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Episode details

Radio 3,12 Aug 2020,14 mins

SeriesDecameron Nights

Lady Luck

The Essay

Available for over a year

Lady Luck - a shamrock of forgotten tales about fortune and fate. Part of Decameron Nights; lesser-known folk tales from innovative theatre company 1927. The Italian writer Boccaccio wrote The Decameron in the aftermath of the 14th-century plague. He borrowed plots from existing folk tales, stories that had survived through plagues and wars, tales that have outlived the greatest storytellers, but that hailed from the imaginations of ordinary men and women. In The Decameron a group of people tell tales to pass the time, as they shelter outside Florence, to escape the bubonic plague that rages in the city. 1927’s latest theatre show also borrowed from this primordial soup of storytelling. When touring of their show stopped due to Covid-19, they turned the show into an aural experience. Three episodes of unfamiliar and often bizarre tales. Telling tales to pass the time… A 1927 Production for BBC Culture in Quarantine with the support of Arts Council England and BBC Arts Three Wishes read by Phil Shaw Luckless Man read by Nigel Hunt An Unfortunate Animal and Larder read by Suzanne Andrade Unremarkable Woman ..… Rose Robinson Writer and Director Suzanne Andrade Composer and Music Lillian Henley Sound Design Laurence Owen Illustration Artwork Paul Barritt Producer Jo Crowley A 1927 Production for BBC Culture in Quarantine with the support of Arts Council England and BBC Arts.

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