1. Jesus and the Critic

**** This programme was suggested by Chris Sewart, Brendan Murphy and Gill Tierney as part of BBC Radio 4 Extra’s All Request Weekend ****

A severed head, a giant talking cat, an invisible guest and two madmen - it's springtime in Moscow!

A diabolical visitor unleashes a whirlwind of chaos entangling the city's literary elite.

This includes Margarita and her beloved - a condemned writer known only as the Master.

Mikhail Bulgakov's fantastical novel is a satire of life in 1930s Soviet Russia.

Unpublished during Bulgakov’s lifetime (1891-1940), it was smuggled out of the USSR and first fully published in Paris in 1967.

Starring Daniel Massey, Michael Maloney and Geraldine James.

Dramatised in four parts by Brian Wright.

Woland .... Daniel Massey
The Master .... Michael Maloney
Margarita .... Geraldine James
Bezdomny .... Nigel Anthony
Koroviev .... Colin Jeavons
Azazello .... John Hollis
Behemoth .... David Holt
Inspector .... Eric Allan
Natasha .... Melanie Hudson
Sergeant .... Jonathan Adams
Berlioz .... John Fleming
Stepa .... John Church
Dr Stravinsky .... Peter Penry Jones
Nikanor .... John Webb
Yeshua .... Jonathan Tafler
Nurse .... Melinda Walker
Wife .... Linda Polan

Translated by Michael Glennie.

Director: David Hitchinson

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 1992.

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