Drama on 3

Sunday 16th June 2013 (starting this evening)
Time: 20:30 to 22:30 (2 hours long)

Babbage, by David Pownall.

Drama about the life of Charles Babbage, regarded as one of the great scientific brains of the 19th century, who first conceived the computer but died a despised failure. With Sam Kelly, Monica Dolan, Michael Maloney, Nicholas Boulton, Geoffrey Whitehead, Frances Jeater, Robert Glenister, Carl Prekopp and Andrew Branch. Music composed by Max Pownall. Directed by Martin Jenkins.

Sunday 30th June 2013 (starting in 1 day)
Time: 20:30 to 22:00 (1 hour and 30 minutes long)

Imo and Ben, by Mark Ravenhill.

Drama telling how Imogen Holst worked with Benjamin Britten in Aldeburgh on the score for the opera Gloriana in the months leading up to the disastrous premiere. With Paul Ready, Amanda Root, Charles Edwards. With pianist Joseph Houston and soprano Emma Tring and the New London Children's Choir.

Director: Jeremy Mortimer

Sunday 7th July 2013 (starting in 1 day)
Time: 20:30 to 22:30 (2 hours long)

An adaptation by Michael Symmons of Alfred Lord Tennyson's The Idylls of the King, narrated by Tim Pigott-Smith and broadcast to mark the bicentenary of the poet's birth. In this extraordinary epic poem, Tennyson transforms Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, infusing the legend of King Arthur with a passionate intensity. Told here in five acts, the central arc of the narrative encompasses Arthur's arrival, his relationship with Lancelot and Guinevere, the Holy Grail, the last tournament and his death. With Tim Pigott-Smith (narrator/Tennyson), John Keeble (Arthur), Simon Harrison (Lancelot) and Kathryn Hunt (Guinevere). Music by Paul Carghill.

Sunday 15th September 2013 (starting this evening)
Time: 20:30 to 22:00 (1 hour and 30 minutes long)

Votes for Women, by Elizabeth Robins.

The first of three classic plays that responded to the growing freedom of women at the turn of the 20th century. Admired Conservative MP Geoffrey Stonor is relishing his engagement to the ebullient young heiress, Jean Dunbarton, until a chance encounter with the charismatic Vida Levering, an advocate of women's suffrage, appears to threaten them both - not just politically, but personally too. With Zoe Tapper, Samuel West, Charity Wakefield, Sylvestra Le Touzel, Michael Bertenshaw, Jolyon Coy, Philippa Stanton, Joanna Brookes, Sean Murray, Emerald O'Hanrahan and Ben Crowe. Produced and directed by Marion Nancarrow.

Sunday 22nd September 2013 (starting this evening)
Time: 20:30 to 22:00 (1 hour and 30 minutes long)

The Father, by August Strindberg.

Laurie Slade's new version of a notorious drama from 1890 about suspicion, adultery and the disintegration of a marriage. Part of Radio 3's series of classic plays that tackle the revolutionary changes in the role of women at the end of the nineteenth century. With Joe Dixon, Katy Stephens, Holly Earl, Patrick Toomey, Laurence Kennedy, Barbara Young and Staten Cousins-Roe. Directed by Joe Harmston.

A change of time for the Drama slot: a bit too late for me to listen live.

Sunday 6th October 2013 (starting this evening)
Time: 22:00 to 23:45 (1 hour and 45 minutes long)

Widowers' Houses.

Martin Jarvis directs a cast including Ian McKellen, Charles Dance and Tim Piggot-Smith in Bernard Shaw's first play, which examines the financial corruption of slum landlords. The play is broadcast as part of Radio 3's Money Talks series. Also with Dan Stevens, Honeysuckle Weeks, Siobhan Hughes and Jon Glover. Music composed by Mark Holden and Michael Lopez.

Sunday 3rd November 2013 (starting this evening)
Time: 22:00 to 23:30 (1 hour and 30 minutes long)

The Outsider, by Albert Camus.

John Retallack's dramatisation of the classic existentialist novel, based on a recent translation by Sandra Smith, in which a man refuses to pretend and is prepared to face alone the indifference of the universe. Broadcast to commemorate the centenary of Camus's birth. With Alex Lanipekun, Michael Bertenshaw, Arthur Hughes, John Norton, Sean Murray, Priyanga Burford, Sean Baker, Stephen Hogan, Sirinie Saba, David Seddon and Carys Eleri.

Director: David Hunter

Sunday 15th December 2013 (starting this evening)
Time: 22:00 to 23:25 (1 hour and 25 minutes long)

Ghosts, by Henrik Ibsen.

