Up Against It by Joe Orton

Available for 24 days

**** This programme was suggested by Derek Parsons as part of BBC Radio 4 Extra’s All Request Weekend **** Adrift in a world run by monstrous tweed-suited women shod in thick leather brogues, three men decide to start a worldwide revolution to overthrow the matriarchy. Joe Orton's unfinished film screenplay, written for the Beatles in 1967. Adapted for radio by John Fletcher. Starring Damon Albarn, Leo McKern, Sylvia Sims, Joseph Fiennes and Prunella Scales. Orton was found dead on the very day he was due to meet director Richard Lester about the making of the film. In this first production of the play, Blur's Damon Albarn provides a musical link to the original Beatles casting. By turns funny, moving, sexual and surreal, the play celebrates the ferocity of Orton's farce, the music of the Beatles and the 1960s Summer of Love. Narrator .... Leo McKern Ian McTurk .... Douglas Hodge Jack Ramsay .... Damon Albarn Prime Minister .... Prunella Scales Connie Boon .... Sylvia Syms Christopher Low .... Joesph Fiennes Rowena Torrence .... Louise Lombard Patricia Dromgoole .... Jacinta Mulcahy Mayor .... Kenneth Cranham Bernard Coates .... David Calder Father Brodie .... Mark Lambert With Allan Mitchell, Edward Halstead and Mark Webb. With thanks to Sir John Gielgud and Joe Dowling. Music: Damon Albarn Producer: Hilary Norrish Director: John Adams An Armada Production for BBC Radio 3, first broadcast in September 1997. **** To nominate a programme from the archives that you would like to hear again, please email radio4extra@bbc.co.uk ****