Author:Nick Warburton,Ronald Pickup,Paul Ritter,Full Cast,Kate Duchêne
Ronald Pickup, Paul Ritter and Kate Duchêne star in Nick Warburton’s comedy about one community’s attempts to resist change
When Richard and Clare Wells inherit a clifftop house in Yorkshire, they also inherit a sitting tenant, John Hector, who treats their home as his own and the local town as his own personal fiefdom. But the sea is eroding the land, and John is intent on stopping them all from being evicted, so the Wells’ reluctantly embrace him as an ally. As he entangles them in his conservation battles, Clare and Richard find themselves drawn into the Breck Howe Preservation Society, an unlikely group attempting to defend their town against the worst ills of modernity. Their lives will never be the same again...
North meets South in this comedic clash of cultures, written by award-winning dramatist Nick Warburton. Ronald Pickup stars as John Hector, with Paul Ritter as Richard and Kate Duchêne as Clare.
Written by Nick Warburton
Directed by Sally Avens
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 28 January 2016 (The Vauxgarth Pig), 11-25 August 2017 (Series 1), 16 November-14 December 2018 (Series 2)
Cast
Richard Wells – Paul Ritter
Clare Wells – Kate Duchêne
John Hector – Ronald Pickup
Lux – Michelle Asante
Penrith – Chris Pavlo
Trafford/Hugh – Gerard McDermott
Mrs Cardabbon – Susan James
Estate Agent – Caolan McCarthy
Ticket Lady – Kerry Gooderson
Guard – Bob Blythe
Tiffany – Louise Brealey
Librarian – Chetna Pandya/Liam Lau Fernandez
Mrs Briggs of Events – Sanchia McCormack/Elizabeth Counsell
Headley – Philip Fox
Norwegian Herring Enthusiast – Simon Ludders
Ralph Bell – Sean Murray
MC/Trevor Butt – Tony Turner
Robust Betty – Emma Handy
Rude Girl/Brandi – Saffron Coomber
Barb/WPC – Jeannette Percival
Mikey/Surly Reader/Tourist – Cameron Percival
Chucker/A Heavy – Don Gilet
Anthony/Wayne/Seasider – Lewis Bray
Himself – Jonathan Agnew
brilliant, devastating . . . every character is remarkable and captivating
—— Mika Ross-Southall , The Times Literary Supplementa great book, unruly and passionate and brutal
—— Jonathan Gibbs , Tiny Camelsa feverish, dramatic brew . . . the style is intoxicating . . . it offers a unique view of a part of Spain usually overlooked by literature
—— John Self , The Irish TimesVery accomplished poems.
—— Sebastian Faulks , Spectator *Books of the Year*This is an extraordinary collection - heart-bruising, tender - one to cherish, and live by. Though Hewitt moves us through anguish and destruction, love still glows; and in the dark undoings of these poems, decay lights the wildwood with its strange, ethereal foxfire. As Hewitt writes, "it is hard to tell where heaven starts"; I find it in these poems, which are beyond-gorgeous, beyond-glorious, blood-felt, feral, luminous.
—— Fiona BensonSeán Hewitt understands that poetic form is sacred and mysterious. In these godforsaken times his reverent procedures are food for the soul.
—— Michael LongleyI fell in love with these wild, heartsore, ecstatic poems. They lead us to deep, hushed places - in the woods and heaths, in our hearts and bodies - and unearth such tenderness and dark treasure. Tongues of Fire is a beautiful book and Seán Hewitt is an extraordinary writer.
—— Liz BerryIn Tongues of Fire, Hewitt crafts poems of intense beauty and endless range, which glisten with queer desire... Considered and poised, every line in this stunning compilation surprises and nurtures.
—— Uli Lenart , attitude, *Books of the Year*Will this be a novel turning on supernatural powers and a natural disaster or something else altogether? Without giving the end away one can say that it is more than anything a wonderful anatomy of family life.
—— Daily ExpressEngrossing.
—— Woman & HomeAn intelligent, quietly devastating roller coaster of a read.
—— MetroSittenfeld’s confident no-frills style belies the complexities of her characters and their relationships.
—— New York Times Book ReviewThe questions it raises about self-fulfilling prophecies remain compelling...a modern American fable about tempting fate.
