Crisp and Even Brightly
by Alick Rowe
BBC Radio 4: Saturday Night Theatre
SNT 19th December 1987 @ 7:45 p.m.
192K
"Good King Wenceslas" is a popular Christmas carol that tells a story of Good King Wenceslas braving harsh winter weather to give alms to a poor peasant on the Feast of Stephen (the second day of Christmas, December 26). During the journey, his page is about to give up the struggle against the cold weather, but is enabled to continue by following the king's footprints, step for step, through the deep snow. The legend is based on the life of the historical Saint Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia or Svatý Václav in Czech (907–935).
In 1853, English hymnwriter John Mason Neale wrote the "Wenceslas" lyrics, in collaboration with his music editor Thomas Helmore, and the carol first appeared in Carols for Christmas-Tide, 1853. Neale's lyrics were set to a tune based on a 13th century spring carol "Tempus adest floridum" ("The time is near for flowering") first published in the 1582 Finnish song collection
Was the poor man gathering fuel really poor, and was he really a man - or was she a Slavnik spy in disguise? Was Wenceslas's tramp into the forest with his 10-year-old page carrying flesh and wine
and logs just a public relations exercise?
What is the true story behind the story of Good King Wenceslas?
With Timothy West [Good King Wenceslas], James Holland [Mark, King's Page], June Barrie [Queen Grandmother],
William Eedle [Otto, the Sentry], Christian Rodska [Sigmund, the Sentry], Michael Tudor Barnes [Harry the Spy], David March
[Vlad], June Tobin [The Crone], Maureen O'Brien [Marta, the Slavnik Spy], Bill Wallis [Tunna, the Slavnik Assassin], John
Baddeley [Gomon, the Slavnik Assassin], Andrew Hilton [Man Hovel Dweller], Polly James [Woman Hovel Dweller],
Anthony Jackson [The Rag Man], Paul Nicholson [The Nice Man], and Michael Deacon [Kermit the Hermit].
Music played by Andrew Christie.
Directed by Shaun Macloughlin in Bristol.
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