Radio 3 Drama & Readings, 2013
6 Jan 2013 Drama on 3, Shakespeare on 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. First broadcast in April 2012
13 January 2013 Drama on 3 - Copenhagen
Michael Frayn's Tony award-winning play imagines Danish physicist Bohr and his wife, Margrethe, and physicist Werner Heisenberg meeting and re-drafting the events of Autumn 1941 in an attempt to make sense of them. A powerful exploration of the uncertainties of human memory and motivation. The Bohrs live in Nazi-occupied Denmark; their visitor, Heisenberg, is German. Two old friends, now on opposing sides, who between them have the ability to change the course of history, but why has Heisenberg, Bohr's former protégé, come to Copenhagen? Margrethe Bohr - Greta Scacchi; Niels Bohr - Simon Russell Beale; Werner Heisenberg - Benedict Cumberbatch; Writer - Michael Frayn; Adaptor - Emma Harding; Director - Emma Harding
20 January 2013: Drama on 3 - The Physicists
This classic European farce by Friedrich Dürrenmatt is about three theoretical physicists who believe they are Einstein, Newton and Möbius. They are locked in a lunatic asylum and each gets tangled in vicious murders. Amidst all the jokes is a real relationship between a scientist who may or may not be mad and his nurse who wants to save him. The Physicists was first performed in 1962 at the height of the Cold War. The serious subject behind the farce is what to do with the knowledge of weapons of mass destruction once let out of the genie's bottle. Who controls that knowledge? Can scientists remain free, even in the free world? Doctor Von Zahnd - Samantha Bond; Inspector - Geoffrey Whitehead; Möbius - John Hodgkinson; Newton - Thom Tuck; Einstein - John Bett; Nurse Monika/Mrs Rose - Madeleine Worrall; Head Nurse - Yonnie Fraser; Mr Rose - Andrew Watson; Producer - Matt Thompson; The music soundtrack is from Bernard Herrmann's less well known score to Fahrenheit 451.
27 January 2013: Drama on 3 - Britten 100: Billy Budd - These Buttons We Wear
This adaptation of Herman Melville's powerful story of persecution and retribution in the aftermath of the Naval Mutinies at Nore and Spithead in 1797. Herman Melville was a man who himself had more than a passing acquaintance with mutiny. There was a history of it amongst his forebears and his own escapades as a sailor in the South Pacific involved him in a mutiny of his own. Sounds effects specially recorded off the Cornish coast, this is a story steeped in the naval history of two nations. It is also a touching account of creative aspiration, failed adventuring and a family haunted by misfortune. Herman Melville - Gerard Murphy; Eleanor Melville - Monica Dolan; Long Ghost/Captain Vere - Robert Portal; Guert Gansevoort/John ClaggartDavid Westhead; Bill BuddMark Quartley; Young EleanorCaitlin Welch; Liverpool/The Dansker - Simon Greenall; Salem/The Stranger - Nathan Osgood; Consul Wilson/Captain Graveling - Pip Donaghy; Dr Johnstone/Lieutenant Ratcliffe - Robert Hastie; Rope Yarn/Donald - John Tams; Director - Frank Stirling; Adaptor - Keith Dewhurst; Writer - Herman Melville; Songs arranged by John Tams. A Unique production for BBC Radio 3.
