and the Harrowing of Hell'. (11:15pm)
5: David Constantine's version of Piers's meeting with Hope and Charity. (11:40pm)
(25-06 to 09-07-2000; Rpt) Selected Poets - Peter Porter introduces poetry from the BBC archives. (Saturday nights; 30m)
1: Featuring Sylvia Plath from `The Living Poet' series, first broadcast in 1961, and Louis MacNeice reading `Prayer Before Birth' and `Autumn Journal' in 1949. (10:45pm)
2: Today's programme includes an early recording of W H Auden's `Look Stranger' from 1936 and his `Journey to Ireland' from 1961. Plus Dylan Thomas reading `Over St John's Hill' and `In the White Giant's Thigh'. (10:45pm)
3: The final programme features a Stevie Smith recording from 1963 and two American poets recorded in the 1960s - Ogden Nash and E E Cummings. (11:30pm)