A provocative tale of family secrets and lies in a new version adapted and directed by Richard Eyre and featuring the cast of his recent production for the Almeida Theatre. Helene Alving, a widow, is delighted that her son has returned home to Norway from his artist's life in Paris. The orphanage founded in her husband's name is about to open with the blessing of the local pastor, but there are family secrets and ghosts of the past beneath the surface of her ordered life which are about to come out to devastating effect. With Lesley Manville, Will Keen, Jack Lowden, Charlene McKenna and Brian McCardie. Directed and adapted by Richard Eyre. Produced by Alison Hindell.

Sunday 29th December 2013 (starting this evening)
Time: 22:00 to 23:30 (1 hour and 30 minutes long)

Britten 100: Billy Budd - These Buttons We Wear.

Keith Dewhurst's retelling of the story of Billy Budd, interwoven with the story of the author who came to write it: Herman Melville - sailor, novelist and mutineer. With Gerard Murphy, Monica Dolan, Robert Portal, David Westhead, Mark Quartley, Caitlin Welch, Simon Greenall, Nathan Osgood, Pip Donaghy, Robert Hastie and John Tams.

Sunday 5th January 2014 (starting this evening)
Time: 21:30 to 23:00 (1 hour and 30 minutes long)

Old Times, by Harold Pinter.

In a remote farmhouse, Deeley and Kate await a visitor. Anna is Kate's best friend, though Deeley has never met her. Is the past really as they remember it? With Ruth Gemmell, Justin Salinger and Olivia Williams.

Director: Gaynor Macfarlane

Sunday 12th January 2014 (starting this evening)
Time: 22:00 to 23:30 (1 hour and 30 minutes long)

The Oresteia: Agamemnon, by Aeschylus.

A new version by Simon Scardifield of the first of the three plays in Aeschylus's classic trilogy about murder, revenge and justice. Agamemnon returns home to Argos after his victory at Troy. But his wife, Clytemnestra, has determined to take terrible revenge for his sacrifice of their eldest daughter Iphigenia. With Arthur Hughes, Philip Jackson, Carolyn Picklesk, Lesley Sharp, Hugo Speer, Anamaria Marinca, Karl Johnson, Sean Murray, Georgie Fuller, John Norton, Steve Toussaint and Harry Jardine.

Director: Sasha Yevtushenko

Sunday 9th March 2014 (starting this evening)
Time: 22:00 to 23:15 (1 hour and 15 minutes long)

Yerma, by Federico Garcia Lorca.

The tragic tale of a woman's desperate yearning for a child that leads her to murder. A translation by Michael Dewell and Carmen Zapata of one of Lorca's best-known plays, infused with poetic imagery and song. With Emma Cunniffe, Conrad Nelson, Declan Wilson, Rebecca Callard, Annette Badland, Clare Benedict, Kate Layden, Debbie McAndrew, Fionnuala Dorrity, Liz Carter, Helen Longworth, Kevin Harvey and Anna Castineiras.

Sunday 16th March 2014 (starting this evening)
Time: 21:30 to 22:55 (1 hour and 25 minutes long)

Blood Wedding: By Federico Garcia Lorca.

An evocative meditation on fate, war, tradition, passion and repression, inspired by the true story of a fatal feud between two families in the Almeria province, high in the mountains of rural Spain. A version by Ted Hughes. With Barbara Flynn, Carl Prekopp, Sarah Smart, William Ash, Andrea Riseborough, David Fleeshman, Mary Cunningham, Ellie Haddington, Claire Benedict, Liz Carter, Sam Curtis, Chris Hannon, Daisy Jones.

Sunday 25th May 2014 (starting this evening)
Time: 22:00 to 23:30 (1 hour and 30 minutes long)

The Octoroon, by Dion Boucicault.

Set on a Louisiana plantation in the 1850s, a classic melodrama exploring Abolition and the role of theatre in politics. With Barbara Barnes, Geoffrey Burton, Steven Hartley, Toby Jones, Earl Kim, Claire Lams, John MacMillan, Amaka Okafor, Paul Stonehouse, David Webber and Trevor White. Music composed and performed by Colin Sell.

Sunday 13th July 2014 (starting this evening)
Time: 22:00 to 23:40 (1 hour and 40 minutes long)

Death and the King's Horseman, by Wole Soyinka.

In celebration of Wole Soyinka's 80th birthday, a drama based on a real event in 1940s Nigeria. A colonial district officer intervenes to prevent a local man committing ritual suicide. With Jude Akuwudike, Danny Sapani, Claire Benedict, Rakie Ayola, Hazel Holder, Ayo-Dele Edwards, Jonathan Keeble, Zoe Tapper, Anthony Ofoegbu, Maynard Eziashi, Adetomiwa Edun. Produced and directed by Pauline Harris.

Sunday 20th July 2014 (starting this evening)
Time: 22:15 to 23:55 (1 hour and 40 minutes long)

Document of Identity.

