Titania

Synopsis: Radio broadcast of an excerpt from A Midsummer Night’s Dream that focuses on the character of Titania. Arranged for radio by Herbert Farjeon and produced by Mary Hope Allen. With Leslie Stokes as speaker.
Series: Radio Theatre: Shakespeare’s Characters
Language: English
Country: Great Britain
Medium: Radio
Transmission details: 27 Sep 1943 at 11:30 (Channel: BBC World Service)
Duration: 29 mins
Availability: Unknown

Producer

Mary Hope Allen

Writer

William Shakespeare

Contributor

Leslie Stokes

Adaptor for Radio

Herbert Farjeon

Cast

Notes: Cast information is based on the revival of the series on the Home Service in 1945. For the original broadcast, Robert Helpmann played Oberon to Patricia Hayes’s Titania. No further cast information is available (6/2008).
General: According to the programme notes in London Calling, "Mr. Farjeon had always been interested in the big figures among the secondary characters in Shakespeare’s plays. In this series he expands upon their personalities, illustrating his theories by some of the scenes in which these characters appear" (No. 302: 1945, p. 20)
History: Third episode in the series originally transmitted every fourth week on the External Service:
27/9/1943 General Overseas Service, 11:30-11:59 (GMT)
28/9/1943 North American Service, 2:00 GMT (22:00 EWT)
28/9/1943 African Service, 20:00 GMT
29/9/1943 Pacific Service, 19:00 GMT
A repeat of this episode was broadcast on the BBC Home Service on 2/11/1945.
Textual information: A written transcript of the production is held at the Birmingham Central Library as part of their Shakespeare Collection.
Reviews: Source: London Calling, The Times, Radio Times
Annotated radio scripts of all the 18 episodes in the series are being held at the University of Bristol Theatre Collection.

This record has been viewed 510 times.

British Universities Film & Video Council