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Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes, adapted by John Arden

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BBC Radio 7, 23 March 2008
 

John Arden’s version of Don Quixote, first broadcast in the early 1980s, drew an explicit parallel between the act of writing and the eponymous hero’s misadventures. Whatever happened to Don Quixote paralleled the author’s struggles for recognition as he composed his picaresque novel. Alfred Baddeley’s production was quite postmodern in approach, with Cervantes (Ronald Baddiley) reflecting in several soliloquies as to whether he should have his hero (Bob Grant) winning one of his encounters, despite the fact that Don Quixote was clearly out of his mind. At one point Cervantes observed that Don Quixote had the opportunity to realize his dreams, something that he (Cervantes) could likewise achieve by writing and publishing the novel. Both author and hero could assume godlike tendencies. While this production dealt with the same kind of subject-matter as Dick’s story, the conclusion seemed far more optimistic.