Nobel Prize winner Wole Soyinka's play, commissioned by Radio 3 and BBC Radio Drama, Manchester, is an autobiographical account of events that took place in 1997 under the regime of former Nigerian dictator General Sani Abacha. Focusing on the author's daughter and son-in-law, it highlights the plight of refugees seeking political asylum. The action begins in Nigeria and continues in London. With Paterson Joseph, Rakie Ayola, Oluwawemimo Oleyana, Anthony Ofeogbu, Claire Benedict, Patrice Naiambana, Ehizogie Odigie, Brigit Forsyth, Ron Berglas and Martin Reeve. Produced and directed by Pauline Harris.

Sunday 31st August 2014 (starting this evening)
Time: 21:40 to 23:40 (2 hours long)

August 1914.

A dramatisation of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's novel about the Russian army's defeat at the hands of Germany in 1914 as they advanced into East Prussia. Dramatised by Robin Brooks from the translation by HT Willetts. With Fiona Shaw, Alex Waldmann, Michael Bertenshaw, Sion Pritchard, Mark Edel-Hunt, Will Howard, Clive Hayward, Robert Pugh, Sam Dale, Simon Armstrong, Matthew Watson, David Cann, Melangell Dolma, Chris Gordon, Sion Ifan and Alex Hope.

Director: Alison Hindell

Sunday 7th September 2014 (starting this evening)
Time: 21:45 to 23:45 (2 hours long)

The White Devil.

John Webster's 1612 revenge play is here set in a 1950s underworld of shifting alliances and sudden violence. Wealthy Brachiano conceives a passion for a married woman, Vittoria. Desperately, he arranges to have both his wife and Vittoria's husband murdered. Yet this makes him an arch-enemy of his wife's deadly brother. Stars Patrick Kennedy, Anna Maxwell Martin, Shaun Dingwall, Peter Wight, Christine Kavanagh and Frances de la Tour. Adapted and directed by Marc Beeby.

Sunday 14th September 2014 (starting this evening)
Time: 22:00 to 00:00 (2 hours long)

Time and the Conways, by Jb Priestley.

Not long after the end of World War I the Conway family gather to celebrate daughter Kay's 21st birthday. However, 19 years later the future is far from the one they imagined. Part of a series of programmes exploring concepts of time. With Harriet Walter, Anna Madeley, Rupert Evans, Amaka Okafor, Eleanor Howell, Harry Hadden-Paton, Heather Craney, Clare Corbett, Tony Bell, Clive Hayward, Michael Bertenshaw and Colin Guthrie.

Director: David Hunter

Sunday 5th October 2014 (starting this evening)
Time: 22:00 to 23:15 (1 hour and 15 minutes long)

In the Depths of Dead Love, by Howard Barker.

A darkly comic play set in ancient China, centring on Chin, a banished poet, who has bought a bottomless well used by unhappy locals to end their troubles by jumping in. His tiny industry is thriving. Then the beautiful Hasi appears. She seems disinclined to jump in and Chin begins to hope she will not. With Richard E Grant, Francesca Annis, Michael Bertenshaw, Jane Bertish and Arthur Hughes.

Sunday 26th October 2014 (starting this evening)
Time: 22:00 to 23:30 (1 hour and 30 minutes long)

The Beach of Falesa, by Dylan Thomas.

Alison Hindell's dramatisation of an unfilmed screenplay by Dylan Thomas, itself adapted from a short story by Robert Louis Stevenson of the same title. Wiltshire arrives on an unnamed Pacific island hoping to trade in copra before an encounter with rival trader Case leads to a macabre wedding. Shunned by the locals, Wiltshire sets out to uncover the secret behind Case's mysterious hold over the islanders and the truth in the tales of the singing devils living deep in the bush. With Matthew Rhys, Matthew Gravelle, Nicky Henson, Fiona Marr, Simon Armstrong, Stephen Critchlow and Steve Toussaint. Original music composed by Roger Goula.

Sunday 9th November 2014 (starting this evening)
Time: 22:00 to 23:30 (1 hour and 30 minutes long)

A Soldier and a Maker.

Stephanie Cole, Jemma Redgrave and Richard Goulding star in Iain Burnside's WWI play focusing on the tragic figure of poet and songwriter Ivor Gurney. The work interweaves original material with many of Gurney's songs, performed by the cast with Burnside at the piano. In 1918, Gurney suffered the first of a series of breakdowns, triggered in part by the end of a love affair, but continued composing, producing songs, instrumental pieces, chamber music and orchestral works. With Nick Allen, Holly Marie Bingham, Alexander Cobb, Stephanie Cole, Dominick Felix, Richard Goulding, Katie Grosset, Bethan Langford, Jevan Mcauley, Jemma Redgrave, Frazer Scott, David Shaw Parker, Adam Sullivan and Zoe Waites.

