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Stanley Stewart
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« on: 15:07:57, 01-04-2008 » |
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R3 Sunday, 6 April at 20.00 hrs: (20 mins)
Anton Chekhov's "Swan Song", translated by Michael Frayn
Paul Scofield (The actor) Alec Cowen (The prompter)
Director - Martin Jenkins
R4 Wednesday, 9 April at 14.15 hrs: (45 mins)
Afternoon Play: " Hard Frosts in Florence" by David Pownall
A monologue specially written for Paul Scofield.
A deeply troubled Michelangelo returns to Florence to view his statue of
the boy David - "Flesh caught in the stone" - for the last time.
Producer - Martin Jenkins
Both programmes will fit well on to a 79 min CD-R, leaving room for the 11
min Night Waves tribute by Michael Billington & Janet Suzman
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Morticia
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« Reply #1 on: 15:18:09, 01-04-2008 » |
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Thanks very much for that, Stanley. I particularly look forward to the monologue.
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George Garnett
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« Reply #2 on: 14:18:08, 09-04-2008 » |
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Bump.
"Hard Frosts in Florence" just starting on R4.
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Antheil
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« Reply #3 on: 14:29:11, 09-04-2008 » |
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Bump.
"Hard Frosts in Florence" just starting on R4.
Cheers George, got it on now  |
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Reality, sa molesworth 2, is so sordid it makes me shudder
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Stanley Stewart
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« Reply #4 on: 15:30:18, 09-04-2008 » |
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Indeed, a tribute and a treat, too. Writing, performance and production in trinity. I'm about to create my own tribute on CD-R. (i) The Night Waves discussion with Michael Billington and Janet Suzman on the day of Scofield's death. (ii) Last Sunday's R3 broadcast of Chekhov's 'Swan Song (iii) today's broadcast. Finally, from a dodgy audio tape, Paul Scofield as Salieri -vivid memories of his performance at the N.T. in late 1979 - at the moment of rage and outrage when Salieri declares war on God. Mort, GG and Anthiel, please send me a pm if you'd like a copy with my compliments.  |
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Ron Dough
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« Reply #5 on: 09:09:11, 10-05-2008 » |
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Just enough warning for this evening:
Macbeth
Saturday 10 May
8:00pm - 10:15pm
BBC 7
BBC 7 pays tribute to Paul Scofield with this classic 1960s production of The Scottish Play. Also starring Peggy Ashcroft.
Also on R4 this afternoon:
The Saturday Play: Two Planks and a Passion
Saturday 10 May
2:30pm - 4:00pm
BBC Radio 4
Anthony Minghella's tender and comic account of a provincial Easter six hundred years ago. The citizens of York are preparing to perform the Mystery Cycle for Richard II and his long-suffering queen, Anne of Bohemia. The royal visit is cause for anxiety, civic pride and very hard work, but most of all it inspires the Guildsmen of York to give their best ever performance of the Passion Play. With Bill Nighy, David Battley, Chris Jury, Ken Jones. Directed by Anthony Minghella and Bruce Hyman.
I remember hearing the first broadcast of this on R3 years back and being very amused indeed. Great fun.
Also:
Minghella Remembered
Saturday 10 May
8:35pm - 9:05pm
Radio 3
A tribute to the filmmaker and playwright Anthony Minghella who died in March 2008.
Including Hang Up, Minghella's award-winning play first broadcast in 1987. Centred around a late-night phonecall between two lovers, the play is a study of lost innocence, deception and treachery. With Anton Lesser and Juliet Stevenson. Directed by Robert Cooper.
Plus Work in Progress: Two episodes from the BBC Radio 3 series which featured Minghella discussing putting the finishing touches to his film The Talented Mr Ripley, based on Patricia Highsmith's novel. The director muses on the painstaking process of developing a screenplay from a literary source, contrasting this with the 'carnival atmosphere' and camaraderie of directing. Minghella also explains the importance of music in his life and in his films. He talks about the score for The Talented Mr Ripley and his longstanding collaboration with Lebanese-born composer Gabriel Yared, as well as his belief that the composer should be part of the production process as early as possible.
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« Last Edit: 09:26:54, 10-05-2008 by Ron Dough »
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Stanley Stewart
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« Reply #6 on: 13:03:50, 10-05-2008 » |
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Much thanks for this hat trick, heads-up, Ron. I'd already made diary notes on the Minghella series but was totally unaware of the BBC 7 "Maccers" and would have been sad to miss it. Scofield a bit disappointing at the RSC - Vivien Merchant was his Lady M - but his gift for language, nuance and inflection always provides dividends.
A case of 'segueing ' in and out of the garden but these programmes are "musts" and will take precedence. A bright day has now got brighter!
