Front Row [08/04/2008]

Synopsis: Radio arts review programme presented by Mark Lawson. Includes a 7-minute report on a strange gap in the BBC Television Shakespeare series: the 1978 production of Much Ado About Nothing (dir. Donald McWhinnie) that was recorded but never shown. Lawson assembles the evidence from a telephone interview with actor Michael York (who played Benedick) and internal protocols about the production held in the BBC’s Written Archives. Correspondence suggests that the production was a ‘victim of BBC internal politics’ and the personal animosity between the series’ producers Cedric Messina and Shaun Sutton. Lawson concludes that this incident reveals much about the shifting attitudes to how Shakespeare should sound and look on television. Illustrated by brief extracts from I i and IV i.
Series: Front Row
Language: English
Country: Great Britain
Medium: Radio
Notes: According to the programme, a copy of the recording still exists in the BBC Archives.
Subjects: Drama
Keywords: Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)
Related items: Much Ado About Nothing (1978)

Contributor

Cast

Michael York
Penelope Keith