The Man Born to Be King

Last updated • 4 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

The Man Born to Be King is a radio drama based on the life of Jesus, produced and broadcast by the BBC during the Second World War. It is a play cycle consisting of twelve plays depicting specific periods in Jesus' life, from the events surrounding his birth to his death and resurrection. It was first broadcast by the BBC Home Service on Sunday evenings, beginning on 21 December 1941, with new episodes broadcast at 4-week intervals, ending on 18 October 1942. The series was written by novelist and dramatist Dorothy L. Sayers, and produced by Val Gielgud, with Robert Speaight as Jesus.

The twelve plays in the cycle are:

  1. Kings in Judea
  2. The King's Herald
  3. A Certain Nobleman
  4. The Heirs to the Kingdom
  5. The Bread of Heaven
  6. The Feast of Tabernacles
  7. The Light and the Life
  8. Royal Progress
  9. The King's Supper
  10. The Princes of This World
  11. King of Sorrows
  12. The King Comes to His Own

The project aroused a storm of controversy, even before it was broadcast. Objections arose to the very idea—atheists complained of Christian propaganda, while devout Christians declared that the BBC would be committing blasphemy by allowing the Christ to be impersonated by a human actor—and also to Sayers' approach to the material.[ citation needed ] Sayers, who felt that the inherent drama of the Gospel story had become muffled by familiarity and a general failure to think of its characters as real people, was determined to give the plays dramatic immediacy, featuring realistic, identifiable characters with human emotions, motivations, and speech-patterns. The decision to have the characters speak in contemporary colloquial English was, by itself, the cause of much disquiet among those more accustomed to Jesus and his followers using the polished and formal words of the King James Bible.[ citation needed ]

In the event, although it continued to be criticised by conservative Christians—one group going so far as to proclaim the Fall of Singapore in February 1942 to be a sign of God's displeasure with the series [1] The Man Born to Be King was generally considered a great success, both as drama and as biblical representation. The public reaction to the series is described by J. W. Welch, the Director of Religious Broadcasting B.B.C., in his foreword to the play scripts. These were first published in 1943, [2] with Sayers' lengthy introduction, illuminating her attitude to the work and the reasoning behind particular aspects of her dramatisation, and with notes and commentary by the author on each of the twelve plays. The book of the scripts was published in its 22nd impression in 1957, and subsequently.

Other versions

In April 1944 Episodes 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 were repeated as a Crucifixion/Resurrection sequence for Easter Week. Again Gielgud produced and Speaight was Jesus, but they were done afresh - for instance, Deryck Guyler played the disciple Andrew which he had not before.[ citation needed ]

Four other full versions were made by the BBC:

  1. Directed by Noel Iliff 1947–48, with Raf de la Torre as Jesus
  2. Directed by Peter Watts 23 December 1951, with Deryck Guyler as Jesus
  3. Directed by William Glen-Doepel 17 February 1965, with Tom Fleming as Jesus
  4. Directed by Raymond Raikes World Service 1967, first aired domestically 19 January 1975

The last version was the first in stereo. It starred John Westbrook as Jesus, Gabriel Woolf, Denys Blakelock, Denise Bryer, Trevor Martin, Norman Shelley and Robert Eddison. This version was repeated from 6–21 December 2007 on BBC 7, after Christmas in 2008–2009 and from 18 April – 3 May 2011 on BBC7's replacement, BBC Radio 4 Extra.[ citation needed ]

The Raymond Raikes production reduced the episodes from one hour to forty-five minutes, and condensed the casts in various ways—for instance by making The Evangelist, the narrator figure, the same voice as John the disciple (an identification strongly supported by the text of the fifth play).[ citation needed ]

