Aldous Huxley: BBC Radio Drama Collection
Aldous Leonard Huxley was an English writer and philosopher. He wrote nearly 50 books, both novels and non-fiction works, as well as wide-ranging essays, narratives, and poems. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature nine times, and was elected Companion of Literature by the Royal Society of Literature in 1962. This collection includes BBC Radio dramatisations of some of Huxley's best known novels. Brave New World It's 2116, and Bernard Marx and Helmholtz Watson are token rebels in an irretrievably corrupted society where promiscuity is the norm, eugenics a respectable science, and morality turned upside down. There is no poverty, crime or sickness - but no creativity, art or culture either. Human beings are merely docile citizens: divided into castes, brainwashed and controlled by the state and dependent on the drug soma for superficial gratification. Bernard .... Justin Salinger Helmholtz .... Jonathan Coy Lenina .... Pippa Bennett-Warner The Director .... Anton Lesser John .... Milton Lopes Linda .... Karina Fernandez Fanny .... Nicola Ferguson Henry .... Sam Rix The Warden .... James Lailey Mustapha Mond .... Sean Baker Girl .... Scarlett Brookes Heliport Man .... Brian Protheroe Written by Aldous Huxley Dramatised by Jonathan Holloway Directed by David Hunter First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2017 The Dwarves Sir Hercules and his wife, Filomena, are dwarves who have turned their country estate into a haven for others like themselves. This world of peace and harmony exists for many years until it becomes threatened from a most unexpected quarter. David Learner .... Hercules Claire Faulconbridge .... Filomena Garard Green .... the Narrator Ronald Herdman .... Sir Henry Hedli Niklaus .... Lady Sarah Eric Stovell .... Ferdinando Silas Gregory .... Ferdinando & Hercules as boys Tony Turner .... Charles Rob Swinton .... Simon Alan Devereux .... Jenkins Alex Jones .... Gregory John Dixon .... Sebastian. Based on Chapter 13 of Crome Yellow by Aldous Huxley Dramatised by Peter Mackie Directed by Philip Martin First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1986 Antic Hay When inspiration leads Theo Gumbril to design pneumatic trousers to ease the discomfort of a sedentary life, he decides to give up teaching and seek his fortune in London. But his dreams seem to disappear as he gets caught up in the world of his self absorbed friends. A wicked satire on the glittering hedonism of the 1920s. Theo .... James Cooney Myra .... Emily Pithon Coleman .... Jonathan Keeble Lypiatt .... Simeon Truby Shearwater .... Graeme Hawley Emily .... Verity Henry Written by Aldous Huxley Dramatised by Mike Harris Producer/Director Gary Brown First broadcast on BBC Radio in December 2020 The Gioconda Smile Henry feels anger and guilt as his first wife lies upstairs confined to her bed. He finds solace in his relationship with Janet Spence and their shared love of art. He also finds pleasure in an affair with Doris. Then, his wife Emily dies suddenly - but what, exactly, caused her heart failure? Henry Hutton .... Peter Bowles Janet Spence .... Judy Loe Doctor Libbard .... Philip Latham Nurse Braddock .... Eva Stuart Doris Mead .... Emily Richard General Spence/First Warder .... Nat Brenner Clara .... Maryon Ellor Second Warder .... John Samson Written by Aldous Huxley Dramatised by Cynthia Pughe Directed by Alec Reid First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 1989 The Genius and the Goddess Thirty years ago, ecstasy and torment took hold of John Rivers. He had an affair with the wife of his mentor, Henry Maartens - a pathbreaking physicist, winner of the Nobel Prize - bringing the couple to ruin. Now, on Christmas Eve while his small grandson sleeps upstairs, Rivers is moved to set the record straight about the great man and the radiant, elemental creature he married, who viewed the renowned genius through undazzled eyes. Written by Aldous Huxley Read by Julian Elfer
