Woman's Hour Drama – Faust Ep 1/5
Monday 18 to Friday 22 February
10.45-11.00am BBC RADIO 4
This dramatic new adaptation of one of the greatest stories ever told stars Julian Rhind-Tutt as Faust and Mark Gatiss as Mephistopheles.
Faust sells his soul to Mephistopheles in order to have a good time on Earth. The story of Faust isn't lost in time and remains potent to this day – who hasn't toyed with skipping the life to come to secure the pleasures of the moment?
This adaptation, by Martin Jenkins and Jonathan Holloway, draws on a multitude of sources and original writing to conjure a Faust for our times. Faust is a donnish wannabe rake – good with words and spells and keen on sex, but not getting enough. Mephistopheles can help, so a deal is done and he puts Faust in the way of Martha, a rather dowdy has-been who clings to her memories of past glories as the muse for a trashy pop singer. Martha unwittingly makes her daughter, Grechen, available to Faust's sprouting libido but things begin to go wrong. Grechen's brother, Valentin, isn't keen on the men hanging around his sister. He is killed but, before he dies, he curses his sister. Gretchen dies and Faust's time is coming to an end. He tries to escape, as everyone does, but he cannot. Mephistopheles moves on, sweet-talking Wagner, and another contract is promised.
The cast also includes Pippa Haywood as Martha, Jasmine Hyde as Grechen, Paul Mundell as Valentin and Thom Tuck as Wagner.
Yay, yay and yay again
Thanks Ruth
) and I absolutely loved it!
Looking forward to the rest of it now.
