Tuesday 28 December
The Sorcerer's Apprenctice
1/1 2.15-3.00pm
Radio 4's version of Goethe's tale goes back to its European roots.
It is Christmas Eve in Stollenburg some few hundred years ago and the
city is aglow with festive cheer.
Every man, woman and child seems to be out wassailing - bar one.
Peter, the Hexenmeister's apprentice, has been left to mind the shop
and keep an eye on his master's little daughter.
It is this last which adds insult to injury: Freda is flaxen-haired,
pop-eyed, hare-brained and a pest.
Peter has already had to rescue her from the chimney, where she was looking
for fairies, and now they're both filthy.
Vengefully, he aims a kick at Copernicus, the Hexenmeister's elderly
cat. But to his amazement, Copernicus can talk.
Peter stammers out an apology and the two strike up a conversation.
Copernicus, it turns out, is a charming if rather confused beast, with
an ancestry that stretches back to the time of Solomon.
Emboldened by finding a new friend, Peter decides to rebel: he'll tidy
the workshop, have a bath, get dressed up, go out and enjoy the Christmas
festivities, and be back in time to pretend nothing's happened. But he
needs help to get everything done in time.
He reaches for the forbidden book of spells... That loathsome old broom
will work for him for a change, and draw the water.
Copernicus is doubtful, but Peter recites the charm and hey presto! The
broom, a strange, poetry-spouting wood spirit, sprouts arms, legs and
a face and sets off on its appointed task.
But once the tub is full, things start to go wrong. The broom won't stop.
Deaf to all commands, it continues on its course, chatting to itself of
the forest where it grew up as a tree.
Soon the shop floor is swimming. Perched on the counter, Peter and Copernicus
search the book for a contra-spell, but without success.
Grimly, Peter jumps down, splashes across to an axe and chops the broom
in half. Before his horrified gaze, the two pieces become clones of the
bewitched parent-broom and Peter is in more trouble than ever before…
The cast includes Paul Rhys as The Hexenmeister, Harry
Towe as Copernicus, Zac Fox as Peter, Nicholas
Boulton as Broom and Jennifer Veal as Freda.
The story has been dramatised for radio by Judith French.
Producer/Mark Beeby
BBC Radio 4 Publicity
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