03 February 2013: Drama on 3 - Tosca's Kiss
by Craig Warner. Inspired by the libretto to Puccini's opera Tosca, but set under a more modern, violently oppressive regime - where men and women have fought to resist the domination of a malign government. Baron Scarpia's musings on the nature of power, and on his love for the opera singer, Tosca, give way to a cat-and-mouse game in which the stakes are all-or-nothing. But inspired to fight for her lover Cavaradossi, Tosca's arsenal holds weapons against which Scarpia has no defence. Baron Scarpia - Stephen Dillane; Floria Tosca - Kate Fleetwood; Mario Cavaradossi - Joseph Millson; Rospo - Samuel Barnett; Director Jeremy Mortimer
10 February 2013: Drama on 3 - Mrs Updike
by Margaret Heffernan. This new play is about the tempestuous relationship between one of the most famous American writers of the twentieth century, John Updike, and his mother. When John Updike's mother was asked whether she was proud of her son's acclaim, she replied, "I'd rather it had been me." Updike said that one of his earliest memories was seeing his mother at her writing desk. He wrote many stories about his mother and mothers in general, almost all isolated by their intelligence and sensitivity, which their sons both love and fear. Mrs Updike - Eileen Atkins; John Updike - Charles Edwards; Young John Updike - Josef Lindsay; Wesley - Stuart Milligan; Springer - Garrick Hagon; Interviewer - Joseph May; Lara - Lorelei King
17 February 2013: Drama on 3 - The Strangers' Will
By Dominic Power and Sarah Hall. A supernatural thriller set in an eerie hotel in the Lake District. Dramatist Dominic Power and award-winning novelist Sarah Hall combine to create a tense, haunting story against the stark backdrop of the Cumbrian landscape. An original drama about obsession, possession and memory. It has an eclectic soundtrack ranging from Dvorak and Bernard Herrmann to Cumbrian folk and David Bowie, this is a powerful fusion of ghost story, road movie and touching love story. Nigel Lindsay - Charlie; Emily Raymond - Ellie; Bryan Dick - Jonty; Grainne Keenan - Megan; Vera Filatova - Ania/Cat; Jacqueline Pearce - Gwen; Claire Vousden - Dawn; Peter Hamilton Dyer - Stuart/Ian; Director - Lawrence Jackson. A Unique production for BBC Radio 3
24 February 2013: Drama on 3 - King David
by Katie Hims. Dave has a pretty good life: his company is thriving, he's got a lovely wife, a big house, kids at private schools. But then he gets a bit careless and things start to go wrong. David King - Lee Ross; Jules - Claire Rushbrook; Alice - Lizzy Watts; Lee - Ben Crowe; Lola - Madeleine Power; Val - Susan Jameson; Priest - Robert Blythe; Policeman - Will Howard; Ray - Nicholas Murchie; Neela - Hannah Wood; Director - Mary Peate; Writer - Katie Hims
3 March 2013: 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
10 March 2013: Drama on 3 - Baroque Spring: Moliere's The Misanthrope
By Molière adapted by Roger McGough. As part of Baroque Spring, Radio 3's season of Baroque music and culture a new adaptation of this classic French play performed live in front of an audience at Powis Castle. How to lose friends and infuriate people - a mockery of manners and morals set amid 17th century French aristocracy. Disgusted with French society, where powdered fops gossip in code and bejewelled coquettes whisper behind fans, poet Alceste embarks on a one-man crusade against fakery, frippery and forked tongues. But could the woman he adores be the worst culprit of them all? Dubois - Neil Caple; Philante - Simon Coates; Clitandre - Leander Deeny; Oronte - Daniel Goode; Eliante - Alison Pargeter; Acaste - George Potts; Celimene - Zara Tempest-Walters; Alceste - Colin Tierney; Arsinoe - Harvey Virdi; Music by Peter Coyte; Directed for the stage by Gemma Bodinetz; Produced and directed for radio by Pauline Harris
17 Mar 2013: 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. First broadcast 29 January 2012
24 Mar 2013: Drama on 3 - Lungs
By Duncan Macmillan. A couple are grappling with a dilemma. Should they bring a baby into a world full of uncertainties and anxieties? Duncan Macmillan's raw but funny love story was first produced by Paines Plough and Sheffield Theatres. The play is performed by Kate O'Flynn and Alistair Cope and directed by Richard Wilson. Produced for radio by Toby Swift
31 Mar 2013: Drama on 3 - Spring Storm,
by Tennessee Williams. A radio adaptation of the Royal and Derngate, Northampton production. Heavenly Critchfield has almost everything a young woman could desire, but when she's forced to decide between respectable suitor Arthur and handsome, wild lover Dick, her actions cause a chain of consequences that tear their lives apart. Heavenly Critchfield - Liz White; Arthur Shannon - Michael Malarkey; Dick Miles - Michael Thomson; Hertha Neilson - Anna Tolputt; Esmeralda Critchfield - Jacqueline King; Aunt Lila - Joanna Bacon; Mrs Lamphrey/Birdie Schlagmann - Janice McKenzie; Henry Adams - Gavin Harrison; Oliver Critchfield - James Jordan; Ralph - Steven France; Mabel - Ailish Symons; Music by Jon Nicholls; Directed by Laurie Sansom; Produced by Jeremy Mortimer
