Thursday 23 December
Opening Nights: Peter Pan Takes Flight
11.30am-noon
Russell Davies offers a unique piece of theatre history
- an insight into the world premiere of Peter Pan at the Duke Of York
Theatre in London's West End 100 years ago.
The cast was a starry one with Gerald du Maurier doubling as Captain
Hook and Mr Darling, Hilda Trevelyan as the original Wendy (a name Barrie
invented himself and whose theatrical 'Wendy house' was to inspire a century
of commercial spin-offs) and Peter himself was played by Nina Boucicault,
with brother Dion directing the play and Charles Frohman producing.
An instant hit, The Daily Telegraph's review was stunning in its praise:
"Peter Pan is a play of such originality, of such tenderness and of such
daring, that not even a shadow of doubt regarding its complete success
was to be discerned in the final fall of the curtain."
But others in the first night audience were less than complimentary.
George Bernard Shaw complained that it was a play foisted on children
by grown-ups and Anthony Hope, the inventor of Ruritania, sat unmoved
throughout the performance and at the end was heard to remark: "Oh, for
an hour of Herod!"
Presenter/Russell Davies, Producer/Merilyn Harris
BBC Radio 4 Publicity
Afternoon Play - Ancient And Modern
1/1 2.15-3.00pm
Alison is one of London's many hidden, lonely people, working, coping,
being brave, but still grieving for the collapse of her marriage and the
lack of a child of her own to love.
A chance visit to a Christmas service at her local church and an encounter
there brings her a new understanding of what love means.
Written by Sue Gee, the cast includes Juliet Stevenson
as Alison, Julian Rhind-Tutt as Jez and Harriet
Cook as Melanie.
Producer/Marilyn Imrie
BBC Radio 4 Publicity
The Dittisham Nativity
9.45-4.00pm
Joseph, open the window,
There's an angel hovering about outside.
Joseph, open the window.
The Angel's gigantic. So open it wide!
Joseph, wake up, I tell you!
Wake up, my husband, my dear.
There's an Angel outside the window.
With a message I think we should hear.
"Is this a dream?" asked Joseph.
"I think it is real", Mary replied.
So Joseph got up and scratched himself,
and he opened the window quite wide...
Set in Dittisham, on the River Dart in Devon, this is an unexpected retelling
of the nativity story by one of Britain's best and most popular poets.
Brian Patten wrote the poem especially for the children
of the village in South Devon where he lives. This special adaptation
for radio, recorded on location in Dittisham, is performed entirely by
the children of the village.
Producer/Kate McAll
BBC Radio 4 Publicity
Steven Appleby's Normal Christmas
11.00-11.15pm
Steven loves Christmas but perhaps that's because between opening presents,
he enjoys an over rich festive smorgasbord of lunch, tea, dinner and supper
while his Mum and Dad do the cooking and clearing up.
Last year was the final straw and Mum and Dad have resorted to faking
their own deaths to avoid another Christmas with Steven.
Thus Father Christmas himself represents Steven's last chance of a plump
present-filled stocking.
Santa's continuing legal problems over copyright issues on the toys the
elves have been manufacturing are only surpassed by the marital difficulties
caused by Mrs Santa's affair with Frosty the Snowman.
With Father Christmas incapacitated, Steven steps into the breach aided
only by a magic goose. He enjoys it so much that he suggests he takes
the job on permanently.
The resulting dispute sees Father Christmas lying motionless with a coal
shovel wrapped round his head.
Steven Appleby is one of Britain's leading cartoonists.
His work currently appears regularly in The Guardian, The Sunday Telegraph
and Junior magazine.
He has had many books published including Steven Appleby's Normal Life
based on the Radio 4 series.
The latest, Steven Appleby's ABC of Childhood, based on his Junior cartoons,
will be published in February.
All the regular cast returns: Paul McCrink (Steven),
Rosalind Paul (Mum), Nigel Betts (Dad),
Ewan Bailey (Santa) and Rachel Atkins
(Lauren Maroon aka Mrs Santa).
Producer/Toby Swift
BBC Radio 4 Publicity
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