Stanley Baxter
The Stanley Baxter Playhouse

The Stanley Baxter Playhouse

  • Radio comedy drama
  • BBC Radio 4
  • 2006 - 2016
  • 25 episodes (8 series)

A series of individual comedy dramas starring Stanley Baxter. Also features Bill Paterson.

Episode menu

Series 4, Episode 1 - The Porter's Story

A comic retelling of events at Dunsinane Castle. Stanley Baxter plays Macbeth's porter.

Further details

In the first play of a new series, Gordon Kennedy, Stuart McQuarrie and Siobhan Redmond join Stanley Baxter in a comedy based on Shakespeare's Scottish play, in which Macbeth's porter becomes the hero and invites listeners to hear his version of the events that led up to the murder of King Duncan - and what just might have happened after it.

Listeners discover that it was all really Lady Macbeth's fault for marrying Macbeth and spoiling the porter's long-term plans to groom his coarse and unschooled master to be a suave, smooth operator with fine manners and a statesman-like approach to politics. His plans are foiled in a series of hilarious and cunning mishaps.

The cast stars Stanley Baxter as the Porter, Gordon Kennedy as Macbeth, Siobhan Redmond as Lady Macbeth and Stuart McQuarrie as Duncan and the Nobleman.

The play is written by Rona Munro, one of Scotland's most highly regarded playwrights, with award-winning films (Ken Loach's Lady Bird, Lady Bird), television dramas (Rehab) and her Edinburgh International Festival success (The Last Witch) to her credit.

Broadcast details

Date
Friday 17th September 2010
Time
11:30am
Channel
BBC Radio 4
Length
30 minutes

Repeats

Show past repeats

Date Time Channel
Wednesday 16th November 2011 11:30am Radio 4
Wednesday 16th October 2013 7:30am Radio 4 Extra
Monday 9th February 2015 7:00am Radio 4 Extra
Monday 9th February 2015 5:30pm Radio 4 Extra
Tuesday 10th February 2015 5:30am Radio 4 Extra

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