Dramatisations of selected novels and short stories by the acclaimed Robert Graves

An acclaimed poet and novelist, Robert Graves is best remembered today for his immensely popular I, Claudius novels. He penned over 140 works in his lifetime, ranging from historical fiction to comic and supernatural tales, and the variety and breadth of his writing is exemplified in this diverse collection.

Immerse yourself in the intrigues and debaucheries of Imperial Rome in Claudius, a three-part radio dramatisation encompassing I, Claudius and its sequel Claudius the God and starring Timothy West, Garard Green, Frances Jeater and Mary Wimbush. Moving from Ancient Rome to Ancient Greece, The Anger of Achilles is a vivid, racy retelling of Homer’s Iliad in which the eponymous Greek warrior seeks revenge for the death of his friend. Robert Hardy stars as Achilles, with Maurice Denham as Agamemnon, John Slater as Odysseus, Trader Faulkner as Paris and Jane Wenham as Helen. Next up are Graves’s humorous tale of stamp-collecting and sibling rivalry, Antigua Penny Puce, starring Aden Gillett and Trevyn McDowell, and his Civil War-set tale Wife to Mr Milton, centring around a spirited Royalist girl, Marie Powell (Claire Skinner) who is forced to relinquish her true love to marry the Puritan poet John Milton (Clive Francis).

Three short stories – the supernatural ‘The Shout’, the macabre ‘Earth to Earth’ and the anecdotal ‘They Say… They Say’ – are dramatised with distinguished casts including David Suchet, Nigel Anthony, Eva Stuart, Laurence Payne and Mia Soteriou. These are followed by Robert Graves and the Poetic Myth, writer and broadcaster Graeme Fife considers the roles of love, war, the imagination of childhood and ancient myth in Graves’s life and work.

First published 1929 (‘The Shout’) 1934 (I, Claudius, Claudius the God), 1936 (Antigua, Penny, Puce), 1943 (Wife to Mr Milton), 1955 (‘Earth to Earth’), 1956 (‘They Say… They Say’), 1959 (The Anger of Achilles)
Text copyright © The Robert Graves Copyright Trust

Cast and credits
Written by Robert Graves

Claudius

The Anger of Achilles

Antigua Penny Puce

Wife to Mr Milton

The Shout

Earth to Earth

They Say… They Say

Casualties of War

Robert Graves and the Poetic Myth

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