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Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay

Elena Ferrante - The Neapolitan Novels: Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay Part 1/3

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Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay Part 1/3

Elena Ferrante - The Neapolitan Novels

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Elena Ferrante - The Neapolitan Novels, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay Part 1/3

Lila is now a young mum. But Lena has escaped Naples with a degree and her first novel.

Married at 16, Lila is now a young mum. Escaping Naples with her degree, Lena’s first novel is a success. Stars Monica Dolan.

The third book in Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan novels, charting the lifelong relationship between two girls, Lila Cerullo and Elena Greco, who grew up together in the slums of post-War Naples.

Elena, having escaped to Milan after the publication of her first book, struggles to find the courage to live, parent and write again after her marriage to her increasingly dismissive husband Pietro. 

Lila, meanwhile, also struggles to rise above her social conditions and desperately tries to find a way to better herself in whatever way she can. By day she suffers the daily abuse and exploitation at work in the local sausage factory and by night she works hard with her partner, Enzo, to make a difference with her life by studying hard the ever-changing face of technology. 

Struggling with periods of mental darkness, she also wrestles with being a parent and finding the time to be true to herself. Eventually she is encouraged by a group of old friends and young students to admit her anger at the social adversity and abuses suffered by the women at work in the factory and to stand up and shout about it. 

As always, amid the troubles, the two women turn to each other, gaining either strength or weakness from the other, not always to happy effect.

Lila Cerullo ...... Anastasia Hille  
Elena Greco ...... Monica Dolan  
Father ...... Richard Tate  
Old Professor ...... Richard Tate  
Nino Sarratore ...... Daniel Flynn  
Adele ...... Sylvestra Le Touzel  
Pietro ...... Ferdinand Kingsley  
Mother ...... Jane Whittenshaw  
Elisa ...... Nelly Harker  
Ada ...... Nelly Harker  
Gino ......  Tom Bevan  
Michele ...... Daniel Ryan  
Carmela ...... Louise Calf  
Mariarosa ...... Claudia Jolly  
Juan ...... James Joyce  
Bruno ...... James Joyce  
Franco ...... Simon Scardifield  
Sylvia ...... Marisa Abela  
Pasquale ...... Nicholas Gleaves  
Enzo ...... Carl Prekopp  
Teresa ...... Caroline Gruber  
Filippo ...... Nicholas Boulton  
Tarratano ...... Nicholas Boulton  
Dario ...... Tom Glenister  
Professor Galiani ...... Sara Markland  
Nadia ...... Jayne McKenna  
Armando ...... Josh Dylan  
Edo ...... Fred Haig  
Peppe ...... Joe Bolland  
Student ...... Phoebe Marshall  
Student ...... Joe Bolland  
Student ...... Marisa Abela  
Student ...... Declan Mason  
Student ...... Nicholas Armfield  


Dramatised for radio by Timberlake Wertenbaker
Directed by Celia de Wolff

A Pier production for BBC Radio 4. First broadcast in June 2017.

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Drama: Relationships & Romance

Dramatisation of the quartet of books by one of Italy's most acclaimed authors.

A forensic exploration of friendship between Lila and Lena. Dramatisation of the quartet of books by one of Italy's most acclaimed authors.

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