7 Apr 2013: Drama on 3 - Dunsinane
A thrilling sequel to Shakespeare's Macbeth by the award-winning playwright David Greig. Macbeth is dead. Under cover of night, an English army has swept through the landscape, killed the tyrant and taken the seat of power. Attempting to restore peace and put in place a new ruler, the commanding officer is beset by a brutal guerrilla uprising and simmering discontent amongst his own inexperienced troops. Struggling to grasp the alien customs and politics of this harsh country, he finds himself drawn towards the tyrant's powerful widow in search of someone to share his burden of responsibility. Increasingly isolated from his own men and Scottish allies alike, his efforts to restore order appear futile as the situation spins out of control. David Greig's exhilarating play is a vision of one man's attempt to restore peace in a country ravaged by war. Siward - Jonny Phillips; Gruach - Siobhan Redmond; The Boy Soldier - Jack Farthing; Malcolm - Brian Ferguson; MacDuff - Ewan Stewart; Egham - Alex Mann; Edward - Daniel Rose; Eric - Joshua Jenkins; Lulach - Sandy Grierson; Hen Girl - Lisa Hogg; Director - Roxana Silbert; Producer - David Ian Neville; Other parts were played by members of the company.; Original songs and music composed by Nick Powell and performed by Alex Lee, Sarah Wilson and Lisa Hogg.
14 Apr 2013: Drama on 3 - Shakespeare's Richard III
A production of one of Shakespeare's most popular plays featuring his most charismatic villain. Richard, Duke of Gloucester- Douglas Henshall; Buckingham - Ben Miles; Queen Elizabeth - Anastasia Hille; Duchess of York - Geraldine James; Margaret - Barbara Jefford; Lady Anne - Jasmine Hyde; Clarence - Michael Maloney; King Edward - Mark Bazeley; Richmond - Geoffrey Streatfield; Lord Stanley - John Rowe; Hastings - Paul Bentall; First murderer - Jonathan Keeble; Second murderer - Stephen Critchlow; Tyrell - Ewan Bailey; Dorset - Stuart Bunce; Grey - Chris Moran; Lovel - Damian Lynch; York - Rory Copus; Edward - Alex Green; First citizen - Rachel Atkins; Second citizen - Cherie Taylor-Battiste; Third citizen - Frances Jeater; Lord Mayor - Ioan Meredith; Brackenbury - Gerard McDermott; Cardinal - Peter Marinker; Ratcliff - Declan Wilson; Original music composed and realised by David Pickvance.; Directed by Marc Beeby
21 April 2013: Drama on 3 - Shakespeare's 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
28 April 2013: Drama on 3 - Light Shining in Buckinghamshire
by Caryl Churchill. Episode 1 of 3. The first in a new season of three classic plays curated for Radio 3 by the playwright Mark Ravenhill. First performed in 1976, Light Shining in Buckinghamshire focuses on the millennial movements that erupted during the English civil war in the 1640s. At the heart of the play is an edited dramatisation of The Putney Debates of 1647. The radical Levellers argue for liberty and universal suffrage while the military establishment stands for security and property as the basis for electoral eligibility. This new production of Light Shining in Buckinghamshire was directed by Mark Ravenhill himself. Man One - Justin Salinger; Man Two - Andrew Woodall; Man Three - Paul Rhys; Man Four - Joseph Mydell; Woman One - Monica Dolan; Woman Two - Amanda Drew; The cast each play several roles in the production. Music by Colin Sell; Historical adviser to the production: Jacob Field; Director - Mark Ravenhill; Producer - Jeremy Mortimer
05 May 2013: Drama on 3 - The Octoroon
By Dion Boucicault, Episode 2 of 3. As part of a season of plays curated by playwright Mark Ravenhill, BBC Radio 3 presents new production of Dion Boucicault's 1859 melodrama The Octoroon - a play that sparked debates about the abolition of slavery and the role of theatre in politics. The drama was recorded in front of an audience at Theatre Royal Stratford East, the venue that saw an earlier production of the same play in 1885. The story centres around the inhabitants of the Louisiana plantation of Terrebonne. Zoe, the "octoroon" of the title, is the daughter of its owner Judge Peyton by one of his slaves, but she has been raised as part of the family. When the Judge dies, the plantation falls into financial ruin and the Judge's handsome nephew George arrives as heir apparent. George and Zoe soon find themselves in love, but their future happiness is thrown into jeopardy by the plantation's evil overseer Jacob McLosky who has dastardly designs on both the property and Zoe. McLosky will stop at nothing - not even murder. Mrs Peyton - Barbara Barnes; Sunnyside - Geoffrey Burton; Jacob M'Closky - Steven Hartley; Salem Scudder - Toby Jones; Wahnotee - Earl Kim; Dora Sunnyside - Claire Lams; Paul - John MacMillan; Zoe - Amaka Okafor; Ratts - Paul Stonehouse; Pete - David Webber; George Peyton - Trevor White; Music composed and performed by Colin Sell; Director: Sasha Yevtushenko; Production Co-ordinator: Lesley Allan; Studio Managers: Colin Guthrie, Alison Craig, Steve Oak; Executive Producer: Jeremy Mortimer.
