Rudolpho's Zest
by Tanika Gupta
Tanika Gupta - Rudolpho's Zest
BBC Radio 3: Drama on 3
Broadcast: Sunday 6th April 2008 @ 8:20 p.m.
Rudolpho is a larger-than-life old man dying in a London hospice. He flirts with the pretty nurse, Susan, and is full of stories, but he has a
remarkable secret: he has lived for 192 years. Having been "immortal" his body has rapidly begun to age and his zest for life is
disappearing. Now old and exhausted, he is ready to die. But Mel, a woman he has recently met, is conducting research into old age
and she has a few questions for him. How has Rudolpho lived so long?
As he lies in the hospice he reminisces on his life as a servant, soldier, law clerk, family man, writer and record producer – but will the
secret of his long life be revealed? In all his years, while he has watched those he loved – his mother, stepfather, wife and son – die, he
never really ages beyond his early middle years. His body regenerates, he takes on a new identity and moves on... until now.
With Ray Panthaki [Rudolpho Zest], Lyndsey Marshal [Mel], Adjoa Andoh [Susan], Manjinder Virk [Sita], Paul Bhattacharjee [Firoz],
Paul Bazely [Mahesh], Sam Dastor [Ghandi], Sakuntala Ramanee [Nasreen], Clare Corbett [Alice], Geoffrey Whitehead [Charles
Darwin], Peter Marinker [Colonel Fitzherbert], Robert Maskell [Lord Williams / The Officer], Ben Onwukwe [Charles / The Guard / The
Shopkeeper], Liz Sutherland [The Maid], Gagan Sharma [Babulal], and Alex Miller [Young Rudolpho].
Directed by Tracey Neale
90 min.
Jim
