THE WEEK’S RADIO Sir John Gielgud As Richard II

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30426, 28 April 1964, Page 10

THE WEEK’S RADIO Sir John Gielgud As Richard II

. Sir John Gielgud takes the title role in a 8.8. C. production of Shakespeare’s- “Richard II,” to be heard from 3YC at 7 p.m. on Friday, heading a distinguished cast which also includes Sir Ralph Richardson as John of Gaunt, Michael Goodhffe as Bolingbroke, and Rachel Gurney as the Queen.

“Richard II” is a play in which the words themselves and the speaking of them are of prime importance. Much of the • writing is formal, patterned and elaborate—verbal music which cannot be reduced to the bare notes-of a prose tale. At the same time it is a play of vivid action, youthful and headlong. In the present production, writes John Richmond, the producer, the words have been left as much as possible to speak for themselves, without much recourse to “effects,” sparingly assisted by music by John Hbtchkis. A similar concern to present the play to the best advantage for the microphone has decided the vexed question of cuts. Certain scenes, those dealing with the Aumerle conspiracy in particular, are frequently omitted on ' the stage. Rather more have been omitted from the present production because their retention either introduced confusion.or, by breaking the flow, weakened the total dramatic effect. Sir John Gielgud, whose sixtieth birthday fell earlier this month, recalls his experiences in acting Shakespeare. over a period of 40 years in a 8.8. C. talk from 3YC at 9.15 p.m. tomorrow. He remembers his successes, analyses his failures, and reveals how he began his penetration of the Shakespearean world, starting with romantic and colourful impressions. He acknowledges the help he has received' from writers and producers such as Komisarjevsky, Michel Saint-Denis and the revered Granville Barker. Falstaff Again

In “Henry IV,” Part 11, Shakespeare continues his story of the reign of Henry the -Fourth as far as the King’s death and the accession of his son, Prince .Hal, as Henry V. Rebellion is finally crushed and the new King is looking to France for future conquests. Once more Falstaff is there to bluff and bluster his way through a life permanently. hampered by the lack of ready money, and Shakespeare adds yet another of his great comic creations —Justice Shallow. In Roy Hope’s N.Z.B.C. production from the ZBs at 8.31 p.m. on Sunday Antony GrPser again plays Falstaff and Roy Leywood is Justice Shallow,

Shakespeare Talks Several more programmes in “The Living Shakespeare” series are to be heard this week. From 3YC at 10.10 tonight, Michael MacOwan, principal of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, talks about the theatres of Shakespeare’s tirrje. The stage then was a platform, more or less.in the middle of the audience, and there was no attempt to be realistic or to use scenery. Tomorrow (3YC, 10 p.m.) John Dover. Wilson, who for some 40 years has been involved in re-editing the texts of all Shakespeare’s works for the Cambridge University Press, talks about the difficulties a modern editor faces in choosing between widelydiffering editions, many of which are full of errors and omissions. The first uniform edition of Shakespeare’s plays, the Folio, was published after his death without his supervision, but some of the plays had been published in his lifetime in both authorised and bad, pirated editions. Sir Donald Wolfit is the principal actor in a series of excerpts from “King Lear” and “Hamlet” used, by John E. Danby, professor of English at the University College of North Wales, in a talk on the tragedies from 3YA at 9.30 p.m. tomorrow. A lecturer in English at Cambridge University, David Daiches, will talk, about Shakespeare’s poetic style from 3YC at' 10.30 p.m; on' Thursday.

Elizabethan Music “Music in Shakespeare’s England,” a series of programmes of great interest to lovers of Elizabethan music, will begin from 3YC this week. The programmes are compiled by Imogen Holst from 8.8. C. recordings made at the Aldeburgh Festival. The first (8 p.m., tomorrow) is devoted to the music of William Byrd, the greatest' of all Elizabethan composers and revered as such by his contemporaries. Religious vocal music and instrumental pieces will be heard. The second programme (7 p.m., Friday) is of music by Robert White and John Dowland. White, master of the choristers at Ely Cathedral and Westminster Abbey, was considered in his time to be the equal of any of the great sixteenth century Italian composers. He is represented by his six-part choral Lamentations, which so moved the copyist of the parts that he wrote in the margin: “Not even the words of the tragic Prophet sound so sad as the sad music of my master.” Dowland complained bitterly of his neglect in his own country, but he is now recognised as the greatest English song writer and some of his late religious songs will Re heard. The third pro- : gramme (7 p.m., Sunday) pre'sents church music for voices and organ by John Bull, John Wilbye, Orlando Gibbons, Peter Philips and the lesser- ■ known John Lugge. More Elizabethan music is

to be heard in, a broadcast from Auckland on Thursday (YCs, 8 p.m.) by the Deller Consort. Tonight from Hamilton (YCs, 9.10 p.m.) they will be heard in Italian madrigals, and English folk songs.

Shakespeare To Music

Music is inextricably bound up with Shakespeare’s works. His plays call- for incidental music, operas have been made from his plays and composers have long made songs from his lyrics. A glimpse of eighteenth'■ century composers’ attitudes to'.Shakespeare may be had' when the English soprano, April Cantelo,' is heard from 3YA at 8.30 p.m. on Sunday, singing Shakespeare songs by such composers as Arne and John Christopher Smith, who was Handel’s amanuensis and wrote two Shakespearean operas. A living composer’s attitude to Shakespeare will be revealed when Sir William Walton talks to Bruce Mason about his music for the film of “Henry V” from 3YC at 7. p.m. tomorrow. Debussy Plays Some more of the WelteMignon recordings of great pianists made early in the nineteenth century, which were introduced by John Gray .from the YCs last Tuesday, will be played by Brian Salkeld in “Introducing New Records” from the main national stations at 4 p.m. on Sunday. The pianists to be heard are Saint-Saens and Debussy, playing their own compositions. The rest of the programme is operatic music —a previously unpublished recording made in 1950 of the Overture to Mozart’s “Idomeneo” with Fritz Busch conducting the Glyndebourne Festival Orchestra; the aria .“Ombra mai fu”—better known as Handel’s “Largo” from the comic opera “Serse” sung by the German tenor, Josef Traxel, and excerpts from a Munich production of Johann Strauss’s “Die Fledermaus.”