12 May 2013: Drama on 3 - Jungle of Cities
By Bertolt Brecht, in a translation by Anselm Hollo, curated by Mark Ravenhill. First performed in 1923 (then revised in 1927), 'Im Dickicht der Städte' is one of Brecht's earliest plays, in which he began to move away from the influence of Expressionism towards a new style. His sources ranged from the bizarre facts of a real-life Chicago murder in 1912, to J V Jensen's 'The Wheel' and Upton Sinclair's 'The Jungle'. He fused them all into this darkly compelling vision of the impossibility of real human contact in 'the crushing impact of cities' - Brecht's vision of the mechanistic inhumanity and poverty of the early twentieth-century city. George Garga - Paul Ritter; Shlink - Nicholas Woodeson; The Worm - Kerry Shale; The Baboon - Richard Ridings; Maynes/Pat Manky - Stephen Hogan; Jane Larry - Tracy Wiles; Marie Garga - Melody Grove; John Garga - Nathan Osgood; Mae Garga - Buffy Davis; Man - David Seddon; Producer/Director - Jonquil Panting
19 May 2013: Drama on 3 - One Winter's Afternoon
By Guy Meredith. As part of BBC Radio 3's Wagner 200, One Winter's Afternoon tells the story of the great operatic rivalry between Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner in the year marking the bicentenary of their births. In real life, the two great composers never met. Taking as its starting point the death of Wagner, the play travels between two time frames as it explores key moments in their lives, and in imaginary conversations between them about the struggles of creativity. Wagner - Kenneth Cranham; Verdi - Paul Rhys; Giuseppina - Kate Buffery; Ricordi - Clive Merrison; Boito - Nicholas Boulton; Cosima - Lydia Leonard; Stolz - Zalie Burrow; Liszt - Scott Handy; Minna - Emily Bruni; Mathilde - Clare Corbett; Mariani - Sean Baker; Waiter - Mark Straker; Musician - Will Bartlett; Writer - Guy Meredith; Director - Cherry Cookson; Sound Design: David Chilton and Lucinda Mason Brown; A Goldhawk Essential production for BBC Radio 3.
