by Henry de Montherlant
Translated by Robert Baldick with Stephen Murray and Jill Bennett
Other parts played by members of the BBC Drama Repertory Company
Produced by CHARLES LEFEAUX
Third broadcast
Written for the Comedie Francaise during the German Occupation, Queen in Death is in part a study of the uses and abuses of power (which, fortunately for the author, was misunderstood by the Gestapo), but also a study of the ambiguity and frailty of human nature when confronted by a conflict of good and evil. The action is set in Portugal in a Renaissance period.
8.50-9.0
During the interval in the performance of the play:
Respighi
Two movements from First Suite of Ancient Airs and Dances for the lute, played by the Philharmonia Hungarica, conducted by Antal Dorati : gramophone record