大象传媒

Our Mutual Friend is as relevant now as it was 160 years ago, when it was written. Charles Dickens鈥檚 epic novel is all about
鈥溾��money, money, money, and what money can make of life!鈥�
Bella Wilfer, Book 3, Chapter 4.

Born and bred Londoner Dan Rebellato, award winning audio dramatist, brings this huge, vivid novel to life for the 21st century, with a dynamic, ensemble cast.
The third and final adaptation for the 大象传媒 Radio 4 Dickensian season, Our Mutual Friend is a coruscating picture of then-contemporary London with striking affinities to now: a world of huge inequalities and cruelties, where ignorance is held up as knowledge, where vast wealth is built literally on dust, where predatory citizens defraud and murder each other, and money is made fishing corpses from the Thames. It鈥檚 a world of fraud, deception, rapacity, dishonesty and cynicism; but it鈥檚 also a book that battles through all of that to affirm honesty, generosity, and love.
It鈥檚 also a novel of great joy. This comes from Dickens鈥檚 acute observation of the absurdities of life and his usual cast of intriguing characters: the wealthy illiterate Mr Boffin; the scheming fantasist Silas Wegg; the pompous philistine Mr Podsnap; the stylish fraudsters Sophronia and Alfred Lammle; the dandyish shark Fascination Fledgeby. And it's a book with heart: the stories of petulant but vulnerable Bella Wilfer, traumatised and gullible Georgiana Podsnap, and the resourceful survivor Lizzie Hexam are all powerful tales of survival.
Throughout it flows the Thames, filthy and powerful, bobbing with boats and bodies, on and in which key scenes unfold, mixing class and culture to panoramic effect.

Episode 2: The Bend of the River
After the death of her father, Lizzie finds herself in receipt of unwanted attentions of Bradley Headstone, so seeks shelter with kindly Mr Riah; young Georgiana Podsnap unexpectedly finds romance with the ironically named Fascination Fledgeby, thanks to the Lammles, opportunistic social climbers, whose secret debts grow ever more pressing. Lightwood and Wrayburn continue their pursuit of the mysterious Julius Handford, now suspected of the murders of both John Harmon and Gaffer Hexam. The Boffins鈥� new-found wealth brings them short-lived happiness when they adopt young Sloppy, so they invite Bella Wilfer into their home. She enjoys her improved material circumstances, and even begins to grudgingly appreciate the company of John Rokesmith.

Cast
Silas Wegg ..... Mat Fraser
Lizzie Hexam ..... Bukky Bakray
Mortimer Lightwood ..... Sule Rimi
Eugene Wrayburn ..... Issam Al Ghussain
Mr Podsnap and Mr Boffin ..... Gordon Kennedy
Mr Riah, Mr Veneering and R Wilfer ..... Henry Goodman
Mrs Wilfer and Mrs Veneering ..... Liz Sutherland- Lim
John Rokesmith and Headstone ..... Jeremy Ang Jones
Mrs Podsnap and Mrs Boffin ..... .Frances Grey
Bella and Sophronia Lammle ..... Bettrys Jones
Jenny Wren and Lavinia Wilfer ..... Delilah Tahiri
Georgiana Podsnap ..... Clare Lawrence-Moody
Fascination Fledgeby ..... Harrison Knights
Alfred Lammle ..... Harley Viveash
Betty Higden ..... Lucy Speed

In Love composed and sung by Harrison Knights

Dramatist: Dan Rebellato.
Sound designer: Jon Nicholls
Assistant producer: Nicola Miles Wildin
Production Manager: Darren Spruce
Studio assistant: Louis Blatherwick
Image: YanKi Darling
Executive Producer: Eloise Whitmore
Producer: Polly Thomas

A Thomas Carter Projects production for 大象传媒 Radio 4.