Radio Times

Review by:

Jane Anderson

Lucrezia Borgia and Isabella d’Este were immensely powerful Renaissance women who were great patrons of the arts, and yet they’ve been painted as malevolent, murderous she-devils by male historians and dramatists. But these women shared more than a place in the complex internecine fighting of 16th-century Italy: part of their role was to produce children, lots of them and preferably male heirs.

This overlooked area of their life is the focus for experienced radio playwright Michelene Wandor, who was inspired to write this drama after a trip to Mantua. Lucrezia is portrayed as ruthless, but Wandor also shows us a more vulnerable side to a woman who was nearly always pregnant and whose children were often stillborn or died in infancy. Money and power cannot buy health and happiness.

About this programme

Courtly Love, by Michelene Wandor. A drama set in Renaissance Italy, about two intelligent, powerful women whose lives and opportunities are nevertheless constrained by the number of pregnancies they have to undergo. Starring Nathalie Buscombe (Lucrezia Borgia), Nicholas Boulton (Francesco Gonzaga), Clare Corbett (Angela), Edward Evans (Alfonso d'Este), Grainne Keenan (Isabella d'Este), Tai Lawrence (Pietro Bembo/Alfonso Bisceglie), John McAndrew (Cesare Borgia), Ronald Pickup (Mantegna), Struan Rodger (The Devil), Philip Voss (Roderigo Borgia (Pope Alexander VI)), Jane Whittenshaw (Vanozza/Osanna).

Cast and crew

Crew

Producer

Jane Morgan

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