Heron Carvic, originally suggested by the writer, played Caiaphas in every version of the cycle (as well as in the broadcast of Sayers' Lichfield Passion The Just Vengeance in 1947). Alan Wheatley played Judas in all but the 1965 production. Similarly John Laurie played his original parts of Gestas in four of the productions, and John the Baptist in three. Many other castings overlapped — Raf de la Torre, a regular in Sayers' religious plays, was Jesus in the first full revival, and then had small parts in both of the 1960s productions.[ citation needed ]

No copies of the original version are held by the BBC, although recordings do exist elsewhere—only "King of Sorrows" from the original broadcast is completely missing. The 1951/2 version is held on vinyl at the British Library.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<i>Jesus Christ Superstar</i> Rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice

Jesus Christ Superstar is a sung-through rock opera with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. Loosely based on the Gospels' accounts of the Passion, the work interprets the psychology of Jesus and other characters, with much of the plot centered on Judas, who is dissatisfied with the direction in which Jesus is steering his disciples. Contemporary attitudes, sensibilities and slang pervade the rock opera's lyrics, and ironic allusions to modern life are scattered throughout the depiction of political events. Stage and film productions accordingly contain many intentional anachronisms.

<i>Murder in the Cathedral</i> Play by T. S. Eliot

Murder in the Cathedral is a verse drama by T. S. Eliot, first performed in 1935. The play portrays the assassination of Archbishop Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral during the reign of Henry II in 1170. Eliot drew heavily on the writing of Edward Grim, a clerk who was an eyewitness to the event.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Passion of Jesus</span> Final period in the life of Jesus, before his crucifixion and death

The Passion is the short final period before the death of Jesus, described in the four canonical gospels. It is commemorated in Christianity every year during Holy Week.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deryck Guyler</span> English actor (1914–1999)

Deryck Bower Guyler was an English actor, best remembered for his portrayal of officious, short-tempered middle-aged men in sitcoms such as Please Sir! and Sykes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Passion Play</span> Dramatic presentation depicting the Passion of Jesus Christ

The Passion Play or Easter pageant is a dramatic presentation depicting the Passion of Jesus Christ: his trial, suffering and death. The viewing of and participation in Passion Plays is a traditional part of Lent in several Christian denominations, particularly in the Catholic and Evangelical traditions; as such Passion Plays are often ecumenical Christian productions.

<i>Sykes</i> (TV series) British TV sitcom (1972–1979)

Sykes is a British sitcom that aired on BBC 1 from 1972 to 1979. Starring Eric Sykes and Hattie Jacques, it was written by Sykes, who had previously starred with Jacques in Sykes and a... (1960–1965) and Sykes and a Big, Big Show (1971). Forty-three of the 1970s colour episodes were remakes of scripts for the 1960s black and white series, such as "Bus" based on 'Sykes and a Following' from 1964 and the episode "Stranger" with Peter Sellers based on 'Sykes and a Stranger' from 1961.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Commission</span> Instruction of Jesus to his disciples to spread the gospel

In Christianity, the Great Commission is the instruction of the resurrected Jesus Christ to his disciples to spread the gospel to all the nations of the world. The Great Commission is outlined in Matthew 28:16–20, where on a mountain in Galilee Jesus calls on his followers to make disciples of and baptize all nations in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BBC television drama</span>

BBC television dramas have been produced and broadcast since even before the public service company had an officially established television broadcasting network in the United Kingdom. As with any major broadcast network, drama forms an important part of its schedule, with many of the BBC's top-rated programmes being from this genre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jesus wept</span> Verse in the Gospel of John describing Jesuss reaction to the death of Lazarus

"Jesus wept" is a phrase famous for being the shortest verse in the King James Version of the Bible, as well as in many other translations. It is not the shortest in the original languages. The phrase is found in the Gospel of John, chapter 11, verse 35. Verse breaks—or versification—were introduced into the Greek text by Robert Estienne in 1551 in order to make the texts easier to cite and compare.

