´óÏó´«Ã½

Natasha struggles to cope with Andrei's absence and is sent to stay with her Godmother in Moscow, so that she can meet with Prince Bolkonsky and Marya in an attempt to win them over. It all goes wrong when she is tempted to stray by the two timing Anatole Kuragin who immediately fills Natasha's head with promises of his love. Could Natasha be about to throw away everything she already has with her beloved fiancee, Andrei, for the hand of this wicked Prince?

A dynamic fresh dramatisation by Timberlake Wertenbaker of Leo Tolstoy's epic - from the translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokonsky - follows the fortunes of three Russian aristocratic families during the Napoleonic War. Starring Lesley Manville, John Hurt, Alun Armstrong and Harriet Walter.

The story moves between their past and present as Pierre, Natasha, Marya and Nikolai talk to their children about the events that shaped their lives and the lives of every Russian who lived through these troubled times.

War and Peace reflects the panorama of life at every level of Russian society in this period. The longest of 19th-century novels, it's an epic story in which historical, social, ethical and religious issues are explored on a scale never before attempted in fiction. From this, Timberlake Wertenbaker has created a riveting radio dramatisation in ten episodes.

Leo Tolstoy … Author
Timberlake Wertenbaker … Dramatist

Alex Shiels … Sergei Rostov
Ben Crowe … Mikhail Mitrich
Charlotte Emmerson … Helene Kuragin
Daniel Flynn … Regimental Commander
David Calder … Prince Vassily Kuragin
David Collings … Shinshin
Ella Dale … Masha Bezukhov
Ferdinand Kingsley … Anatole Kuragin
Harriet Walter … Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskoy
Hazel Ellerby … Julia's mother
Jed Vine … Petya Rostov
Joanna David … Annette Scherer
Joel Maccormack … Boris Drubetskoy
John Hurt … Prince Bolkonsky
Jonathan Slinger … Captain Denisov
Kathleen Keaney … Liza Rostov
Nelly Harker … Lise Bolkonsky
Alun Armstrong … Count Rostov
Emerald O'Hanrahan … Julia Karagan
Lesley Manville … Countess Rostov
Natasha Little … Marya Bolkonsky
Paterson Joseph … Pierre Bezuhkov
Phoebe Fox … Natasha Rostov
Pip Donaghy … Colonel of the Hussars
Roger Allam … General Kutuzov
Roger May … Prince Bagration
Sam Blatchford … Andrusha Rostov
Sam Dale … Alpatych
Sam Reid … Nikolai Rostov
Sarah Badel … Maria Demitrievna
Serena Evans … Catiche
Stanley Toyne … Mitya Rostov
Stephen Campbell Moore … Andrei Bolkonsky
Tamzin Merchant … Sonya Rostov
Tom Glenister … Nikolenka Bolkonsky

Director: Celia de Wolff
Executive Producer: Peter Hoare

A Pier production for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 4 first broadcast in 2015.