Author:Fyodor Dostoevsky,Dolya Gavanski,Ed Stoppard,Dolya Gavanski,Eleanor Bron,Full Cast,Matthew Marsh
Ed Stoppard stars as obsessive pianist Alexei in this modern-day take on Dostoevsky's classic The Gambler
When brilliant but penniless pianist Alexei is hired to tutor the 10-year-old daughter of Russian oligarch Mikhail, he is drawn into a world of chance, obsession and violence. Hopelessly infatuated with Mikhail's beautiful stepdaughter Polina, he vows to do anything to win her love: and so begins his involvement in a dangerous, high-stakes game...
Seduced by the lure of the roulette wheel, and embroiled in the complications and machinations of Polina and her family, Alexei's life takes a dark turn. The unexpected arrival of Mikhail's mother Anastasia from Russia offers hope of rescue from financial ruin: but an obsession with risk-taking threatens to destroy everything...
This lively reimagining, set in contemporary London, was written by Dolya Gavanski, who also plays Polina. Ed Stoppard (Home Fires) stars as Alexei, with Eleanor Bron (A Little Princess) as Anastasia and Matthew Marsh (Love, Lies and Records) as Mikhail.
Production credits
Adapted by Dolya Gavanski, from Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Gambler
Directed and produced by John Dryden
Original music composed by Sacha Puttnam
All music performed by Sacha Puttnam
Casting: Toby Whale
Script Editor: Mike Walker
Sound Design: Steve Bond
A Goldhawk Production for BBC Radio 4
Cast
Alexei - Ed Stoppard
Mikhail - Matthew Marsh
Polina - Dolya Gavanski
Vika - Isabella Blake Thomas
Astley - Graham Seed
Francois - Orlando Seale
Katie - Lucy May Barker
Inokenti - George Lasha
Masha - Irina Karatcheva
Mullighan - Jay Taylor
Office Worker - Alana Ramsey
Blake - Timothy Walker
Anastasia - Eleanor Bron
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 17-24 November 2013
© 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd
(p) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd
Quite simply a masterpiece
—— John BanvilleMore philosophically profound than any of the fiction of Camus or Sartre, and far less self-conscious. This is existentialism with a backbone of tempered steel
—— New Republic'Sharp, clear and witty'
—— The New Yorker'Heyer's characters and dialogue are an abiding delight to me ... I have seldom met people to whom I have taken so violent a fancy from the word "Go"'
—— Dorothy L. Sayers'The wittiest of detective writers'
—— Daily MailGripping and involving, an elegant farewell by a much missed writer
—— Siân Phillips , Daily Express, Books of the YearSilverview has many of le Carré's characteristic virtues . . . engaging characters and three or four splendid set scenes in which veteran spooks stir the embers of old fires
—— Scotsman, Best Books of the YearSilverview is a cat-and-mouse chase from an East Anglian seaside town to the Eastern Bloc. Published ten months after he passed away, it marks a fitting final work by the master of spy fiction
—— Irish Times, Books of the YearA taut, thrilling spy novel. Read it as a tribute to a master
—— Stella, Books of the YearSilverview has all the old magic . . . it offers a rewarding post-script to the long-distance spell-binders The Little Drummer Girl and Absolute Friends
—— David Bromwich , Times Literary Supplement, Books of The YearHis publisher is promoting it as a great literary event - the final book by one of postwar Britain's finest writers. That seems fair enough to me . . . [Silverview has] enough reminders of the old magic to please his most ardent aficionados
—— Dominic Sandbrook , Sunday TimesLe Carré at his finest, revealing character and backstory through dialogue with an economy and grace beyond most writers . . . le Carré's greatness has its roots in his mastery of spy fiction; a genre he augmented with novels notable for their craftsmanship and humanity, and writing for its stealth and sophistication. With the publication of Silverview, it's clear these virtues remained intact to the end
—— Mick Herron , GuardianThematically, this is classic le Carré: an exploration of how people do the wrong thing for the right motive. The prose is as unshowily superb as ever
A fitting coda to the work of our greatest spy novelist
—— John Williams , Mail on SundayIt is written with elegance and often pungency, the pitch-perfect dialogue ranging from the waggishly epigrammatic to the bluntly outraged
—— New York TimesLe Carré's ability to inhabit the deepest recesses of his characters' lives is once again on sparkling display . . . It leaves no doubt that le Carré believed good literature could help make the world a better place. His own contribution to that edifice was by no means negligible
Textbook le Carré and a pleasing coda to a brilliant career: a short, sharp study of the human cost of espionage
—— Daily TelegraphThe first page hooks you in . . . John le Carré has lost none of his power to draw the reader straight into his world
—— The TimesThere is a retro charm about proceedings . . . as well as a welcome array of familiar le Carré tropes, from sharply drawn characters to stimulating interviews and debriefings, plus a compelling denouement involving a wanted man on the run . . . a worthy coda, a commanding farewell from a much-missed master
—— EconomistArguably the greatest English novelist of his generation
—— GuardianCrisp prose, a precision-tooled plot, the heady sense of an inside track on a shadowy world . . . all his usual pleasures are here
A lyrical, poignant portrait of betrayal in a family that lives in a world submerged in subterfuge, and resonates with le Carré's exquisite genius. It is to be savoured gently rather than devoured
—— Daily MailA diverting if slender coda to one of the boldest writing careers of the 20th century . . . In this posthumous farewell, le Carré is still showing us how literary fiction and the spy narrative can coexist in the same book
A poignant story of love and loyalty
—— IndependentA fitting conclusion to the long career of a writer who redefined an entire genre with the deceptive easy of pure genius . . . Silverview is filled with joy in the resilience of the human spirit, and with love . . . It's also deeply thrilling, in the best way
—— Irish TimesPacked with cherishable details and intriguingly ambivalent about the role of the Secret Intelligence Service, John le Carré's last novel brings his career to a close in fine style
A very fine finale . . . for writing of subtlety, cadence and strength, with a special aptitude for the revealing particular, [le Carré] is virtually unequalled . . . Time and again, le Carré was able to weave an entrancing, haunting world of his own, a feat repeated in Silverview. There are few writers to match him, and fewer who are still alive
—— SpectatorIn his trademark lucid prose, le Carré sets the scene for an atmospheric tale of betrayal, deceit and secret service malpractice . . . John le Carré, one of the great analysts of the contemporary scene, has left us a minor masterpiece of secrets and lies in spy land
—— Evening StandardA winner with fans of the master spy-writer
—— OldieA piercing portrait of moral ambivalence
—— iIt is classic le Carré . . . If this is the quality le Carré was producing in the last years of his life, we can be certain there are further posthumous delights coming our way
—— HeraldI gobbled up Silverview . . . Here le Carré is on more familiar territory - what was once known as Mitteleuropa, with its shape-shifting double agents, scarred idealists on the prowl for lost causes
—— SpectatorIt has often been said that le Carré is a novelist, not a mere thriller writer. Yet the thing is that, for all his protests that his creations were always more fictional than credited, what he excels at is giving us a plausible peek into the spy's world
—— The Times[Le Carré's] prose is as quietly impressive as ever and it's a thoroughly enjoyable read. It makes for bittersweet reading - the final work of a master, on fine form
—— Daily ExpressPromises to be filled with intrigue, surprises and timely meditations on the relationship between individuals and nations
—— iOne of the great moral writers of recent times
—— MetroFirst-rate prose and a fascinating plot . . . a fitting coda to a remarkable career
—— Publishers Weekly