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Episode 1

From old married couples to cold calling – an all-star cast portray a hilarious view of us all. With Joanna Lumley. From 2015.

Michael Frayn: the most comic philosophical writer of our time.

An all-star cast has great fun with Frayn's hilarious view of us all. And of how we attempt to communicate.

In this opening episode, we hear Joanna Lumley and Roger Allam as stone effigies in a cathedral talking to each other like an old married couple. (Well, they've been together several hundred years. Nothing much changes.)

Then there's the younger couples - Charles Edwards and Sophie Winkleman bickering over who should finish who's sentences, and Lisa Dillon and Alex Jennings on the irritations that occur when discussing an apparently simple decision - whether or not to accept a kind invitation.

Martin Jarvis has trouble with a rarefied type of cold-calling - how to tell someone they've won a Nobel Prize. And we have an excerpt from a documentary on a species of creature that scurries and scuttles in the darkness. The wild life narrator sounds suspiciously like Sir David Attenborough. (It is.)

This series is Theatre in miniature. Short entertainments based on Frayn's acclaimed book, Matchbox Theatre. It’s the theatre of your imagination. Set design, ice-cream sales, packet of nuts, where to sit - it's up to you. Just sit back and enjoy.

With
Charles Edwards
Sophie Winkleman
Joanna Lumley
Roger Allam,
Lisa Dillon
Alex Jennings
David Attenborough
Martin Jarvis

Producer: Rosalind Ayres
Director: Martin Jarvis

A Jarvis and Ayres production for Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4 first broadcast in November 2015.

30 minutes

Last on

Sat 18 Jul 2020 05:00

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Credits

Role Contributor
Actor Charles Edwards
Actor Sophie Winkleman
Actor Joanna Lumley
Actor Roger Allam
Actor Lisa Dillon
Actor Alex Jennings
Actor David Attenborough
Actor Martin Jarvis
Writer Michael Frayn
Director Martin Jarvis
Producer Rosalind Ayres

Broadcasts

  • Fri 27 Nov 2015 11:30
  • Sun 26 Aug 2018 19:15
  • Fri 31 Aug 2018 07:30
  • Fri 31 Aug 2018 17:30
  • Fri 31 Aug 2018 22:00
  • Sat 1 Sep 2018 05:30
  • Fri 17 Jul 2020 07:00
  • Fri 17 Jul 2020 17:00
  • Sat 18 Jul 2020 05:00

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