Sunday 16th November 2014 (starting this evening)
Time: 22:00 to 00:00 (2 hours long)

Juno and the Paycock.

Sean O'Casey's tragicomic play, set in a working-class Dublin tenement during the Irish Civil War. Will a surprise inheritance improve life for the Boyle family? With Sorcha Cusack, Stanley Townsend, John Kavanagh, Beth Cooke, Rory Fleck Byrne, Ruari Conaghan, Michele Moran, Marcella Riordan, Stephen Hogan, David Cann, Craig Els and Scarlett Brookes.

Director: Peter Kavanagh

Last night Radio 3 broadcast, after 11pm, a performance of: Carter: Symphonia sum fluxae pretium spei. It appears to be assumed that if you like modern music you must be an insomniac. Then again, just this morning, they also aired some songs with guitar from 1962 by Roberto Gerhard. So, all not quite lost.

Yes, you have a point comsat. However, contemporary music does appear on occasions elsewhere - the lunchtime concert, for example, and live in concert, this evening, has a newly commissioned piece. The BBC does very well with commissioning new pieces that are then aired. Opera also - Adams, Bertwistle and others have appeared in the not so recent past.

This weekend - there is music (late in the evening!) from the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.

This evening in Live in Concert: Macmillan Piano Concerto.

Sunday 23rd November 2014 (starting this evening)
Time: 22:00 to 00:10 (2 hours and 10 minutes long)

The Plough and the Stars.

Sean O'Casey's classic play, set in the midst of the Easter Rising of 1916. The impact of events is viewed through the eyes of ordinary people inhabiting a Dublin tenement. It is the second in a three-part series of classic plays chosen by playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah, who also introduces this new production. With Elaine Cassidy, Padraic Delaney, Gabrielle Reidy, Finbar Lynch, Stephen Hogan, Jonathan Forbes, Fiona Clarke, Rebecca Gleeson, Jane McGrath, Matthew McNulty and Sam Smith. Musical director: Conrad Nelson.

Sunday 7th December 2014 (starting this evening)
Time: 22:00 to 23:15 (1 hour and 15 minutes long)

Decameron Nights - Five Italian Indelicacies Remixed from Boccaccio: Another chance to hear five of Robin Brooks's retelling of stories from Boccaccio's collection of novellas The Decameron, introduced by Terry Jones. Including 1. Saint Ciappelletto: All is not what it seems when a wicked man makes his deathbed confession. With Colin McFarlane, Sam Dale, Michael Bertenshaw, Monty d'Inverno, Paul Heath and Ian Conningham. 2. Federigo and His Falcon: Courtly Federigo spends every last groat trying to win the affections of the beautiful Monna. But there is only one thing of his that she wants - and it has feathers. With John Finnemore, Ingrid Oliver, Carrie Quinlan, Shaun Mason and Adam Thomas Wright. 3. How Elena Blew Hot and Cold: Widowed Elena sleeps around, though she likes to keep up appearances. But when she snubs one man for the amusement of another, she picks the wrong victim. With Lydia Leonard, Cyril Nri, Elaine Claxton and Paul Heath. 4. How to Get it off Your Chest: When Zeppa discovers his wife with his best friend, he is keen to make a proportionate response. With Jude Akuwudike, Ian Conningham, Shaun Mason, Hannah Genesius and Bettrys Jones. 5. Kind Hearts and Bayonets: Mithridanes wants to be a wise and generous benefactor, but his neighbour Nathan is always wiser and more generous. How should he deal with this problem? With Samuel Barnett, Sam Dale and Bettrys Jones. Produced and directed by Jonquil Panting.

Sunday 28th December 2014 (starting this evening)
Time: 21:00 to 23:25 (2 hours and 25 minutes long)

Antony and Cleopatra, by William Shakespeare.

A late and epic tragedy of mature love and the catastrophic fall from grace and power that it brings about. Irresistibly drawn together, the couple are surrounded by friends, enemies, admirers and critics, none of who remain unscathed by the folly and heartbreak of this magnificent pair. As empires clash around them, their destiny seems inevitable: to love each other until death and even beyond. With Kenneth Branagh, Alex Kingston, Geoffrey Streatfeild, Robert Pugh, Nigel Anthony, Simon Armstrong, Matthew Gravelle, Alun Raglan, Priyanga Burford, Richard Clifford, Richard Harrington, Janice Acquah, Don Gilet, Ewan Bailey, Will Howard and Peter Polycarpou.

Sunday 25th January 2015 (starting this evening)
Time: 22:00 to 00:10 (2 hours and 10 minutes long)

Saint Joan, by George Bernard Shaw.