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George Garnett
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« Reply #7 on: 18:17:02, 10-05-2008 » |
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The Saturday Play: Two Planks and a Passion
Saturday 10 May
2:30pm - 4:00pm
BBC Radio 4
Thanks, Ron! I probably wouldn't have spotted that otherwise. It was just the thing for doing a tedious mechanical job to this afternoon. |
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Stanley Stewart
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« Reply #8 on: 23:36:14, 10-05-2008 » |
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A satisfying day of obligatory garden chores which could have been dictated by Mrs Ogmore - Pritchard:
"In the garden if you please"
but virtue had its own reward by tonight's broadcast of "Macbeth" in John Tydeman's (of blessed memory) 1966 production. Listening to this play, on a balmy evening is almost a contradiction in terms, but hearing it on radio has almost convinced me that this may be the most effective means to experience ' night's black agents'. I've seen many staged productions and the most engaging was Trevor Nunn's intimate production for RSC with Ian McKellen & Judi Dench, set, without scenery, in narrow fields of light. Listening, tonight, against a background of gradually fading daylight, the stark imagery of light and dark gave the play a dimension it struggles to find in a theatre.
Additional pleasure, too, in hearing the names of much loved actors in the final credits: John Westbrook, John Justin, Alec McCowen, Walter Fitzgerald, Noel Howlett and Preston Lockwood - gave my heart a pang!
"...Light thickens; and the crow makes wing to the rooky wood
Good things of day begin to droop and drowse;
while night's black agents to their prey do rouse -
Thou marvell'st at my words: but hold thee still;
Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill..." Act 3, Sc 2
The Paul Scofield tribute was rounded-off with Peter Tinniswood's last play, 'Anton at Eastbourne'; centred on another of my favourite playwrights.
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Ron Dough
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« Reply #9 on: 16:31:22, 11-05-2008 » |
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There's another Scofield performance tonight on BBC7: Dionysos, one of a series of plays on mythological themes written by Andrew Rissik in which the actor played a succession of leading roles.
Dionysos
Sunday 11 May
8:00pm - 9:30pm
BBC 7
Paul Scofield, Diana Rigg and Chiwetel Ejiofor star in this uncompromising play, mixing ancient Greek myth with stark violence.
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Ron Dough
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« Reply #10 on: 16:55:15, 11-05-2008 » |
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Alec McCowen was to play the lead himself in a subsequent radio broadcast from the early seventies, Stanley; partnered, if memory serves, by Irene Worth. A particular feature of this production was the inclusion of two scenes penned by William Davenant, godson and perhaps even illegitimate son of Shakespeare, which were purported to be replacements of scenes lost from the original. It is the shortest of his tragedies by some way, and there are a couple of possible pointers towards exchanges which ought to be there in the script. It's another tape which is stashed away in the stores....
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Stanley Stewart
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« Reply #11 on: 18:24:57, 11-05-2008 » |
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Another helpful heads-up, Ron. My thanks. I heard 'Dionysus' trailed, last night, and my recorder will be put to work again. Indeed, I've also transferred last night's programmes from DVD to videocassette (as a master copy); thence back to DVD for a few copies already on request. Yes, "The two hours traffic of our stage" has engaged my mind for rather a long time. Hearing or reading Shakespeare always delivers such stimulating voltage. I rather think of the entry in the Visitor's Book at the Stanley Spencer Museum, at Cookham. "Lovely. You and I know each other a bit better now." |
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Stanley Stewart
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« Reply #12 on: 00:14:51, 12-05-2008 » |
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Glad to add the recording of 'Dionysos' to my Paul Scofield collection.
A further wish list from the BBC vaults would include:
Othello (producer John Tydeman) R3 August 1972
PS reading Death in Venice (Tydeman) R3 1973
In Restoria (Martin Esslin) R3 Oct 1976
Vershinin-The Three Sisters (Tydeman) R3 June 1980
Oberon (MSND) R4 Nov 1982
Capt Vere (Tydeman) R4 Dec 1999
King Lear (Tydeman) R3 Sept 2001
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Stanley Stewart
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« Reply #14 on: 13:22:27, 18-05-2008 » |
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Thank you, George. I was about to add a last minute heads-up!
Paul Scofield joins Juliet Stevenson in this repeat from 1998 which includes readings from Shakespeare, WH Auden and Sylvia Plath.
I see that Garry O'Connor's biography, Paul Scofield (2002) is next on my re-read bedside table. A wee dram, a late night shower before bed with a down memory lane biography is my idea of bliss. The real test of quality is the urge to resist the need for sleep and complete just another chapter. As usual, you win some, you lose some.
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