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Howard Barker - Let Me

Heard
2006
Episodes
1
Language
English

Let Me

More about it

Howard Barker.

Sun 1 Oct 2006

At the height of the Barbarian invasions, a Roman land owner finds his home surrounded by the invaders. The elderly patrician was never a warrior, but can he bring himself to surrender and betray centuries of tradition and culture?

The drama - a new commission from Howard Barker (also born in 1946) - helps to mark the 60th anniversary of the launch of the Third Programme (the original name for Radio 3).

Edward Petherbridge stars as a fifth-century Roman landowner making the terrible moral journey from civic hero to murderer in Howard Barker's play, inspired by a letter by the ancient writer Sidonius. Barker sets himself a formidable task: entering the mind of the besieged at the end of their tether.

Rome is in terminal decline as Barbarian migrations from Central Europe creep inexorably across the continent. Sixty-year-old Coppola is a retired Roman official whose family has owned their estate for generations.

After the looting of the local cemetery by the invaders (described in an actual letter by Sidonius), Coppola's plea for help from the town authorities earns only a reply that proves the territory has been abandoned.

Coppola's son and an old female servant arrive to persuade him to give up the estate and save his life. But, although he avoided conscription as young man, he now decides to brave the hordes without rather than surrender his property. Not even when the servant is caught leaving and tortured on his front lawn…

Episodes, in broadcast order

  1. Let Me (BBC R3

    · 1 h 20 min

Where it comes from 1

The archive items its episodes are played from, best first, with each one’s rights as its archive states them. An episode two sets both hold is played from the first.

  1. Howard Barker - Let Me (BBC R3 2006)

    Listeners' uploads · Howard Barker · 1 episode here · archive.org

    the Internet Archive states no licence or rights for it.

Uploaded to the Internet Archive by the person named, outside its radio collections.

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