26 May 2013: Drama on 3 - The Go-Between
By L.P. Hartley. In L.P. Hartley's 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
02 Jun 2013: 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
09 Jun 2013: Drama on 3 - Elgar's Rondo
By David Pownall. In an English country garden composer Elgar is hiding away from failure, heartbroken by the bad reception given to his second symphony. Only three years earlier he had been hailed as England's answer to Beethoven and loaded with honours. Although the piano-tuner's son is now famous, knighted and wealthy, he cannot rise above criticism of the one piece of music he has written that is most detectably him. The guns in Flanders can be heard in the Sussex garden but Elgar cannot respond. He refuses to go through the sufferings and mental dangers that being a creative artist expose him to. He wants to be himself first and a servant of music's terrible duty second. Taking this choice, he imagines he will be free from pain - but his muse knows better. Elgar - David Horovitch, Alice - Sarah Badel, Jaeger/George V - Robert Glenister, Windflower - Emma Fielding, Schuster - Ian Masters, Carice/Mother/Cellist - Clare Corbett, Bernard Shaw - Gerard Murphy, Mark/Father - Harry Myers, Father John - Carl Prekopp, Bandmaster - John Evitts, Paul Hooker - Robert Lister, Directed by Martin Jenkins,
16 Jun 2013: Drama on 3 - Babbage
by David Pownall. The truly extraordinary story of Charles Babbage, a forgotten genius. One of the great scientific brains of the nineteenth century, he first conceived the computer but died a despised failure. Although most people today rely on their computers, few will have little knowledge of Babbage. This is a play with strong contemporary overtones as Babbage is forced to constantly struggle against financial cuts and restraints imposed by successive governments and a lack of investment in scientific projects. When Babbage learns his project will no longer be funded by Government, he cracks and loses the will to fight on. He is flat broke, exhausted, bitter and disillusioned. If no one wants his computer, so be it. Let the thing be scrapped. Only one friend is able to imagine the future of the computer - Ada Lovelace, Byron's daughter, poet, prophet, gambler and mathematician. Following the early death of Babbage's wife, Ada is the most important woman in his life, albeit she is married to an aristocrat. Through thick and thin, illness and despair, Babbage and Ada are a team in numbers, imagination and dreams. Charles Babbage - Sam Kelly; Ada Lovelace - Monica Dolan; Lord Lovelace - Michael Maloney; Disraeli - Nicholas Boulton; Wellington and Lord Aberdeen - Geoffrey Whitehead; Lady Byron - Frances Jeater; Marsden - Robert Glenister; Jeppes - Carl Prekopp; Italian Organ Grinder - Andrew Branch; Music composed by Max Pownall; Director - Martin Jenkins.
23 Jun 2013 No Drama on 3
[BBC Cardiff Singer of the World]
30 Jun 2013: Drama on 3 - Imo and Ben
By Mark Ravenhill. Benjamin Britten's 'Gloriana', commissioned for the Queen's Coronation Gala in 1953, was, according to Lord Harewood 'one of the greatest disasters of operatic history'. This play tells how Imogen Holst moved to be near Britten in Aldeburgh to support him as he worked on the score in the months leading up to the premiere. Benjamin Britten - Paul Ready; Imogen Holst - Amanda Root; Lord Harewood - Charles Edwards; With pianist Joseph Houston and soprano Emma Tring, and the New London Children's Choir; Directed by Jeremy Mortimer
7 Jul 2013: Drama on 3 - The Idylls of the King
Alfred Lord Tennyson's epic poem The Idylls of the King, narrated by Tim Pigott-Smith and adapted by Michael Symmons Roberts. Narrator/Tennyson - Tim Pigott-Smith; Arthur - Jonathan Keeble; Lancelot - Simon Harrison; Guinevere - Kathryn Hunt; Lord Astolat/Bedivere - Malcolm Raeburn; Leodogran/Churl - Terence Mann; Lavaine/Tristram - Tom Ferguson; Dagonet - Russell Dixon; Elaine - Elen Rhys; Music by Paul Cargill; Directed in Manchester by Susan Roberts
14 Jul 2013 No Drama on 3
[BBC Proms]
21 Jul 2013 No Drama on 3
[BBC Proms]
28 Jul 2013 No Drama on 3
[BBC Proms]
4 Aug 2013 No Drama on 3
[BBC Proms]
11 Aug 2013 No Drama on 3
[BBC Proms]
18 Aug 2013 No Drama on 3
[BBC Proms]
25 Aug 2013 No Drama on 3
[BBC Proms]
1 Sep 2013 No Drama on 3
[BBC Proms]
8 Sep 2013: Drama on 3 - Serious Money