An adaptation of Shaw's play dramatising the life and trials of Joan of Arc, for which he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925. With Lyndsey Marshal, Paul Ritter, Anton Lesser, Sean Baker, Blake Ritson, Nyasha Hatendi, Daniel Rabin, Trystan Gravelle, Jonathan Coy, Paul Hilton, Stuart McLoughlin, Bryan Bowles and Ryan Watson. Adapted, produced and directed by Jonquil Panting. The music is taken from The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace by Karl Jenkins.

Sunday 1st February 2015 (starting this evening)
Time: 22:00 to 00:00 (2 hours long)

Shaw: You Never Can Tell, by George Bernard Shaw.

An adaptation of Shaw's romantic comedy from 1897 following a battle of the sexes beside the seaside, with marital mayhem and social strategy. With Jamie Bamber, Ian Ogilvy, Christopher Neame, Adam Godley, Rosalind Ayres, Sophie Winkleman, Moira Quirk, Matthew Wolf, Julian Holloway, Paula Jane Newman, Darren Richardson. Piano music arranged and performed by Richard Sisson.

Sunday 8th February 2015 (starting this evening)
Time: 22:00 to 00:00 (2 hours long)

Arms and the Man, by George Bernard Shaw.

Romantic comedy set in 1885 during the Serbo-Bulgarian War. Raina Petkoff is convinced her fiance, Major Sergius Saranoff, will glorify himself in the war and become her hero - but after a dramatic encounter with a down-to-earth Serbian officer who hides in her room, she is brought face to face with the mundane truth about the conflict rather than its glories. With Rory Kinnear, Lydia Leonard, Tom Mison, Hugh Ross, Frances Jeater, Glen McCready, Jo Herbert and Roger May.

Sunday 22nd February 2015 (starting this evening)
Time: 22:00 to 00:00 (2 hours long)

Collaborators, by John Hodge.

A play based on historical fact, depicting a lethal game of cat and mouse as writer Mikhail Bulgakov loses himself in a macabre and disturbingly funny relationship with the omnipotent subject of his drama, Stalin. Adapted for radio by John Hodge and Chris Wallis. With Alex Jennings, Jacqueline Defferary, Patrick Godfrey, Maggie Service, Pierce Reid, William Postlethwaite, Jess Murphy, Lloyd Hutchinson, Marcus Cunningham, Nick Sampson, Michael Jenn, Perri Snowdon, Sarah Annis and Simon Russell Beale.

Sunday 1st March 2015 (starting this evening)
Time: 19:30 to 21:50 (2 hours and 20 minutes long)

As You Like it, by William Shakespeare.

A new production of Shakespeare's joyous comedy with an all-star cast and music composed by actor and singer Johnny Flynn of folk rock band Johnny Flynn and the Sussex Wit. Lust, love, cross-dressing and mistaken identity feature as Rosalind flees her uncle's court and finds refuge in the Forest of Arden. There she finds poems pinned to trees proclaiming the young Orlando's love for her. With an introduction by Pippa Nixon, who played Rosalind in the Royal Shakespeare production. With Pippa Nixon, Luke Norris, Ellie Kendrick, Patrick Baladi, Adrian Scarborough, Jonathan Coy, Sam Dale, William Houston, Paul Heath, Bettrys Jones, David Acton, Jude Akuwudike, Ian Conningham, Shaun Mason, Jane Slavin, Monty D'Inverno and Johnny Flynn.

Director: Sally Avens

Sunday 8th March 2015 (starting this evening)
Time: 22:00 to 23:25 (1 hour and 25 minutes long)

Electra.

Frank McGuinness' adaptation of the Greek tragedy by Sophocles. This classic tale of power and revenge was originally performed in an acclaimed run at the Old Vic Theatre in London in autumn 2014. Stars Kristin Scott Thomas.

Sunday 15th March 2015 (starting this evening)
Time: 22:00 to 23:35 (1 hour and 35 minutes long)

The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov.

An adaptation by Lucy Catherine, featuring songs and original music from Oscar- and Bafta-winning composer Stephen Warbeck and a cast led by Anne-Marie Duff as Margarita and Anton Lesser as Professor Woland. The Devil comes to Moscow and unleashes a whirlwind of chaos that entangles Moscow's literary elite, Margarita and her beloved, a condemned writer known only as the Master, Jesus Christ and Pontius Pilate, as well as the vodka-drinking giant tomcat Behemoth. Written in secret during the darkest days of Stalin's reign, The Master and Margarita became a literary sensation on publication and has become one of the best-loved modern classics of world literature.

Sunday 22nd March 2015 (starting this evening)
Time: 22:00 to 23:30 (1 hour and 30 minutes long)

The Boy at the Back, by Juan Mayorga.