—— New StatesmanThe Porpoise is lovely, sad, ambitious and admirable... Every age retells, refocuses and interprets the classics. In The Porpoise Mark Haddon has done so in a way that makes us look afresh not only at the story of Pericles but also at storytelling itself
—— Simon Baker , Literary ReviewAn enthralling novel that will sweep you up from the off
—— Isabelle Broom , Woman & HomeSeriously good... a beautiful read you won't forget
—— Clara Strunk , Evening Standard *Summer Reads*Haddon’s glittering tapestry of a novel skilfully redeploys the structures of Pericles’ source material… In The Porpoise, Haddon gives voice to a character who, in Shakespeare, receives no more than a passing mention, and in doing so, shows the transcendent power of stories to heal and restore
—— Philip Womack , IndependentStaggeringly ambitious, innovative, beautifully written... The Porpoise has the pace of a really good thriller, but combined with a subtlety and depth that few thrillers possess
—— Pat BarkerA full-throttle blast of storytelling mastery. I read it on the plane in a single sitting at 30,000 feet and enjoyed every second. Gorgeously written and very clever, but also such fun! Ancient and modern overlap and tangle in exhilarating ways, it’s like romping through a Literary Netflix: an episode of something historical and bloody, then something slick and contemporary, then something really weird and unnerving. So many pleasures in one book. The Porpoise is a joy to read
—— Max PorterThere is storytelling of such primacy in Mark Haddon’s The Porpoise, that when I turned the last page, I was left completely elated. A gorgeous, enlivening experience. It is also one that insistently asks: how? How did all this add up to something so sublime? How, with all its subtle slips, and stunningly weird passages, could this strange, beautiful book feel so finely composed? It is disarmingly wild. And the story itself, in which the myth of Appolonius, remixed as Pericles by Shakespeare and George Wilkins, is again turned inside out, thrown backward and forward, and hurled against oceans (in an act of imaginative heroism by the author), invites us to understand something Haddon always has, which is that even stories as old as this one can remain relevant to our current moment. Especially if they are told with this much originality and conviction
—— Guy Gunaratne , Goldsmiths PrizeMark Haddon cuts right down to the grittiness of humanity every time he writes. The Porpoise is a beautiful, unputdownable, ancient tangle with its own sweeping tides and dangerous depths
—— Daisy JohnsonIt's hard to describe just how much tremendous joy and pleasure there is on every page
—— Charlotte HigginsHaddon deftly adapts this ancient myth for the 21st century to illuminate a timeless, ugly truth about how the violent appetites of men strip women of their agency
—— EsquireBeguiling yet unsettling
—— Eithne Farry , Daily MailA fantastical narrative that involves rampaging pirates, ghost women and princesses...Bold
—— Andrea Martin , HeatThis gripping and evocative novel questions the nature of the stories we tell ourselves and others
—— UK Press SyndicationA rollicking fantastical narrative
—— iA wild adventure...full of splendid incident... There is much to enjoy in this novel -- the liveliness of Haddon's imagination and the virtuosity of his style
—— Allan Massie , The Scotsman[The Porpoise] achieve[s] the truly Shakespearean feat of simultaneously conveying disgust at the darkest aspects of human behaviour and relishing them, making the reader feel horribly – and deliciously – complicit
—— Jake Kerridge , Sunday ExpressStamped with the same bold and original imagination… Haddon’s mash-up of myth and history may have a fantastical feel, but once the reader has adjusted to his exuberant originality they will find prose on every page that is pure joy
—— Jane Thynne , Tablet, *Novel of the Week*Haddon writes with wrenching beauty about how the world inflicts itself on the disadvantaged... It's a testament to Haddon's prodigious gifts as a storyteller that this strange, epic adventure is so compulsively readable
—— Nicholas Mancusi , Time MagazineA strange, tangled web of a story, drawing on ancient mythology and expanding into time travel… this innovative novel offers escapes into multiple worlds
—— Culture WhisperIrresistible storytelling that slides between the present day and a mythic realm… A heady delight
—— Guardian, *Summer Reads of 2019*The novel draws on Shakespeare and Greek legend, and is the sort of mile-a-minute adventure you can get lost in for hours without realising
—— ShortList, *Summer Reads of 2019*[The Porpoise] confirms the sense of a gifted writer letting his talent off the leash at last… Mind-bending yet marvellously readable, it stakes Haddon’s claim to be one of the best writers in Britain right now
—— Daily Mail, *Summer reads of 2019*Haddon conveys all this with startling granularity: the stinking, seething Jacobean London traversed by the ghosts of Wilkins and Shakespeare… Haddon's novel creates, throughout, a looming sense that something very bad but not quite perceptible is in the process of unfolding: a terrible half-glimpsed fate that the characters are powerless to resist
—— Adam Smyth , London Review of BooksThe Porpoise begins as a page-turning thriller and soon shifts into something slippery and strange – but remains propulsive throughout
—— New StatesmanMark Haddon’s best novel yet. The Porpoise begins as a propulsive thriller…and segues into a classical-world adventure that reinvents the story of Pericles in prose of a hallucinatory vividness
—— Justine Jordan , Guardian, *Books of the Year*The Porpoise reworks legend with the compelling force of a thriller
—— Lindsey Hilsum , Observer, *Books of the Year*[An] exquisite retelling of Shakespeare’s Pericles
—— Claire Allfree , Daily Mail, *Books of the Year*Thrilling, dramatic and exquisitely written, The Porpoise combines myth and reality to enthralling effect
—— Jane Shilling , Daily Mail