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WOL favourite adapts Rabelais for Radio 4
by Julian Jordon

Saturday 10th December 2011 2:30 pm (first posted 7th December 2011)

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Prolific Radio 4 playwright, Lavinia Murray - known to her friends on Write Out Loud via her Moxy Casimir persona - has adapted Francois Rabelais’ most famous work, Gargantua and Pantagruel, as a two-part series, starting this Sunday, 11 December. Lavinia tells me she would be delighted to know that some of her Write Out Loud friends were able to listen and enjoy the piece as “it's likely to get a lot of complaints because it's rather bawdy. And bonkers”.

Lavinia’s Moxy Casimir persona delighted the Write Out Loud online community for years with her surreal brand of hilarious poems, asides, and comments; her erudition, her encyclopaedic knowledge and obscure literary references; as well as her unstinting warm support for other poets on the site.

The BBC describes the play as the bawdy, exuberant adventures of medieval giants in a dizzying blend of fantasy, comedy, philosophy and scatological humour. Episode 1 depicts the young life of the giant Gargantua, who is reduced to laughable insanity by an education at the hands of paternal ignorance, old crones and syphilitic professors. The work was frequently banned and poor old Rabelais branded a heretic.

And, of course, he has added to the English language (for all that he was French) the words, Gargantuan and Rabelaisian; all of which reminds me that you really must get yourselves to Write Out Loud Wigan this week. See other news entry.

Gargantua and Pantagruel, dramatised by Lavinia Murray and produced by Gary Brown, both of whom were my tutors on the Salford University MA in TV and radio scriptwriting, is the BBC radio classic serial. Episode 1 Gargantua, Sun 11 Dec 2011, 15:00 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0183r3q

 

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Comments

moxy Casimir

Tue 20th Dec 2011 14:52

There's another of my pieces on this Xmas -- BBC Radio 4 extra this time ('argh no!' I hear you shout but, frankly my dear, I don't give a damn). It's all about Edward Lear -- the poet of anarchic verse for children and those who continue to nurture their sense of the ridiculous.

Here are the details...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0186yvm

Yah boo etc Moxy x

 

moxy Casimir

Thu 15th Dec 2011 12:16

Rabelais? I am Baldrick to his Blackadder.

 

moxy Casimir

Thu 15th Dec 2011 11:09

There's the puritan work ethic carried over into AI... I suppose the binary system can be seen as unembellished -- and therefore non-decadent -- math.

Personally, I enjoy being useless. :D

 

winston plowes

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Tue 13th Dec 2011 22:16

"I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do". (HAL 9000)

 

Dave Bradley

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Tue 13th Dec 2011 15:24

Bawdy and bonkers it is. But it did pass the time pleasantly while ironing and between you and Rabelais, there were a few nuggets worth scribbling down between the shirts -

"Life is not for the easily offended"

"mesmerised by the volume of oddity that has come to rest in a man"

"you can tell an idiot by the company he keeps and the thoughts he dismisses"

"friendship - what a ship of fools it can be".

I'm looking forward to the second half

 

moxy Casimir

Tue 13th Dec 2011 12:01

Well there you go.... If you did listen, don't worry, it's more bonkers and ruder next week.

 

Dave Bradley

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Thu 8th Dec 2011 18:45

Hurray, she's back! And quoting boy's comic characters. Why does Minnie the Minx come to mind?

And 2001 - Top film. Sheer genius from Kubrick. the scene in which Hal is slowly disabled and starts singing Daisy is unforgettable.

How did I get on to that?

 

Ann Oxley

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Thu 8th Dec 2011 17:43

Moxy Moxy Moxy - I love you! We need you! Hello! :)

 

moxy Casimir

Thu 8th Dec 2011 17:20

Hello Dave (now I sound like Hal from 2001 a Space Odyssey),

How are you? I don't know where Julian found my picture, but that's not my favourite hat! It looks like Desperate Dan's cow pie! And my lady-shaver's obviously missed a swathe.

My classic serial had better be good after such a fantastic and blush-causing mention. Blimey! It's got me worried.

It's lovely being back.

Moxy x

 

Dave Bradley

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Wed 7th Dec 2011 15:59

Thanks for letting us know Julian. Moxy is missed. If you're reading this Moxy, why not pay us one of your flying visits?

 

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