Oscar Wilde - A BBC Radio Drama Collection - Oscar Wilde Audiobook

Written by Oscar Wilde
Read by Full Cast
Format: Mixed
Bitrate: Variable
Dramatization

The Picture of Dorian Gray - Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime - Lady Windermere’s Fan - A Woman of No Importance - An Ideal Husband - The Importance of Being Earnest - The Trials of Oscar Wilde

Five full-cast dramas, one reading & a two-part play written about or by Oscar Wilde.

The M4B encodes are all my recordings from BBC Sounds and should sound pretty much as originally broadcast.

The MP3s ‘only’ sound acceptable rather than great. Thanks to erstwhile uploader Spafon7e for ‘Lady Windermere’s Fan’ & archive.org for ‘An Ideal Husband’.

‘The Trials of Oscar Wilde’ I recorded from a FreeView TV decoder nearly 15 years ago so it sounds a bit mushy.

1890 - THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY

A vain aristocrat - a gilded and spoilt hedonist - makes a dangerous pact to preserve his youth.

Dramatised in two parts by Nick McCarty.

Dorian Gray …… Jamie Glover
Lord Henry Wotton …… Ian McDiarmid
Basil Hallward …… Steven Pacey
Sybil Vane …… Tilly Gaunt
Jim Vane …… Harry Myers
Mrs Vane …… Elizabeth Mansfield
Lord Fermor …… Brett Usher
Aunt Agatha …… Mary Wimbush
Butler …… Gavin Muir
Mrs Vandelaur …… Elizabeth Bell
Lady Harley …… Tessa Worsley
Servant …… Tom George
Duke Geoffrey …… Edward de Souza
Thornton …… Stephen Critchlow
Campbell …… Geoffrey Beevers
Duchess …… Alice Arnold

Other parts played by the cast.

Director: Gordon House.

First broadcast on the BBC World Service in January 2000

1891 - LORD ARTHUR SAVILE’S CRIME

Attending one of Lady Windermere’s regular Thursday evening society parties, the dashing Lord Arthur Savile offers his hand for a reading by the dastardly palmist, Podgers.

But he’s shocked when his murderous fate is revealed…

Read in three parts by Michael Maloney.

Produced at BBC Manchester by Katherine Beacon.

Made for BBC 7 and first broadcast in October 2003.

1892 - LADY WINDERMERE’S FAN

Starring Eleanor Tremain, David Calder, Jonathan Cake and Isla Blair

Dramatised by Micheline Wandor

Directed by Gordon House

First Broadcast on the BBC World Service in 2000

1893 - A WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE

At a country house party, Mrs Arbuthnot’s long-concealed secret comes back to haunt her.

Mrs Arbuthnot …… Diana Rigg
Lord Illingworth …… Martin Jarvis
Lady Hunstanton …… Annette Crosbie
Lady Caroline Pontefract …… Irene Sutcliffe
Mrs Allonby …… Susan Sheridan
Lady Stutfield …… Auriol Smith
Gerald Arbuthnot …… Dominic Letts
Hester Worsley …… Teresa Gallagher
Archdeacon Daubeny …… David King
Sir John Pontefract …… Geoffrey Chater
Mr Kelvill, MP …… Jack Klaff
Alice …… Adjoa Andoh
Lord Alfred Rufford …… Peter Penry-Jones

Violin: Alexander Balanescu.

Adapted and directed by Adrian Bean.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 1991

1895 - AN IDEAL HUSBAND

The unprincipled Mrs Cheveley threatens to reveal Sir Robert Chiltern’s secret past unless he agrees to give his support in Parliament to a questionable Argentinian venture. Faced with ruin in the eyes of the country and his wife, he seems to have no alternative. Wildean wit and the elegance of English society is woven into this classic drama.

The Earl of Caversham …… Geoffrey Palmer
Viscount Goring …… Jasper Britton
Sir Robert Chiltern …… Alex Jennings
Lady Chiltern …… Emma Fielding
Lady Markby …… Sara Kestelman
Miss Mabel Chiltern …… Joanna Page
Mrs Cheveley …… Janet McTeer
Vicomte De Nanjac …… Oliver de Sueur
Mrs Marchmont …… Patience Tomlinson
Countess of Basildon …… Lucy Whybrow
Mr Montford/James …… John Cummins
Phipps …… Hugh Dickson
Mason …… Derek Beard

Directed by David Timson.

BBC Radio 3 - Sun 14 Feb 2010

1895 - THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST

London, 1895: crafty friends Jack and Algernon are living a double life.

This production of Oscar Wilde’s comedy was mounted to celebrate the centenary of the play’s first night at London’s Haymarket Theatre on 14th February 1895.

Starring Dame Judi Dench as Lady Bracknell, Martin Clunes as Algernon Moncrieff, Michael Sheen as Jack Worthing, Miriam Margolyes as Miss Prism, John Moffatt as Canon Chasuble and Michael Hordern as Lane.

Pianist: Terence Allbright. Produced by Glyn Dearman

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1995

1996 - THE TRIALS OF OSCAR WILDE

by Christopher Fitz-Simon

The Marquis of Queensberry is hounding Wilde for corrupting his son. The celebrated author can either ignore his taunts or risk the scandal of a lawsuit.

Oscar Wilde ………. Simon Russell Beale
The Marquis of Queensberry ………. Nigel Davenport
Lord Alfred Douglas ………. Alex Lowe
Edward Carson ………. Nathaniel Parker
Robert Ross ………. Richard Pearce
Sir Edward Clarke ………. Peter Sallis
Frank Harris ………. Gerard Murphy
George Bernard Shaw ………. Jim Norton
Charles Gill ………. Kim Wall
Seymour Hicks ………. Robert Harper
Charles Parker ………. Chris Pavlo
French receptionist ………. Colleen Prendergast
Brookfield ………. Christopher Scott
Lady Wilde ………. Shirley Dixon
Sir Frank Lockwood ………. Ioan Meredith
Justice Charles ………. Jonathan Adams
Justice Wills and Andre Gide ………. Sean Baker
The Rev Stewart Headlam ………. Mark Bonnar
with Elaine Pyke. Janet Maw, Keith Drinkel and Joanna Monro.

Director ………. Director Peter Kavanagh

First broadcast 5th October 1996