King of Snow

Synopsis: Episode 6 of a 26-part serialisation of the Elizabethan history play (encompassing the reign of Edward II to Henry VI), adapted for radio by Martin Jenkins.
This episode, based on Shakespeare’s Richard II, stars Derek Jacobi as Richard II and Robert Hardy as Bolingbroke. With Richard Burton as narrator. The music for the series is composed by Christopher Whelen and played by members of the English Chamber Orchestra.
Series: Vivat Rex
Language: English
Country: Great Britain
Medium: Radio
Recording date: 8 Jan 1977
Transmission details: 20 Mar 1977 at 21:03 (Channel: BBC Radio 4)
Duration: 55 mins

History: VIVAT REX was presented by BBC Radio 4 to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.
Each episode of the broadcast was repeated on BBC Radio 4 on Tuesdays at 15:05.
Stills: A large portrait of Burton in front of the microphone can be found in Radio Times, 12-18 February 1977, pp. 61-62.
Textual information: To enable listeners to follow the episodes more easily, a booklet accompanying the series was published, written by Robert Cushman.
Reviews: On Burton’s performance see David Wade, ‘Voices’, Radio Times, 19 February 1977, p. 10.
On a review of the first 6 episodes and Martin Jenkins’s view of the production see Wilfred De’ Ath’s ‘Kings complex’ in Radio Times, 26 March-1 April 1977, p. 66.

Derek Jacobi	King Richard II
Maureen O’Brien	Queen Isabel
Michael Redgrave	John of Gaunt
Robert Hardy	Bolingbroke
Barbara Jefford	Duchess of Gloucester
Christopher Good	Green
Clifford Rose	Edmund of Langley, Duke of York
David Graham	Earl of Westmoreland
Don Henderson	Thomas Mowbray
Joan Matheson	Lady attending the Queen
Malcolm Reid	Duke of Aumerle
Michael Barnes (2)	Gardener’s man (1)
Michael Barnes (2)	Earl of Salisbury
Michael Barnes (2)	Duke of Surrey
Nigel Lambert	Bushy
Patrick Troughton	Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland
Paul Meier	Sir Stephen Scroope
Sion Probert	Bagot
Timothy West	Gardener
Timothy West	Bishop of Carlisle

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