Intrigue and Satire: Later Restoration Comedies: 11 BBC Radio Full Cast Productions including The Recruiting Officer and The Way of the World and more
by Aphra Behn, Celia Imrie, Sian Thomas, Alex Jennings, Sheila Hancock, Frances Barber, Indira Varma, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Josie Lawrence, Adjoa Andoh, Hugh Bonneville, Kris Marshall, Nicholas Parsons, Peter Eyre, Full Cast, Susanna Centivre, William Congreve, Delarivier Manley, John Vanburgh, George Farquhar
Narrated by Celia Imrie, Sian Thomas, Alex Jennings, Sheila Hancock, Frances Barber, Indira Varma, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Josie Lawrence, Adjoa Andoh, Hugh Bonneville, Kris Marshall, Nicholas Parsons, Peter Eyre, Full Cast
About This Audiobook
Eleven plays from the later Restoration period gather here in BBC Radio full cast productions, spanning writers from Aphra Behn and William Congreve to George Farquhar and Susanna Centivre. Set against the backdrop of post-1688 England, where shifting politics and new moral pressures reshaped the stage, these comedies blend sharp social satire with the wit and romantic scheming of the comedy of manners tradition. Themes of marriage, gender, class, and political ambition run throughout, giving each piece genuine weight beneath the laughter.
The BBC Radio treatment suits this material exceptionally well, with the ensemble format restoring the theatrical energy these plays were written for. A cast including Hugh Bonneville, Sheila Hancock, Indira Varma, Alex Jennings, and Adjoa Andoh brings period dialogue to life with clarity and timing, while the full cast productions create a vivid sense of ensemble performance. At over nineteen hours, the collection rewards patient listeners with a rich survey of a misunderstood era in English drama.