A psychological drama exploring the voyeuristic nature of fiction, the exercise of power and the ambiguity at the heart of human relations. When 17-year-old Claudio insinuates himself into a classmate's house and begins to write about it as homework, his literary voyeurism soon spirals out of control. With Neil Pearson, Haydn Gwynne, Will Howard, Juliet Aubrey, David Birrell and Max Bowden. Produced and Directed by Nicolas Jackson.

Sunday 29th March 2015 (starting this evening)
Time: 21:45 to 23:00 (1 hour and 15 minutes long)

Fanny and Alexander, by Ingmar Bergman. Episode 1.

The first of a two-part adaptation of the celebrated film about childhood and the imagination. 1. Through the eyes of ten-year-old Alexander, we witness the delights and conflicts of the Ekdahls, a sprawling theatrical family in turn-of-the-20th-century Sweden. With Hollie Burgess, Adam Thomas Wright, Lisa Dillon, Sheila Reid, Stuart McQuarrie, Justin Salinger, Jessica Turner, Rhiannon Neads, Allan Corduner, Carl Prekopp, Joseph Arkley, Mark Bazeley, Jane Slavin and Hannah Wood. Songs composed and performed by Carl Prekopp. Produced/directed by Gaynor Macfarlane. Adapted by Sharon Oakes.

Sunday 5th April 2015 (starting this evening)
Time: 22:00 to 23:15 (1 hour and 15 minutes long)

Fanny and Alexander, by Ingmar Bergman. Episode 2.

The second in a two-part adaptation of the celebrated film about childhood and the imagination. 2. After Fanny and Alexander's father dies, their mother Emilie marries the bishop and they all move to live together at the palace. With Hollie Burgess, Adam Thomas Wright, Lisa Dillon, Sheila Reid, Stuart McQuarrie, Justin Salinger, Jessica Turner, Rhiannon Neads, Allan Corduner, Carl Prekopp, Joseph Arkley, Mark Bazeley, Jane Slavin and Hannah Wood. Songs composed and performed by Carl Prekopp. Produced/directed by Gaynor Macfarlane. Adapted by Sharon Oakes.

Sunday 5th April 2015 (starting this evening)
Time: 23:15 to 00:30 (1 hour and 15 minutes long)

A selection of music by Schumann used in Ingmar Bergman's film Fanny and Alexander. Schumann: Piano Quintet in E flat, Op 44. Igor Levit (piano), Signum Quartet. Schumann: Symphony No 4 in D minor, Op 120 (original 1841 version). BBC Philharmonic/Juanjo Mena.

Sunday 12th April 2015 (starting this evening)
Time: 22:00 to 23:30 (1 hour and 30 minutes long)

The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde.

A new version of Wilde's classic novel by leading dramatist Neil Bartlett. As London slides from one century to the next, a beautiful young man is cursed with the uncanny ability to keep his looks while descending into a world of heartless, drug-addicted debauchery. His portrait instead ages for him. With Peter Guinness, Maggie Steed, Jasper Britton, Richard Lintern, Tom Canton, Gunnar Cauthery, Owen Sharpe, Geraldine Alexander, Zoe Telford and Barbara Barnes. Directed by Neil Bartlet.

I look forward to listening to this tonight.

Sunday 19th April 2015 (starting this evening)
Time: 22:00 to 23:30 (1 hour and 30 minutes long)

Vampyre Man, by Joseph O'connor.

Drama about the close collaboration and intense friendship between Bram Stoker and the famous Shakespearean actor Henry Irving, the inspiration for Count Dracula. With Darragh Kelly, Anton Lesser, Henry Irving, Amanda Redman, Eva Birthistle, Patrick FitzSymons, Dan Gordon and Peter Ballance.

Sunday 26th April 2015 (starting this evening)
Time: 22:00 to 23:25 (1 hour and 25 minutes long)

Ghosts: Henrik Ibsen.

A provocative tale of family secrets and lies in a new version adapted and directed by Richard Eyre and featuring the cast of his recent production for the Almeida Theatre. Helene Alving, a widow, is delighted that her son has returned home to Norway from his artist's life in Paris. The orphanage founded in her husband's name is about to open with the blessing of the local pastor, but there are family secrets and ghosts of the past beneath the surface of her ordered life which are about to come out to devastating effect. With Lesley Manville, Will Keen, Jack Lowden, Charlene McKenna and Brian McCardie. Directed and adapted by Richard Eyre. Produced by Alison Hindell.

Sunday 17th May 2015 (starting this evening)
Time: 22:00 to 00:00 (2 hours long)

Macbeth, by William Shakespeare.

