Showing results by publisher "BBC Audio" in Drama & Plays

A BBC Radio 3 drama that was developed with a community group in Byker, Newcastle which takes a journey into the reality of neglect as one child's life spirals out of control. Originally broadcast as part of the 'Drama on 3' collection on 25 October 2009. In a fractured society Lives a...

Written over four hundred years ago, ‘Hamlet’ still remains one of the most powerful, influential and thrilling tragedies in the English language. The story of Prince Hamlet and his quest for vengeance has been interpreted countless times on stage, film and television. With its riveting...

Five new plays from the gospel of Luke, by award-winning writer Nick Warburton. This work presents the Gospel story as you've never heard it before. Everyone knows the story of Jesus' life, as told in the Gospels – and, perhaps because it is so familiar, we have forgotten what an extraordinary...

From 1938 to 1969 the fictional crime novelist and detective Paul Temple, together with his Fleet Street journalist wife Steve, solved case after case in one of BBC radio's most popular series. They inhabited a sophisticated world of chilled cocktails and fast cars, where the women were chic and...

The story of Tess Durbeyfield, the most tragic of Thomas Hardy's heroines. Adapted by Alan Sharp for BBC Radio 4. John Durbeyfield (Keith Barron) learns that he is descended from the aristocratic Norman family of d'Urbervilles. He encourages his daughter, Tess (Claire Rushbrook), to befriend the...

A BBC Radio 4 black comedy about the unlikely friendship between an asylum seeker and a migrant worker, who find a stray lottery ticket and think it may be the answer to all their problems. Originally broadcast as the 'Afternoon Play' on 18 February 2009, and repeated on 1 April 2011, 'The...

A BBC Radio 4 full-cast adaptation of Christopher Marlowe's notorious portrait of a weak king in thrall to his passions, who pays the ultimate price for choosing his heart over his political responsibilities. Originally broadcast 13 September 2009 in the ‘Drama on 3’ slot. Edward...

Hazel (Kathryn Hunt) spends her life describing plays for visually impaired people. But when she starts to describe the real world to her new friend Davy (Nicholas Boulton), is she giving an accurate picture of the world around her? She's looking for an escape from the pressures of looking after...

An offbeat 21st Century urban love story starring Rosie Cavaliero and John Dougall, originally broadcast as BBC Radio 4's 'Afternoon Play' on 12 January 2011. It's a difficult time for Sue, her mother has just died and the kids have moved out. She has a vision of leaving their tough housing...

Frank Wedekind is widely acknowledged as one of the pioneers of modern drama, whose works influenced later writers such as Brecht and Dürrenmatt. His best-known plays were Spring Awakening and Lulu, both of which transgressed the social norms of his time and still have the power to shock and provoke us today. They are included here, alongside his lesser-known tragicomedy The Marquis of Keith.

Shelagh Delaney was just 19 when her debut play, A Taste of Honey, premiered in 1958. One of the great ‘kitchen sink dramas’, it was ground-breaking in its portrayal of working-class Northern women, gay and Black men, and influenced popular culture from The Smiths to Coronation Street. This collection opens with a 2004 radio production of A Taste of Honey, followed by seven dramas specially written for BBC Radio, all showcasing Delaney’s extraordinary gift for depicting the experiences and emotions of ordinary women and children.

David Edgar is among the UK’s leading contemporary dramatists, well known for his powerful plays chronicling Britain's changing political landscape over the past 50 years. More than 60 of his original plays, adaptations and translations have been performed around the world, and in 2023 he was honoured with a Writers’ Guild Outstanding Contribution award for his service to British playwriting. This radio anthology contains some of his most notable work.

BBC Radio adaptations of Nick Payne's finest works, brought together on audio for the first time—plus bonus features. Nick Payne is a world-renowned playwright and screenwriter. He won the George Devine Award for his first major play If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet, and Constellations won the Evening Standard Award for Best Play. This collection contains Constellations and Elegy, his two acclaimed plays exploring science, time and love, with new introductions by Nick Payne himself. Also included are three dramas specially written for BBC Radio.

Five original dramas about life, love and death in a cathedral close in Holy Week Cathedrals are at the heart of our cities. Beautiful, imposing and steeped in history, they were once potent symbols of temporal power and technological wonder. But what do they mean to us today? These five linked...

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.

Hailed by Arthur Miller as ‘the mad inventor of modern theatre’, Johan August Strindberg was a Swedish playwright, poet and novelist whose groundbreaking works mingled naturalism and psychology and paved the way for Expressionist drama. A prolific writer – penning over 60 plays, 19 novels and nine autobiographies – his turbulent life was marked by emotional conflict. This wide-ranging collection brings together 13 of his most important dramas and a semi-autobiographical ‘occult diary’, enhanced through stunning soundscapes and music composed by Strindberg himself.

Lenny Henry used to hate Shakespeare. For over 35 years he avoided anything to do with the Bard – until, in 2006, he decided to find out just what the rest of the world saw in him. In this enthralling collection, we hear how Lenny’s late-flowering passion for the legendary playwright’s works set him on the path that led to his sell-out stage debut as Othello. Bringing together this behind-the-scenes journey with the final result, this collection culminates in Lenny’s standout performance in a dynamic full-cast radio production of Othello.