Rappaccini's Daughter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Giovanni is a student who moves into a new room overlooking a strange garden full of lush and outlandish plants.

The garden belongs to Dr Rappaccini, a renowned scientist and expert in poisons.

But from the moment Giovanni sees Beatrice, the doctor's daughter, in the garden, his interest becomes a dangerous obsession.

Dark sci-fi romance, written in 1844 by acclaimed American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Starring Peter Marinker and Joseph Cohen Cole.

A tale of mystery, a love story, and a haunting allegory. It's fascinating early science fiction, but its world of cold scientists and sinister experiments connects directly with our own fears about Frankenscience and biological weaponry.

It's also an eerie and dreamlike fable - the mesmerising poisoned garden into which Beatrice entices Giovanni has echoes of the Garden of Eden. Powerful archetypes and questions of sin and the ambiguous power of knowledge ripple beneath its surface.

Dramatised by Martyn Wade.

Hawthorne ....... Peter Marinker
Giovanni ....... Joseph Cohen Cole
Baglioni ....... David Hargreaves
Rappaccini ....... John Rowe
Beatrice ....... Emerald O'Hanrahan
Lisabetta ....... Kate Layden

Director: Abigail le Fleming

Made for BBC Radio 7 and first broadcast in February 2010.