 |
Press Releases
Timothy Spall, Sophie Okonedo, Rory Kinnear and Sir Antony Sher star in Drama On 3 this autumn
|
Timothy Spall plays Rembrandt and Sir Antony Sher plays Shakespeare in an exciting season of drama on BBC Radio 3 this autumn.
New dramas inspired by art, political debate, film, philosophy and history rub shoulders with adaptations of the classic wartime novel All Quiet On The Western Front and the Jacobean tragedy The Duchess Of Malfi.
Sir Antony Sher plays William Shakespeare in The Pattern Of Painful Adventures, a new play about Shakespeare's life by Stephen Wakelam.
The play examines Shakespeare's life as his daughter prepares to give birth and his new play Pericles, a collaboration with a brothel owner, opens in London.
Inspired by the various etchings and paintings including Rembrandt's The Night Watch, Michelene Wandor's Tulips In Winter explores the life of the enigmatic philosopher Baruch Spinoza to reveal a tangled web of lives, loyalties, faith and science.
Timothy Spall plays Rembrandt with Ben Meyjes as Spinoza in a cast that also includes Angela Pleasance and Gabriel Woolf.
There's also a new adaptation of the Jacobean tragedy The Duchess Of Malfi starring Sophie Okonedo in the title role and Rory Kinnear as Antonio.
In this gory tale, the widowed Duchess marries her steward Antonio, a choice which challenges accepted social order and lines of power with tragic consequences.
BAFTA-winning writer Tony Marchant looks at how the abortion debate has become framed in terms of science, rather than looking at what is best for the woman placed at the heart of an agonising decision.
His brand new play, 24 Weeks, explores this controversial subject and will be recorded in front of a live audience at Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival in Liverpool in early November.
Tambulaine – Shadow Of God by John Fletcher is an epic adventure that tackles three very different philosophies on how a successful society should be built.
The play draws together three important figures in the history of the Middle and Near East – Tamburlaine (Jeffrey Kissoon), conqueror of the world, and two of his contemporaries, Ibn Khaldun (John Rowe), the world's first sociologist, and Hafez (Conleth Hill), the great Sufi mystic and poet.
Also broadcast this autumn is Caligari, a radio play inspired by the famous German Expressionist film The Cabinet Of Dr Caligari and written by poet and playwright Amanda Dalton.
A man, Francis, recounts the story of mesmerist Dr Caligari and his somnambulist slave, Cesare, who appear to be responsible for a series of murders in Holstenwall.
And, for those who missed it first time round, there's another chance to hear Radio 3's adaptation of the National Theatre of Scotland's Black Watch.
Notes to Editors
Drama On 3 schedule:
 Sunday 5 October: Tulips In Winter by Michelene Wandor
Sunday 12 October: The Duchess Of Malfi
Sunday 19 October: Black Watch (repeat)
Sunday 26 October: Caligari by Amanda Dalton
Sunday 2 November: 24 Weeks by Tony Marchant
Sunday 9 November: All Quiet On The Western Front by Eric Maria Remarque and adapted by Dave Sheasby
Sunday 16 November: Tambulaine – Shadow Of God by John Fletcher
Sunday 23 November – The Pattern of Painful Adventures by Stephen Wakelam.
Radio 3 Publicity
|
Printable version