Caryl Churchill is one of the most celebrated playwrights of her generation and a major force in British theatre. In the week of Caryl Churchill's 75th birthday, this is another chance to hear Radio 3's new production of her dramatic satire of the financial excesses and corporate venality that followed the 1986 Big Bang, 'Serious Money' which premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in 1987. The City has changed since the Big Bang of 1986 and the sudden deregulation of the financial markets. The Square Mile has been invaded by white knights and corporate raiders. Hot-shot dealer Billy Corman is plotting to take over the unsuspecting company Albion, aided and abetted by this new breed of yuppie traders. But his plans go awry when trader Jake Todd is found dead and the Department of Trade and Industry is brought in to investigate. Could Jake's death be linked to his insider dealing? Scilla Todd - Hattie Morahan; Jake Todd - Bertie Carvel; Zak Zackerman - Tobias Menzies; Corman - David Horovitch; Greville Todd - Brian Bowles; Jacinta Condor - Melanie Bond; Marylou Baines - Jane Whittenshaw; Grimes/ Frosby - Daniel Rabin; TK/ Nigel Ajibala - Nyasha Hatendi; All other parts played by members of the company.; adapted for radio and directed by Emma Harding; musical accompaniment from Colin Sell.; Original songs by Ian Dury, Micky Gallacher and Chas Jankel; First broadcast in June 2011
15 Sep 2013: Drama on 3 - Votes for Women
by Elizabeth Robins. The first of three classic plays that responded to the growing freedom of women at the turn of the twentieth century. Votes for Women is a suffragette play, originally performed in 1907 at the Court Theatre (now the Royal Court), which remains both modern and surprisingly controversial. Admired Conservative MP Geoffrey Stonor is relishing his engagement to the ebullient young heiress Jean Dunbarton until a chance encounter with the charismatic Vida Levering, an advocate of women's suffrage, appears to threaten them both - not just politically, but personally too. Vida Levering - Zoe Tapper, Geoffrey Stoner - Samuel West, Jean Dunbarton - Charity Wakefield, Lady John - Sylvestra LeTouzel, Lord John - Michael Bertenshaw, Farnborough - Jolyon Coy, Mrs Freddy - Philippa Stanton, Lydia Heriot/working woman - Joanna Brookes, StJohn Greatorex - Sean Murray, Ernestine Blunt - Emerald O'Hanrahan, Mr Pilcher - Ben Crowe, Produced and directed by Marion Nancarrow,
22 Sep 2013: Drama on 3 - The Father
August Strindberg's notorious drama from 1890 is re-assessed in an uncompromising new version by Laurie Slade. The second of three classic plays that responded to the growing freedom of women at the turn of the twentieth century. This new version by Laurie Slade makes The Father an uncompromising and psychologically astute portrayal of the battle of the sexes in a nineteenth-century middle-class marriage, with surprising insights into issues such as gender, the meaning of marriage, parental attitudes to child education, and the conflicts between science and religion. An uneasy stand-off exists between an army Captain and his wife. A disagreement over the future of their daughter, Bertha, triggers an all-out war. Laura will stop at nothing to gain control of her daughter's education and when she suggests to the Captain that he may not actually be the girl's father at all, she sets a chain of events in motion, from which nobody escapes unharmed. The Captain - Joe Dixon, Laura - Katy Stephens, Bertha - Holly Earl, The Doctor - Patrick Toomey, The Pastor - Laurence Kennedy, The Nurse - Barbara Young, Nöjd - Staten Cousins-Roe, Director: Joe Harmston, Adaptation: Laurie Slade, A Unique Production for BBC Radio 3
29 Sep 2013: Drama on 3 - You Never Can Tell
George Bernard Shaw's dazzling romantic comedy from 1897, in a new production directed by Martin Jarvis. The last in three classic plays in Drama on 3 that explore the changing role of women at the end of the nineteenth century. The play follows a battle of the sexes beside the seaside, with marital mayhem and social strategy. Shaw pokes fun at many of the progressive ideas he truly advocated. Valentine - Jamie Bamber, William - Ian Ogilvy, Fergus Crampton - Christopher Neame, Finch McComas - Adam Godley, Mrs Clandon - Rosalind Ayres, Gloria Clandon - Sophie Winkleman, Dolly Clandon - Moira Quirk, Phillip Clandon - Matthew Wolf, Boon QC - Julian Holloway, Jessie - Paula Jane Newman, Jo - Darren Richardson, Piano music arranged and performed by Richard Sisson, Sound design, Wesley Dewberry, Director, Martin Jarvis, A Jarvis and Ayres Production
6 Oct 2013: Drama on 3 - Widowers' Houses