A new production of Shakespeare's dark tragedy about ambition for power. With Neil Dudgeon, Emma Fielding, Shaun Dooley, Paul Hilton, Jane Slavin, Carl Prekopp, Ayesha Antoine, David Hounslow, Ian Conningham, Alex Waldmann, Carl Prekopp, Anastasia Hille, Kasper Hilton-Hille, Stephen Critchlow, Mark Edel-Hunt, David Acton, Sam Dale, Sam Valentine and Rose Hilton-Hille.

Director: Marc Beeby

Followed by: Richard Strauss: Macbeth

Monday 18th May 2015 (starting tomorrow morning)
Time: 00:00 to 00:30 (30 minutes long)

Richard Strauss's 1888 symphonic poem Macbeth in a recording made by the Dresden Staatskapelle and Rudolf Kempe in 1974.

Sunday 7th June 2015 (starting this evening)
Time: 22:00 to 00:00 (2 hours long)

A Patriot for Me, by John Osborne.

Philip Osment's adaptation of John Osborne's landmark play, marking 50 years since its opening. Its narrative - which caused it to be banned by the official censor of the time - focuses on Alfred Redl, an officer in the Austro-Hungarian intelligence service in the 1890s whose homosexuality made him a target for blackmail and persecution. The play is not only a sweeping epic but also an angry plea for tolerance and a condemnation of hypocrisy that is arguably as relevant now as it was to Osborne in 1965. With Bette Bourne, Peter Egan, Joshua Elliott, Richard Goulding, Martin Hutson, Peter Moreton, Michael Pennington, Alana Ramsey, Amanda Root, Simon Shackleton, Daniel Weyman and Matt Whitchurch. Adapted by Philip Osment.

Director: Philip Franks

>46 antimuzak: - ... banned by the official censor of the time ...

That was in my teens. A salutary reminder of how fragile our present-day freedoms really are ...

ETA - One tends to forget with passing time and develop a vague - almost subconscious - feeling that things were always as they are now, but, really, one only has to listen to some of our more neanderthal politicians spouting about the media ...

That's made me come over all ruminative and cynical - better have lunch, I think.

Indeed alauda. Where are the radical voices in theatre (or anywhere) these days?

You might be interested in this article about the BBC in The Guardian:

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/jun/14/jonathan-dimbleby-warns-of-powerful...

Today:

Sunday 14th June 2015 (starting this evening)
Time: 22:00 to 00:00 (2 hours long)

Napoleon Rising.

Epic drama charting Napoleon's meteoric rise in the early years of the French Revolution, set against his tumultuous relationship with Josephine. Written by Anthony Burgess and adapted by Anjum Malik. With Toby Jones, Jenny Jules, Alex Jennings, James Norton, Joseph Kloska, Richard Katz, Richard Goulding, Danny Sapani, Mark Straker, Trevor Cooper, Frances Grey, Effie Woods and Rob Heaps. Produced and directed by Polly Thomas.

Sunday 21st June 2015 (starting this evening)
Time: 22:00 to 23:30 (1 hour and 30 minutes long)

Strindberg: The Father, by August Strindberg.

Laurie Slade's version of a notorious drama from 1890 about suspicion, adultery and the disintegration of a marriage. With Joe Dixon, Katy Stephens, Holly Earl, Patrick Toomey, Laurence Kennedy, Barbara Young and Staten Cousins-Roe. Directed by Joe Harmston.

If you are interested in Babbage you should the book "The Philosophical Breakfast Club" by Laura Snyder

Sunday 28th June 2015 (starting this evening)
Time: 22:00 to 23:35 (1 hour and 35 minutes long)

Bretton Woods, by Steve Waters.

A dramatisation of the events surrounding the Bretton Conference in 1944, where a secret meeting of bankers and economists from around the world took place with the aim of saving the world economy and securing peace amid the death-throes of the Second World War. Simon Callow and Henry Goodman are John Maynard Keynes and Harry Dexter White, two economists on whom everything depended. With Alison Pettitt, Laurel Lefkow, Simon Lee Phillips, Peter Hamilton Dyer, Sean Baker, Laura Elphinstone. With music by Lucinda Mason Brown, sound by David Chilton.
(Repeat)

Director: Jeremy Mortimer

Sunday 19th July 2015 (starting this evening)
Time: 22:00 to 23:40 (1 hour and 40 minutes long)

The Provoked Wife, by John Vanburgh.

An outspoken 18th-century comedy of sex, marriage, debauchery and revenge. With Dave Hill, Josie Lawrence, Tom Mannion, Saskia Reeves. Produced and directed by Pauline Harris. Adapted by Jim Poyser.

Sunday 23rd August 2015 (starting in 1 day)
Time: 22:00 to 23:20 (1 hour and 20 minutes long)

The Oresteia: Agamemnon, by Aeschylus.

