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The Oscar Wilde BBC Radio Drama Collection cover art

The Oscar Wilde BBC Radio Drama Collection

By: Oscar Wilde
Narrated by: Miriam Margolyes,Judi Dench,Diana Rigg,Michael Sheen,full cast,Martin Jarvis,Martin Clunes,Ian McKellen,Stephen Fry,Simon Russell Beale
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Publisher's Summary

The collected BBC radio productions of the major works of Oscar Wilde, plus bonus play by Neil Bartlett.

Loved for his flamboyant personality, sparkling wit and brilliant epigrams, Oscar Wilde was a comic genius and a literary icon.

This collection reflects the many facets of his dazzling talent. Here are dramatisations of his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, a Gothic tale of a gilded aristocrat who makes a dangerous pact, as well as four scintillating social comedies – Lady Windermere’s Fan, A Woman of No Importance, The Importance of Being Earnest and An Ideal Husband. Among the distinguished casts are Ian MacDiarmid, Joely Richardson, Edward Fox, Diana Rigg, Martin Clunes, Michael Hordern and Judi Dench.

Moving examples of his correspondence are revealed in The Letters of Oscar Wilde and De Profundis, read by Simon Callow and Simon Russell Beale respectively, and his most famous poem, The Ballad of Reading Gaol, is performed live by stars including Ian McKellen, Neil Tennant and Stephen Fry.

In addition, a bonus drama, In Extremis by Neil Bartlett, starring Corin Redgrave and Sheila Hancock, reimagines Oscar Wilde's hastily arranged sitting with a society palm reader, a week before the trial that would cost him so dearly.

©2019 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2019 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

What listeners say about The Oscar Wilde BBC Radio Drama Collection

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Absolutely fantastic collection

Precious and wonderful dramatisations of some of Wilde’s works by some of the great actors of our time. If you want to really immerse yourself in the absurdity of The Importance of Being Ernest, the very human folley of Lady Windermere’s Fan, Wilde’s contempt for the elites with whom he surrounded himself in A Woman of No Importance, and his complex relationship with himself and the hedonism of the age in Dorian Grey, then this is the recording for you.

The intimate insights in his letters are touching and ground his great works in a flawed, brilliant, complex man. The live and barely rehearsed performance of The Ballad of Reading Gaol is a fitting end to the collection. It leaves you sad for the man whose joy and creative gifts were brutalised by prejudice and the cruelty of his peers.

This really is a wonderful collection which I find myself returning to.

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Absolutely wonderful to discover Oscar Wilde

This audible book is so well performed. Thankyou for this great collection of Oscar Wilde. I’ve learnt so much. I wish there were more dramatisations as amazing.

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Such a talent truncated by folly and destructive and terrible love

Oscar Wilde is a truly tragic but talented writer who loved deeply but chose poorly. It seems he was ultimately caught in the crosshairs of a familial hatred between his lover and the man’s atheist father. Wilde couldn’t save one from the other and neither appeared in the end to be worthy of wiping the dirt from the shoes of the man they ultimately had a hand in destroying. What other great works could Oscar Wilde have crafted had he made different choices and chosen his companions more wisely. One is left regretting what might have been for a man who seems to have been honourable to his craft, genuine and loving to those who knew him.

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Not a review but a question

In chapter 6, 5 1/2 min to the end of the chapter, there's a tune playing in the background. Does anyone know the name of the tune?

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My two bobs worth

I would have liked to have seen the various of Oscar’s children stories included. I felt the Ballad of Reading Jail was not performed as well as the other productions and the last piece was odd. Otherwise I enjoyed it thoroughly and have a greater appreciation of this author.

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Love love love Oscar

Didn’t hear to all of them but that’s because I knew them very well
A very marvellous production of all plays. With some top British actors. Added scenic music gave some special listening.

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Struggled to enjoy this one..

Struggled to get into some of the stories as it's more of a dramatical version of the books. The actors did well but it just wasn't for me.

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