Showing results by publisher "BBC Audio" in World Literature

Jean-Baptiste Pocquelin, better known by his pen-name Molière, was France's greatest satirical dramatist. Such was his influence on the French language that it is often referred to as 'the language of Molière', and he has been dubbed 'the French Shakespeare'. A leading 17th Century comic actor and director, his genius encompassed all aspects of stage comedy, and his plays continue to appeal to audiences today. Included here are six of his masterpieces, as heard on BBC Radio.

A deliciously black satirical comedy about the dinner party from hell. The fastidious host, Paige, decides to throw a dinner party in honour of her husband, Lars, who is celebrating the success of his pop psychology book, Beyond Belief. She carefully plans a surprise menu that will mark the occasion and anxiously checks with the waiter she has employed to make sure that everything is perfectly prepared. Her lucky guests include a postfeminist vegetarian artist, a distinguished microbiologist, a TV journalist and an uninvited guest who ends up staying for dinner.

John Singer is a lonely deaf-mute who comes to stay as a lodger in Mick's house. No-one knows where he's from. A disparate group of people who live in the town are drawn towards Singer's kind, sympathetic nature: the owner of the café where Singer eats every day, an angry socialist drunkard, a frustrated Black doctor. Each pours their heart out to Singer, their silent confidant. And he in turn changes their disenchanted lives in ways the could never imagine.

'That which threatens us we destroy!' When the TARDIS deposits the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe on the planet Dulkis, they find it newly threatened by two humanoid aliens and their robotic servants, the Quarks. The Dominators intend to turn the whole planet into a radioactive mass, as fuel for their...

In this BBC full-cast production of Antony and Cleopatra, the soldier and noble prince Mark Antony's enthralment with the Egyptian queen Cleopatra is proving controversial. Will the tumultuous relationship ultimately end in tragedy? Antony and Cleopatra is an intense love story, exploring the...

In this BBC full-cast production of All's Well That Ends Well, the trials of marriage are hilariously explored. Will Helena complete the Herculean tasks to win Bertram's love? All's Well That Ends Well finds Helena rewarded for her ministries to the sick with the choice of any husband she wishes...

London, 1946. Struggling to cope with the idea of raising her daughter in a hostile environment, African Caribbean nurse Hope makes the difficult decision to entrust her precious baby to her best friend, Eunice, to take back home to Antigua. But their plan goes disastrously wrong. In the decades that follow, all of them will witness - and play a part in - the seismic changes rocking the British Isles, as the old establishment crumbles, immigration builds and the country adjusts to the realities of a post-war, post-colonial future.

J.R.R. Tolkien: An Audio Portrait is a compilation of radio and TV archive material from the '60s and '70s featuring interviews with J.R.R. Tolkien, his relatives, and his colleagues in which he talks about The Lord of the Rings, his other Hobbiton books, life as an academic, correspondence received from fans, and his views on the 20th century. This audiobook is presented by Brian Sibley.

A comprehensive anthology of dramatisations and readings of Tagore's finest works, plus bonus documentaries Bengali polymath Rabindranath Tagore was the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. A novelist, poet, playwright, composer, artist and philosopher, he wrote both the...

Ever since it was first drilled more than 150 years ago, oil has been both a blessing and a curse. It has enabled economic growth, provided an efficient energy source, fuelled our entire infrastructure - and caused wars, pollution and global warming. These seven dramas, set between 1951 and 2045, and taking us from postwar Iran to futuristic Lancashire, examine the role oil has played in shaping our world: recounting incredible stories of wealth, power, politics and corruption.

One of Britain's leading contemporary playwrights, Howard Brenton is well known for his controversial state-of-the-nation plays, dark comedies and powerful political satires. He has written over 50 works for the theatre and numerous screenplays, including 13 episodes of the hit TV series Spooks. Included here are some of his most acclaimed dramas, including the award-winning Pravda, co-written with David Hare.

Faith, Hope and Glory charts the lives of three African-Caribbean families, connected forever by the theft of a beautiful pram in Tilbury in 1946. As they live through the eighty years since then, they witness and take part in the emergence of the modern United Kingdom.

Beautiful and intelligent young Anna suffers in her loveless marriage, dreaming of the romantic life she should be living, and the love that others around her should be sharing honestly with one another. When she meets the dashing Vronsky he seems to offer everything she has been craving, but the cost she will pay is higher than she could have imagined. Meanwhile Konstantin Levin, a gentle landowner who shares Anna's belief in sincerity, attempts to channel his beliefs into his land, his family, and his love for beautiful aristocrat Kitty.

A BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of Chaucer's 'Troilus and Criseyde' by poet and writer Lavinia Greenlaw. One of the great works of English literature, this powerful, compelling story explores love from its first tentative beginnings through to passionate sensuality and eventual tragic...

‘May I present Princess Josephine... of TARDIS!’ The TARDIS arrives on the storm-lashed planet of Peladon, just as it is being assessed for its suitability to join the Galactic Federation. Mistaken for Federation delegates from Earth, the Doctor and Jo become involved in a series of...

A collection of dramas set in South and Central America by acclaimed dramatist Mike Walker. An award-winning dramatist, author and feature writer, Mike Walker has written numerous original dramas for BBC Radio 4, including his epic chronicles Tsar, Caesar!, The Stuarts and Castle of the Hawk. Collected here are five of his gripping dramas from the 1980s and '90s, set around the Amazon rainforest and Nicaragua.

An original drama spotlighting The Three Musketeers' iconic antagonist, Milady de Winter Young, beautiful and courageous, Milady de Winter is a cunning spy, talented thief, and ruthless killer. She glides with ease through the streets and gilded halls of 17th-century France and England, turning...

Actor, writer and director Mahesh Dattani is the first playwright in English to be awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award by India’s National Academy of Letters. Included here are all three of his plays featuring Uma Rao – PhD student, daughter-in-law of Bangalore's deputy commissioner of police, and wife of the superintendent. Priyanga Burford (neé Elan), stars as the intrepid sleuth, with full casts including Shiv Grewal, Saeed Jaffrey, Ajay Chhabra, Amerjit Deu and Nitin Chandra Ganatra.

It’s 1985 and the Stage Left Theatre Collective is founded by a group of friends with a shared vision: Emma, the artistic manager and Robert the literary manager, director Saul, playwright Alan, and finance manager, Frank. This funny, moving and pin sharp drama follows the fate of the company and its members over the course of four decades. We catch up with the characters as they negotiate changing cultural and economic climates.

Once upon a time, there was a struggling writer named Woodhouse Carton, who tried to make his name as an author while simultaneously running his own creative writing class. Over 12 episodes, we follow the frustrated scribe's fruitless search for fame and fortune as, supported by his long-suffering wife, Gila, and feckless sidekick Seamus, he tries to write the definitive biography of philosophical novelist Wolf Heinrich Graubart - or compose the hit song that will set him up for life.