Bernard Shaw's first play, written in 1892, became an immediate success and remains astonishingly relevant in the present property investment world. Funny, observant, incisive in examining moral dilemmas and business ethics. What happens if an Englishman, decent enough in private, shuts his eyes and conscience to the monstrous abuses of the poor by slum landlords, especially if the remedy might affect his own financial security? The theme has resonated down the years. Mr Sartorius - Ian McKellen; William Cokane - Charles Dance; Lickcheese - Tim Pigott-Smith; Harry Trench - Dan Stevens; Blanche Sartorius - Honeysuckle Weeks; Jessie - Siobhan Hayes; The Waiter - Jon Glover; Composer - Mark Holden; Director - Martin Jarvis; Producer - Rosalind Ayres. A Jarvis and Ayres Production for BBC Radio 3
13 Oct 2013: Drama on 3 - Sunday at Sant' Agata
By Ronald Frame. It is August 1893. The great Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi is spending the summer at Sant'Agata, his country house and extensive estate near Busseto in the Duchy of Parma. He is a few days short of his eightieth birthday. His opera 'Falstaff' has recently been triumphantly performed in Milan and Rome. It's a kind of swansong, a homage to composers from Mozart to Bizet to Wagner, and to one of his favourite writers, Shakespeare. Verdi intends a quiet day: a siesta, a little work on the translation, supper on the terrace, perhaps a game of billiards, and a walk in the twilight with the dogs. But then two students arrive unannounced, intent on bearding Italy's national hero in his den. And in the garden that so reminds Verdi of Shakespeare's Forest of Arden, the rumbustious spirit of old Pot Belly himself, Sir John Falstaff, is intent on some genial mischief. Giuseppe Verdi - Clive Merrison; Giuseppina Verdi - Gillian Barge; Teresa Stolz - Maggie Steed; Scola - Carl Prekopp; Trasatti - Thomas Arnold; Boy - Frederick Forge; Sir John Falstaff - Roger Hammond; Musician - Andy Massey; Producer - Patrick Rayner
20 Oct 2013: 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; First broadcast 09 September 2012
27 Oct 2013: Drama on 3 - King David
by Katie Hims. Dave has a pretty good life: his company is thriving; he's got a lovely wife, a big house, kids at private schools. But then he gets a bit careless and things start to go wrong. David King - Lee Ross; Jules - Claire Rushbrook; Alice - Lizzy Watts; Lee - Ben Crowe; Lola - Madeleine Power; Val - Susan Jameson; Priest - Robert Blythe; Policeman - Will Howard; Ray - Nicholas Murchie; Neela - Hannah Wood; Director - Mary Peate; Writer - Katie Hims
03 November 2013: Drama on 3 - The Outsider,
by Albert Camus, dramatised by John Retallack, from the translation by Sandra Smith. In Camus's classic existential novel Meursault refuses to pretend and is prepared to face alone the indifference of the universe. Coincides with the centenary of Camus' birth. Meursault - Alex Lanipekun; Magistrate - Michael Bertenshaw; Celeste - Arthur Hughes; Chaplain - John Norton; Prosecutor - Sean Murray; Marie - Priyanga Burford; Salamano - Sean Baker; Raymond - Stephen Hogan; Fifi - Sirine Saba; Defence - David Seddon; Nurse - Carys Eleri; Director - David Hunter Writer - Albert Camus Adaptor - John Retallack
10 Nov 2013: Drama on 3 - Faith Healer
In Brian Friel's classic play, an Irish faith healer tours Scotland and Wales avoiding a return to his native land. Finally he, his wife and manager make the fateful journey home. Frank - Owen Roe; Grace - Lia Williams; Teddy - Phil Daniels; Director - Peter Kavanagh; Writer - Brian Friel, First broadcast 12 September 2010
17 Nov 2013: Drama on 3 - Bix: Singing The Blues
By Robert Forrest. The jazz musician Bix Beiderbecke (1903-1931) has been described as a genius: how did he manage to create such beautiful and influential music with such a troubled mind? Apart from their genius, the musicians Bix Beiderbecke and Louis Armstrong had little in common. Armstrong was black and Beiderbecke was white and musical segregation was complete in the 1920's. Armstrong would go on to be one of the first musicians to challenge this racial divide, and his life story is well documented. Beiderbecke was an alcoholic who died young - but perhaps his greatest tragedy was that he never got to play with the best - because in his view the best were black. Bix and Louis met on several occasions but only ever played together once - in a private, after-hours session. Creating a fictionalised version of that meeting, Robert Forrest's play explores the heart and mind of Bix Beiderbecke and his relationship with Louis Armstrong. Bix Beiderbecke - Bryan Dick; Louis Armstrong - Eric Kofi Abrefa; Roy/Zutty - David Seddon; Alpha - Priyanga Burford; Music - Iain Johnstone; Director - David Neville; Producer - David Neville; Producer - Mark Rickards
