Primo Levi's The Periodic Table

Synopsis

Scientist, resistance fighter and Holocaust survivor, Primo Levi was one of Italy's greatest writers and an internationally renowned chronicler of human nature. In his masterpiece The Periodic Table, he charts his incredible life story through the medium of chemistry, using the titular list of elements - the building blocks of everything - as a prism to explore his experiences and search his soul.In this superlative BBC adaptation, all 21 of the peerless stories in Levi's memoir are incorporated into 11 radio episodes, comprising both compelling dramatisations (starring Henry Goodman as the older Primo and Akbar Kurtha as his younger self) and eloquent readings by Paul Copley, Ben Crowe, Evie Killip and Henry Goodman. The chapters are preceded by a short introductory feature by Janet Suzman, discussing Levi's life and writing and featuring archive interviews with Levi himself. We hear of Levi's student days in Fascist Italy, his battles as a partisan, his imprisonment in Auschwitz, his subsequent career as a professional chemist, and his imagined meeting with his Piedmontese ancestors - as well as his job in a paint factory in the 1960s and an unsettling encounter with his past. Alongside these autobiographical meditations are fabulous fictional tales of a European prospector, a little girl enchanted by white paint, an 1820s captain living on a remote island with strange chemical properties, and the incredible, centuries-long journey of a single carbon atom...Named 'the best science book ever' by the Royal Institution of Great Britain, this astonishing compilation fuses autobiography and fantasy, science and emotion, to extraordinary effect. Vivid, powerful and breathtaking, it will surprise, amuse and move you, lingering in your imagination and changing the way you look at the world.Written by Primo LeviDramatised by Graham White from the translation by Raymond RosenthalIntroduced by Janet SuzmanProduced and directed by Emma Harding and Marc BeebyVanadium, Part 1Older Primo - Henry GoodmanCometto - John RoweDr Muller - Erich RedmanYounger Primo - Akbar KurthaLucia - Juliet AubreyPolish overseer - Chris PavloArgonOlder Primo - Henry GoodmanCesare - John RoweJacob - David HorovitchMoses - David HounslowSamuel - Sam DaleAbigail - Jessica TurnerZepora - Debra BakerSulphurRead by Ben CroweTitaniumRead by Evie KillipLeadRead by Paul CopleyMercuryAbrahams - Paul HiltonMaggie - Amelia LowdellHendrik - Nicholas MurchieWillem - Leo WanAndrea - Chris PavloGaetano - George WatkinsBurton - Richard PeppleRebecca - Debra BakerWoman - Katie RedfordIronYounger Primo - Akbar KurthaOlder Primo - Henry GoodmanEnrico/Marchetti - Caolan McCarthyRina - Debra BakerLazzari - Sam DaleLuca - Leo WanGiulia - Rebecca HamiltonCaselli - Stephen CritchlowBettega - George WatkinsRita - Katie RedfordSandro - Andrew RothneyDallaporta - Richard PeppleAntaeus - David HounslowAlida - Amelia LowdellGoldOlder Primo - Henry GoodmanYounger Primo - Akbar KurthaVanda - Rebecca HamiltonSilvio - Leo WanLina - Evie KillipAldo - George WatkinsMilitiaman 1/Prisoner - David HounslowMilitiaman 2 - Caolan McCarthyFossa - Stephen CritchlowCagni - Nicholas MurchieCeriumOlder Primo - Henry GoodmanYounger Primo - Akbar KurthaAlberto - Leo WanGuard - Erich RedmanPrisoner 1- David HounslowPrisoner 2 - Sam DaleArsenic and SilverOlder Primo - Henry GoodmanYounger Primo - Akbar KurthaVersino - Jessica TurnerLentini - Nicholas MurchieBruni - David HorovitchCometto - John RoweLucia - Juliet AubreyGallery director/Emilio's father - Stephen CritchlowEmilio - Caolan McCarthyFarmer - David HounslowCustomer - Ben CroweBonino - Sam DaleGina - Rebecca HamiltonVanadium, Part 2Older Primo - Henry GoodmanYounger Primo - Akbar KurthaCometto - John RoweDr Muller - Erich RedmanLucia - Juliet AubreyPolish overseer - Chris PavloPostwoman - Debra BakerCarbonRead by Henry Goodman