The first of the three plays in Aeschylus's classic trilogy about murder, revenge and justice. Agamemnon returns home to Argos after his victory at Troy. But his wife, Clytemnestra, has determined to take terrible revenge for his sacrifice of their eldest daughter Iphigenia. With Arthur Hughes, Philip Jackson, Carolyn Picklesk, Lesley Sharp, Hugo Speer, Anamaria Marinca, Karl Johnson, Sean Murray, Georgie Fuller, John Norton, Steve Toussaint and Harry Jardine. Adapted by Simon Scardifield.

Director: Sasha Yevtushenko

Sunday 30th August 2015 (starting this evening)
Time: 22:00 to 23:05 (1 hour and 5 minutes long)

The Oresteia: The Libation Bearers, by Aeschylus.

The second play in Aeschylus's classic trilogy about murder, revenge and justice. Agamemnon's son Orestes returns home from exile to kill his mother in revenge for his father's murder. But where can he find the strength to carry out such a terrible deed? With Will Howard, Joanne Froggatt, Lesley Sharp, Sheila Reid, Amanda Lawrence, Carys Eleri, Sean Murray, Carolyn Pickles, Joel MacCormack, David Seddon, John Norton and Adriana Festeu.

Sunday 6th September 2015 (starting this evening)
Time: 22:15 to 23:40 (1 hour and 25 minutes long)

The Oresteia: The Furies, by Aeschylus.

Rebecca Lenkiewicz's adaptation of the final play in Aeschylus's classic trilogy about murder, revenge and justice. Orestes has avenged his father Agamemnon by murdering Clytemnestra, his father's killer and his own mother. Now the Furies, deities of revenge, are on his trail and baying for blood. Can the young gods Apollo and Athena stop this cycle of revenge? With Niamh Cusack, Polly Hemingway, Maureen Beattie, Carolyn Pickles, Will Howard, Chipo Chung, Joel MacCormack, Lesley Sharp, Priyanga Burford, Carys Eleri and Sean Murray.

Director: Sasha Yevtushenko

Sunday 27th September 2015 (starting this evening)
Time: 21:00 to 22:40 (1 hour and 40 minutes long)

Chicken Soup with Barley: An adaptation of the Royal Court Theatre's 2011 production of Arnold Wesker's landmark play that captures the collapse of an ideology alongside the disintegration of a family. Sarah Kahn, an East End Jewish mother, is a feisty political fighter and a staunch communist. Battling against the State and her shirking husband she desperately tries to keep her family together. With Samantha Spiro, Danny Webb, Harry Peacock, Nitzan Sharron, Rene Zagger, Steve Furst, Alexis Zegerman, Jenna Augen, Tom Rosenthal and Rebecca Gethings.

Sunday 4th October 2015 (starting this evening)
Time: 21:00 to 22:50 (1 hour and 50 minutes long)

Arnold Wesker: Roots.

The Donmar Warehouse's production of Arnold Wesker's 1958 'kitchen sink' drama, starring Jessica Raine as Beatie Bryant, a young woman finding her voice at a time of unprecedented social change. The year is 1958 and Beatie has been to London and fallen in love with Ronnie, a young socialist. As she anxiously awaits his arrival to meet her family at their Norfolk farm her head is swimming with new ideas. However, her dreams of a bolder, freer world ultimately clash with her family's rural way of life. With Jessica Raine, Linda Bassett, David Burke, Lisa Ellis, Ian Gelder, Nic Jackman, Michael Jibson, Carl Prekopp and Emma Stansfield.

Sunday 11th October 2015 (starting this evening)
Time: 21:00 to 23:20 (2 hours and 20 minutes long)

Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller.

David Suchet and Zoe Wanamaker star in a new production of the 1949 play about the American dream, directed by Howard Davies.

Sunday 18th October 2015 (starting in 5 hours and 52 minutes)
Time: 21:00 to 22:35 (1 hour and 35 minutes long)

A View From the Bridge, by Arthur Miller.

Martin Jarvis directs the award-winning 1955 drama, with a US cast including Alfred Molina, Jane Kaczmarek, Melissa Benoist and Hector Elizondo.

Sunday 25th October 2015 (starting this evening)
Time: 21:00 to 23:00 (2 hours long)

The Witness, by Vivienne Franzmann.

Based on the Royal Court Theatre production, a powerful and moving drama of modern morality in which a young woman discovers a secret which shatters her feelings for her adopted father. Captured in a famous photograph, Alex was rescued from Rwanda and adopted by the man who took it. Back from university and returning to the family home, their relationship cracks and then shatters as a long-hidden secret is slowly revealed. With Danny Webb, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Chike Okonkwo and Lloyd Peters. Produced and directed by Gary Brown.