Episodes
| Episode | Title | First Broadcast | Repeated | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Light Shining In Buckinghamshire | 20130428 | 20151101 (R3) | by Caryl Churchill. 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. With Amanda Drew, Monica Dolan, Joseph Mydell, Justin Salinger, Paul Rhys and Andrew Woodall. Music by Colin Sell. Historical adviser to the production: Jacob Field. In the following weeks in the season chosen by Mark Ravenhill are new productions of the 1850s play about slavery, the Octoroon and Bertolt Brecht's Jungle of Cities. Director: Mark Ravenhill Producer: Jeremy Mortimer The cast each play several roles in the production. Man One..........Justin Salinger Man Two..........Andrew Woodall Man Three........Paul Rhys Man Four..........Joseph Mydell Woman One.....Monica Dolan Woman Two.....Amanda Drew. This production of Light Shining in Buckinghamshire was directed by Mark Ravenhill, and was originally part of a season of dramas curated by Mark for Drama on 3. Members of the cast each play several roles in the production. Man One....Justin Salinger Man Two....Andrew Woodall Man Three....Paul Rhys Man Four....Joseph Mydell Woman One....Monica Dolan Woman Two....Amanda Drew. Drama about the radical movements that erupted in the English Civil War in the 1640s. |
| 02 | The Octoroon | 20130505 | 20140525 (R3) | By Dion Boucicault Adapted by Mark Ravenhill 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. Dion Boucicault's play contains all the elements of great melodrama - doomed love, murder, corruption, and live musical accompaniment throughout. When it first opened, two years before the start of the American Civil War, The Octoroon sparked debates about the abolition of slavery and the role of theatre in politics. Cast (in alphabetical order): 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. The Octoroon, Dion Boucicault's 1859 melodrama, sparked debates about the abolition of slavery and the role of theatre in politics. This production 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. First broadcast in May 2013. 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 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. Dion Boucicault's classic melodrama about Abolition and the role of theatre in politics. |
| 03 LAST | Jungle Of Cities | 20130512 | By BERTOLT BRECHT, in a translation by Anselm Hollo. Adapted for radio by Mark Ravenhill. First performed in 1923 (then revised in 1927), 'Im Dickicht der St?dte' 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 'Une Saison en Enfer' and the relationship between Rimbaud and Verlaine, 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. Brecht wrote in a programme for the play: 'An idealised fight such as can be seen in the play... is at present only to be found in the theatre.... (Its) simple basic conception is that pure sport might involve two men in a fight which transforms them and their economic circumstances to the point of unrecognisability. The passion for sport is here being classed with all the other passions already at the theatre's disposal.... The territory used for fighting in this play is probably unfamiliar. For the territory so used consists in certain complexes of ideas which a young man like George Garga holds about the family, about marriage, or about his own honour. His opponent uses these complexes of ideas in order to damage him. Moreover, each combatant stimulates such thoughts in the other as must destroy him; he shoots burning arrows into his head.' (translation: Gerhard Nellhaus) 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 Brecht wrote in a programme for the play: 'An idealised fight such as can be seen in the play ... is at present only to be found in the theatre. ... (Its) simple basic conception is that pure sport might involve two men in a fight which transforms them and their economic circumstances to the point of unrecognisability. The passion for sport is here being classed with all the other passions already at the theatre's disposal. ... The territory used for fighting in this play is probably unfamiliar. For the territory so used consists in certain complexes of ideas which a young man like George Garga holds about the family, about marriage, or about his own honour. His opponent uses these complexes of ideas in order to damage him. Moreover, each combatant stimulates such thoughts in the other as must destroy him; he shoots burning arrows into his head.' (translation: Gerhard Nellhaus) Producer/Director, Jonquil Panting. First performed in 1923 (then revised in 1927), 'Im Dickicht der St䀀dte' 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 'Une Saison en Enfer' and the relationship between Rimbaud and Verlaine, to J V Jensen's 'The Wheel' and Upton Sinclair's 'The Jungle'. Brecht wrote in a programme for the play: 'An idealised fight such as can be seen in the play ... is at present only to be found in the theatre. ... [Its] simple basic conception is that pure sport might involve two men in a fight which transforms them and their economic circumstances to the point of unrecognisability. The passion for sport is here being classed with all the other passions already at the theatre's disposal. ... The territory used for fighting in this play is probably unfamiliar. For the territory so used consists in certain complexes of ideas which a young man like George Garga holds about the family, about marriage, or about his own honour. His opponent uses these complexes of ideas in order to damage him. Moreover, each combatant stimulates such thoughts in the other as must destroy him; he shoots burning arrows into his head.' (translation: Gerhard Nellhaus) An early Bertolt Brecht play in which two men join in a deadly struggle for survival. |