24 Nov 2013: 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; A Fiction Factory Production.
01 Dec 2013: Drama on 3 - In the Depths of Dead Love
By Howard Barker. Chin, a banished poet in ancient China has bought a bottomless well used by unhappy locals to end their troubles by throwing themselves in. His tiny industry is thriving. Then the beautiful Hasi appears. She seems disinclined to jump. And Chin begins to hope she won't... Chin - Richard E Grant; Hasi - Francesca Annis; Ghang - Michael Bertenshaw; Mrs Hu - Jane Bertish; Student - Arthur Hughes; Music composed by Errollyn Wallen; Music performed by Joseph Spooner; Director - Peter Kavanagh
08 Dec 2013: Drama on 3 - One Winter's Afternoon
By Guy Meredith. As part of BBC Radio 3's Wagner 200, One Winter's Afternoon tells the story of the great operatic rivalry between Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner in the year marking the bicentenary of their births. In real life, the two great composers never met. Taking as its starting point the death of Wagner, the play travels between two time frames as it explores key moments in their lives, and in imaginary conversations between them about the struggles of creativity. Wagner - Kenneth Cranham; Verdi - Paul Rhys; Giuseppina - Kate Buffery; Ricordi - Clive Merrison; Boito - Nicholas Boulton; Cosima - Lydia Leonard; Stolz - Zalie Burrow; Liszt - Scott Handy; Minna - Emily Bruni; Mathilde - Clare Corbett; Mariani - Sean Baker; Waiter - Mark Straker; Musician - Will Bartlett; Writer - Guy Meredith; Director - Cherry Cookson; Sound Design: David Chilton and Lucinda Mason Brown; A Goldhawk Essential production for BBC Radio 3. First broadcast 19 May 2013
15 Dec 2013: Drama on 3 - Ghosts
Henrik Ibsen's provocative tale of family secrets and lies, in a new version adapted and directed by Richard Eyre and featuring the cast of his recent production for the Almeida Theatre. Helene Alving, a widow, is delighted that her son has returned home to Norway from his artist's life in Paris. The orphanage founded in her husband's name is about to open with the blessing of the local pastor, but there are family secrets and ghosts of the past beneath the surface of her ordered life which are about to come out to devastating effect. Helene - Lesley Manville; Pastor Manders - Will Keen; Oswald - Jack Lowden; Regina - Charlene McKenna; Jacob Engstrand - Brian McCardie; Director - Richard Eyre; Adaptor - Richard Eyre; Producer - Alison Hindell; Original sound design, John Leonard; Writer - Henrik Ibsen
22 Dec 2013: 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, First broadcast - 07 October 2012
29 Dec 2013: Drama on 3 - Britten 100: Billy Budd - These Buttons We Wear
By Herman Melville adapted by Keith Dewhurst. Herman Melville's powerful story of persecution and retribution takes place in the aftermath of the Naval Mutinies at Nore and Spithead in 1797. Herman Melville was a man who himself had more than a passing acquaintance with mutiny. There was a history of it amongst his forebears and his own escapades as a sailor in the South Pacific involved him in a mutiny of his own. Sounds effects specially recorded off the Cornish coast, this is a story steeped in the naval history of two nations. It is also a touching account of creative aspiration, failed adventuring and a family haunted by misfortune. Herman Melville - Gerard Murphy; Eleanor Melville - Monica Dolan; Long Ghost/Captain Vere - Robert Portal; Guert Gansevoort/John Claggart - David Westhead; Bill Budd - Mark Quartley; Young Eleanor - Caitlin Welch; Liverpool/The Dansker - Simon Greenall; Salem/The Stranger - Nathan Osgood; Consul Wilson/Captain Graveling - Pip Donaghy; Dr Johnstone/Lieutenant Ratcliffe - Robert Hastie; Rope Yarn/Donald - John Tams; Director - Frank Stirling; Adaptor - Keith Dewhurst; Writer - Herman Melville; Songs arranged by John Tams. A Unique production for BBC Radio 3.
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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