Holbein’s Skull

Original version

BBC Radio 4 LW

Drama

BBC Radio 4 FM

Jack Farthing

Sam Alexander

Lauren Cornelius

Clive Hayward

Martyn Wade

Tracey Neale

Drama: Holbein's Skull

Holbein's Skull

Drama on 4

BBC Radio 4 - Drama on 4, Holbein's Skull

A deliciously funny play, inspired by Hans Holbein's iconic painting The Ambassadors.

A deliciously funny play starring Jack Farthing. Martyn Wade takes a peek behind Hans Holbein's painting The Ambassadors and finds a solution to the enigma that surrounds it.

By Martyn Wade

A deliciously funny play about art, relationships and sexuality. It just happens to have taken place in London a few hundred years ago. Hans Holbein, an up-and-coming artist, is about to begin work on his painting The Ambassadors. 

Jean de Dinteville ..... Jack Farthing
Georges de Selve ..... Sam Alexander
Margery Horsman ..... Lauren Cornelius
Hans Holbein/King Henry VIII ..... Clive Hayward

Written by Martyn Wade
Produced and Directed by Tracey Neale

Hans Holbein's painting, The Ambassadors, is one of the star attractions in London's National Gallery and the writer, Martyn Wade, has taken a peek behind the painting to find an imaginative solution to the enigma that surrounds it. There are two young men in the picture but there are so many other items portrayed - it seems overloaded with potential meaning. So let's go back to London a few hundred years ago. 

Jean de Dinteville and Georges de Selve are the two Ambassadors. Hans Holbein is the up-and-coming artist on his second stint in London. Margery Horsman is a lady-in-waiting to Anne Boleyn - who takes a shine to Jean and is always at the ready with a good idea. 

Jean is in England to try and persuade King Henry that his actions regarding Anne Boleyn will jeopardise relations with France but by the time he arrives in London this is Diplomatic Mission Impossible. When Holbein agrees to paint Jean and Georges's picture he has an intriguing suggestion. But things don't quite go according to plan. How did the painting end up with so many eye catching artefacts? This fresh, sharp and witty drama zips along with its imaginative take as to why that might be.

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