“David Timson’s radio revival underlined the social and political tensions lurking beneath the polished surface of the text. Consider the end of the first act: Lady Chiltern (Emma Fielding) is shocked to discover that Sir Robert, her outwardly upstanding husband (Alex Jennings) has a shady past; he will be ruined unless Mrs. Cheveley (Janet McTeer), a blackmailing ‘woman in heliotrope with diamonds,’ has […]
“Timson’s production for Radio 3 was a classic 18th century English comedy – ‘The Rivals’ by Sheridan. Starring Patricia Routledge and Geoffrey Palmer it promised to bubble over with theatrical fun. It was broadcast on 25th September 2005.” – www.suttonelms.org.uk
Guardian: Pick of the Day “Kenneth Branagh conveyed Nelson’s complexity as a man and managed to sound both classical and modern as an actor. At first I wondered what Nelson had seen in the drunken, volatile, vulgar blacksmith’s daughter, but although Janet McTeer’s performance as Emma Hamilton might have been over the top it was […]
“Shedding their clothes for mens’ mags has become a fashionable rite of passage for certain performers – a mark of status before gravity and over-familiarity get them struck off the editors’ wish lists. While not implying that this is akin to entering one of the oldest callings – as exemplified in Mrs Warren’s Profession – […]
“I never thought I would spend two hours by the radio, listening to Samson Agonistes. On Sunday night, I did. What did I get out of it, apart from the occasional quiver when I recognised the gobbets I learned for long-ago exams? The strong impression that Milton would never have been strong box office. This […]
“Best known as the inspiration for Mozart’s opera of the same name, The Marriage of Figaro came across in David Timson’s production as a rollicking farce involving a stroppy servant Figaro (Rupert Degas), his fiancee Suzanne (Joannah Tracey), and an aristocrat (Nicholas Rowe) trying every possible means to prevent Figaro and Suzanne’s marriage. The action […]
“In Roy McMillan’s radio version, Sophie Okonedo was notable for her self-control; despite continual attacks from Bosola (Bertie Carvel), Ferdinand (Jonathan Slinger) and the Cardinal (Oliver Senton), she remained true to her beliefs and desires. Her love for Antonio (Rory Kinnear) never wavered; likewise her determination to resist and say nothing. This was truly someone […]
“While The Chalk Garden might not be the classic that director Grandage claimed – in his introductory piece to the radio version – I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it.” – radiodramareviews.com
“I did not see the original stage production; but from the evidence of what I heard, this revival stripped away a lot of the clichés associated with Shakespeare’s play and presented it in a new and threatening light. No one seemed safe in a dog-eat-dog world discouraging individual thought, where outsiders were regarded as potential […]
“Faust (Samuel West) and Mephistopheles (Toby Jones) had a rare old time competing for our attentions: West with his soft, hypnotic voice reminiscent of a British Henry Fonda; Jones with his infinite variety of hissing sibillants, resembling a snake trying to worm its way into Faust’s (and the listeners’) consciousness.” – radiodramareviews.com
