Leaving by Vaclav Havel - BBC Radio Drama - mp3 torrent

Leaving by Vaclav Havel (1936-2011)

Translated by Paul Wilson

Adapted for Radio by Jeremy Front

Leaving, written and first performed in 2008, was playwright and former Czech president Vaclav Havel's first play since 1988.

first broadcast - BBC World Service, World Drama, Saturday 14 November 2009
rebroadcast - BBC 4 Extra, 22 January 2012

Ex-Chancellor Vilem Rieger is leaving office, but should he, his mistress and extended family lose the state villa as well?

Vaclav Havel's new absurdist tragicomedy, "Leaving" depicts a womanizing former political leader who grudgingly confronts the political wilderness. Much has been made of the parallels between the plot and Havel's life. The main character, Vilem Rieger, the chancellor of an unnamed country, is ousted from power and his extravagant government villa by a pompous former deputy, Vlastik Klein. He just happens to share the initials of Vaclav Klaus, Havel's arch-rival, who succeeded Havel as president of the Czech Republic.

The Author - Simon Russell Beale
Rieger - David Haig
Klein - Hugh Bonneville
Iraina - Joanna scanlan
Viktor - Stephen Hogan
Anush - Philip Fox
Dick - Carl Prikov
Grandma - Ann Beech
Monica - Lisa Southerby
Oswald - David Hargreaves
Suzanna - Annabelle Dowler

Directed by Marion Nancarrow

Length: 57min