Bohemia Village Voice

Johnny Vegas leads all-star cast in Tressells classic play on R4

Local author Robert Tressell’s classic play The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists was serialised on Radio 4 last month. Over three Sunday afternoon broadcasts, comedian Johnny Vegas  (pictured) co-produced and led an all-star cast including Timothy Spall, Andrew Lincoln, Paul Whitehouse, Bill Bailey and Philip Jackson. There was even a cameo appearance by John Prescott MP, who appears as an ‘understanding policeman’.
Originally published in 1914, Robert Tressell’s novel is often cited as one of the most important Socialist texts in the English language. It follows a group of builders, painters and decorators renovating a house in the early 1900s. Exploited and existing just above the poverty line, their only fall-backs are charity, the dreaded work-house, or the grave.
‘This dramatisation intertwines politics and humour with the stories of wives and families battling to survive. Socialist visionary Frank Owen attempts to rouse the workers from their apathy, challenging their political views and questioning why wages bear no relation to the value of work when the rich are getting richer without lifting a finger. Crass, the wily foreman, bridges the gulf between master and worker with self-preservation his priority. Easton, a worker attempting to secure his job by keeping Crass’s glass filled with ale, neglects his wife, Ruth, with shocking effects. [BBC].