Sunday 14 July 2019

Ray Bradbury - The Illustrated Man

RAY BRADBURY - THE ILLUSTRATED MAN (320kbs-m4a/129mb/56mins)
BBC Radio 4 Extra broadcast: 13th April 2019

Iain Glen is the Illustrated Man in a dramatisation by Brian Sibley of Ray Bradbury's iconic short story collection.

A young traveller encounters a vagrant on the road who claims his tattoos come to life after dark and have the powers of prophecy.

The vagrant offers his young travelling companion tantalising glimpses into the future with tales of restless androids, children caught up in a sinister game and astronauts stranded in outer space which all hint at dark and troubling times ahead.

The Illustrated Man ... Iain Glen
The Youth ... Jamie Parker
The Tattoo Witch ... Elaine Claxton
The Driver ... Wilf Scolding
Brayling/Brayling 2 ... Patrick Kennedy
Smith ... Stephen Hogan
Mink ... Nell Herrin
Mother ... Heather Craney
Father ... Clive Hayward
Anna ... Lucy Hutchinson
Hollis ... Alec Newman
Applegate ... John P. Arnold
Stone ... Jaimi Barbakoff
Stimson ... Craige Els

Directed by Gemma Jenkins

Production Co-ordinator: Philippa Tilbury
Studio Managers: Anne Bunting, Peter Ringrose, Alison Craig.

First published in the UK in 1952, it's the startling framing device of a man whose tattoos predict the future of humankind which signals Bradbury's collection out as one of the defining works of 20th century Science Fiction.

The award-winning radio dramatist, Brian Sibley's other credits include dramatisations of TH White's The Once and Future King, Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast novels and The Lord of The Rings trilogy.

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