David Haig Collum Ward is an English actor and playwright. He has appeared in West End productions and numerous television and film roles over a career spanning four decades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luke 22</span> Chapter of the New Testament

Luke 22 is the twenty-second chapter of the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It commences in the days just before the Passover or Feast of Unleavened Bread, and records the plot to kill Jesus Christ; the institution of the Lord's Supper; and the Arrest of Jesus and his trial before the Sanhedrin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">York Mystery Plays</span> Annual series of plays in 14th–16th century York, England

The York Mystery Plays, more properly the York Corpus Christi Plays, are a Middle English cycle of 48 mystery plays or pageants covering sacred history from the creation to the Last Judgment. They were traditionally presented on the feast day of Corpus Christi and were performed in the city of York, from the mid-fourteenth century until their suppression in 1569. The plays are one of four virtually complete surviving English mystery play cycles, along with the Chester Mystery Plays, the Towneley/Wakefield plays and the N-Town plays. Two long, composite, and late mystery pageants have survived from the Coventry cycle and there are records and fragments from other similar productions that took place elsewhere. A manuscript of the plays, probably dating from between 1463 and 1477, is still intact and stored at the British Library.

<i>The Good Companions</i> 1929 novel by J.B. Priestley

The Good Companions is a novel by the English author J. B. Priestley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Marsden</span> British actor

Robert Marsden was an English actor, director, dramatic recitalist and teacher of drama at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and elsewhere. He was also one of the earliest wartime members of the BBC Radio Drama Repertory Company, formed to meet the circumstances of World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alvin Rakoff</span> Canadian film and television director

Alvin Rakoff is a Canadian director of film, television and theatre productions. He has worked with actors including Laurence Olivier, Peter Sellers, Sean Connery, Judi Dench, Rex Harrison, Rod Steiger, Henry Fonda and Ava Gardner.

The Men from the Ministry is a British radio comedy series broadcast by the BBC between 1962 and 1977, starring Wilfrid Hyde-White, Richard Murdoch and, from 1966, when he replaced Hyde-White, Deryck Guyler. Written and produced by Edward Taylor with contributions from John Graham, and with some early episodes written by Johnnie Mortimer and Brian Cooke, it ran for 13 series, totalling 145 half-hour episodes and two specials. A further 14 episodes were made by the BBC Transcription Service in 1980 but never broadcast in the UK, until 2012 on BBC Radio 4 Extra. Versions were made by Yle in Finland, Sveriges Radio (SR) in Sweden, and Springbok Radio in South Africa, where it was made into a feature-length film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raymond Raikes</span> British theatre producer, director and broadcaster

Raymond Montgomery Raikes was a British theatre producer, director and broadcaster. He was particularly known for his productions of classic dramas for BBC Radio's "World Theatre" and "National Theatre of the Air" series, which pioneered the use of stereophonic sound in radio drama broadcasts. He received two Prix Italia awards in 1965 for his stereophonic productions of The Foundling by A. R. Gurney and The Anger of Achilles by Robert Graves.

Passion Plays in the United Kingdom have had a long and complex history involving faith and devotion, civic pageantry, antisemitism, religious and political censorship, large-scale revival and historical re-enactments. The origin and history of Passion Play in the UK differs substantially from Passion Plays in Europe, South and North America, Australia and other parts of the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BBC Radio Drama</span>

BBC Radio Drama is a London-based group within the BBC Radio operational business division of the BBC. BBC Radio Drama oversees the production and broadcast of radio dramas aired on the BBC Radio network. Radio dramas had been broadcast even before the public service company had an officially established radio broadcasting network in the United Kingdom. Thus, the work of the BBC Radio Drama group also pre-dates the 1967 conversion of BBC Radio from a single national station into four separate, specialized national stations; since 1967, the BBC radio dramas are broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 4.

References

  1. Mentioned in Welch, JW, Foreword to the published edition of the script.
  2. Sayers, Dorothy L (1943), The Man Born to Be King: A Play-Cycle on the Life of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Written for Broadcasting, Wm. B. Eerdmans, ISBN   0-8028-1329-1