Drama on 3 almost always (depending on rights), streams on-demand over the web for 7 days like most BBC radio programs.

kli | April 30, 23:02 CET

Yanks will love Brits even more than they do already if someone records this for us and mp3's it over at the .org or suchlike - because I don't believe we are able to get that streamy-BBC working for us over here... at least I haven't been able to.

And the thing is, I like Shakespeare as much as I like Joss Whedon, and Joss said that this was most of the amazing-like... though obviously, visuals would be preferred, but we'll take what we can get.

Oh, Brits, help us, and we will give you a state (colony, to you) back - our pick, though, obviously.

QuoterGal | April 30, 23:22 CET

I've already preordered this here .

I was lucky enough to see this show twice while I was in London and I can't wait to close my eyes and listen.

deadbessie | May 01, 00:01 CET

Ah well, there you go - thanks for that, deadbessie.

Brits, we take back our offer of a colony, and declare full independence once more.

QuoterGal | May 01, 00:04 CET

Yeah.. Visuals really would be nice. That being said, I actually quite like the radio format. I remember a quotation, "Television contracts the imagination and radio expands it" (attributed to Terry Wogan I believe), and I can't help but agree. I've almost never listened to the radio, so maybe I'm just saying this because of the 'novelty' of it all, and I don't really know what the standard of drama is these days, but I think I must be missing out on quite a bit.

(I've been musing about how much technology you really need to effectively create drama, particularly the possible overuse/abuse of colour in films and television, ever since I saw The Trial a few weeks back and was absolutely blown away by what you could achieve in black and white.)

MattK | May 01, 01:20 CET

I'm a big radio fan from wayback myself, and an OTR collector, but I do like best to watch a production in its original medium. I have that quote from Sir on my myspace page - that apparently obsolete social networking site ;> - but as a big ol' Whedon-fan, I obviously also believe there are certain worthy exceptions...

“Imitation is the sincerest form of television.” — Fred Allen | “Television contracts the imagination and radio expands it.” — Terry Wogan | “Television? The word is half Greek, half Latin. No good can come of it.” — C.P. Scott

QuoterGal | May 01, 01:40 CET

Brits, we take back our offer of a colony
I bet Texas is relieved.

Glad this will be available. I'm with you about Shakespeare being as good as Joss Whedon. Too bad he didn't have vampires and space ships, though.
I used to be part of a group that got together occasionally to read one of the plays and drink beer. Of course, we were all just normal looking & sounding non-actor types, so it wasn't fabulous like (I'm sure) the gatherings at Joss' house are, but it was great fun nonetheless.

jcs | May 01, 01:40 CET

It was originally "The Merchant of K'at'traXia IV" but the theatre owners gave him notes that the audience wasn't ready for that yet. Fact. (well, ish ;-).

Yeah, i'm down with the original medium thing QG, radio plays sometimes seem like they're missing a dimension when they're adapted from something i've already seen (or even, bizarrely, read). In this instance it'll probably work well though I reckon - seen 'Macbeth' with a full set (lights, sound, hurly burly all over the shop basically ;) and also on a flat stage where the actors just wore simple costumes and to be honest, they were about as good as each other. With Shakespeare it's all in the words IMO (and, obviously, how they're delivered - which I reckon Mr Ejiofor has well covered). It's great that "everyone" is getting a chance to appreciate the performance, that's the sort of thing the Beeb is there for really.

Reading Bill Bryson's cool little biography of Big Willie (the other one ;) at the moment. Apparently we only have 14 words written in his own hand and 12 of them are 6 different copies of his signature (all spelled differently and none with the currently accepted "Shakespeare" spelling). We really know bugger all about him (which I quite like in a way - the play's the thing after all ;).

(and come on, we are paying for the BBC broadcast, surely that's worth one of the smaller states ? I mean, what are you really doing with Delaware anyway, right ? Who'd miss it ?)

Saje | May 01, 13:25 CET

"I'm with you about Shakespeare being as good as Joss Whedon. Too bad he didn't have vampires and space ships, though. "

At least he had Miranda.

mjwilson | May 01, 15:26 CET

D'oh!

I was going to say that!

Btw, the director's quoted in this week's Radio Times as saying he wanted to adapt it for the right medium, and that that medium wasn't DVD, so we can probably forget about the visuals.

[ edited by ZodKneelsFirst on 2008-05-01 13:12 ]

ZodKneelsFirst | May 01, 15:59 CET

Also, to mention that I think any non-UK peeps will find that streaming radio generally is available world-wide, apart from for sports, even for "Listen Again". It's streaming video which is blocked outside the UK.

Kiddo | May 01, 16:26 CET