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Mithridanes wants to be a wise and generous benefactor. But his neighbour is always better than him. Stars Samuel Barnett.

The one hundred stories which make up Giovanni Boccaccio’s humane and comic masterpiece come from all over the world. This Renaissance work is considered a landmark in the history of literature.

The stories are vividly reset by Boccaccio among the flourishing merchant classes in the cities of fourteenth-century Italy. But their witty, satirical, bawdy voice sounds utterly modern, and their subjects - love, fate, sex, religion, morality - are universal..

"Tales of great generosity or magnificence".

Mithridanes wants to be a wise and generous benefactor. Sadly, his neighbour Nathan is always wiser and more generous. How best to deal with this problem? Wisely and generously? Or… not so much?

Mithridanes ..... Samuel Barnett
Nathan ..... Sam Dale
Beggarmaid ..... Bettrys Jones

Adapted by Robin Brooks
Music arranged and performed by Robert Hollingworth and Paula Chateauneuf
Lyric translations by Silvia Reseghetti
Script consultant: Guyda Armstrong
Produced and directed by Jonquil Panting

First broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in December 2014.

15 minutes

On radio

Next Friday06:45
BBC Radio 4 Extra

More episodes

Previous

How to Get It Off Your Chest

Next

The Sweetest Young Man in Perugia

See all episodes from Decameron Nights: Ten Italian Indelicacies Remixed from Boccaccio

Credits

WriterGiovanni Boccaccio
AdaptorRobin Brooks
PerformerRobert Hollingworth
PerformerPaula Chateauneuf
ProducerJonquil Panting
DirectorJonquil Panting
MithridanesSamuel Barnett
NathanSam Dale
BeggarmaidBettrys Jones

Broadcasts

  • Fri 5 Dec 201422:45
    BBC Radio 3
  • Next Friday06:45
    BBC Radio 4 Extra
  • Next Friday11:45
    BBC Radio 4 Extra
  • Next Friday17:45
    BBC Radio 4 Extra
  • Next Saturday01:45
    BBC Radio 4 Extra