My Ántonia

Willa Cather’s beloved novel about an emblematic East European settler on the unspoiled plains of Nebraska in the 1880s, who, against terrible odds, reinvents the American Dream.

Dramatised by Kate Clanchy.

Starring Danny Mahoney, Lorelei King and Vera Graziadei.

My Ántonia became an instant classic when it was first published in 1918. It inspired F. Scott Fitzgerald and is now regarded as a cornerstone of the American novel, an exquisitely written, feminist Little House on the Prairie for adults.

This adaptation – the first for the BBC – is a soulful, affirming drama about the resilience of the human spirit, young love that lasts forever, and our connection to the land.

It continues the Story of America collection of dramatisations of milestone American titles marking 250 years since the Declaration of Independence and the foundation of the United States.

‘As I went back alone over that familiar road, I could almost believe that a boy and girl ran along beside me, as our shadows used to do, laughing and whispering to each other in the grass.’

As children, Jim, an orphan from Virginia, and Ántonia, a Bohemian immigrant, are among the first pioneer settlers when they arrive in the Midwest – a world with ‘no fences. Only the ground and sun and sky were left’. (Willa Cather was also a child when her family arrived as settlers in Nebraska from Virginia.) The children play rapturously but, as they grow up, and the pristine prairie goes rapidly under the plough, their paths diverge. Ántonia’s family, ill-equipped to farm, stumbles towards tragedy. Jim excels at school while Ántonia loses her chance of education. But love endures, as does the hope of the American Dream. Jim returns from his life in New York to search for Ántonia and ask if there can be more than the ‘precious, incommunicable past’ between them.

Jim ….. Danny Mahoney
Emmaline ….. Lorelei King
Ántonia ….. Vera Graziadei
Ambrosch ….. Greg Kolpakchi
Child Ántonia ….. Emily Costtrici
Child Jim ….. Max Lester

With specially composed music by Katharine Seaton, performed by Yeva Volkava (violin) and Katharine Seaton (piano).

Production Co-ordinator: Sarah Tombling
Sound Designer: David Thomas

Director / Producer: Amber Barnfather

A Flare Path production for BBC Radio 4