The Wager

Available for 29 days

Terry Jones introduces another tasty Renaissance tale. Starring Louise Brealey in a sly tale about a costly bet. The 100 stories which make up Giovanni Boccaccio’s humane and comic masterpiece, come from all over the world. They are vividly reset by Boccaccio among the flourishing merchant classes in the cities of Renaissance Italy. But their witty, satirical, bawdy voice sounds utterly modern, and their subjects - love, fate, sex, religion, morality - are universal. “Those who after misadventures, find unexpected happiness.” When Bernabo makes a bet on his wife’s chastity, and his friend sets out to prove him wrong, neither man imagines the matter will change their lives forever. Musciatto ..... Michael Bertenshaw Ambrogiuolo ..... Geoffrey Streatfeild Bernabo ..... Paul Ritter Zinevra ..... Louise Brealey Sultan ..... Jude Akuwudike Captain ..... Shaun Mason 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.