“If only
money were not an obstacle”
With fortuitous timing, given how much Trollope I’d read and watched at the
tail end of 2012, came this radio adaptation, by noted author Rose Tremain, of
The Eustace Diamonds. The manipulative Lizzie Eustace claims ownership of a
marvellous diamond necklace, a family heirloom which she claims was given to
her by her late husband Florian. As the Eustaces close rank in an attempt to
reclaim what they believe should not have left the family, Lizzie looks to find
another situation to keep her in the lifestyle she has become accustomed to but
finds that the case of these precious stones follows her and blights all her
attempts to form new attachments.
We’re 2 episodes in, with one left, and I am really enjoying it this far.
Whether the novel is simpler in terms of its dramatis personae or if Tremain
has simplified the plot in her adaptation (I’ve not read the novel myself…), it
feels like the easiest of Trollope’s stories to follow of the three I have
encountered recently, yet it doesn’t suffer for it. Pippa Nixon’s Lizzie is a
wonderfully ambiguous figure, an inveterate fibber and yet one doesn’t want to
quite dismiss her as a complete liar and as she works her way through the
smitten men in her life – Joseph Kloska’s Frank and Jamie Glover’s Lord Fawn,
and later Adrian Scarborough’s cheeky Lord George – one can imagine exactly why
they fall for her charms.
Again, the themes of Victorian hypocrisy that Trollope likes rear their ugly
head again as unlikely matches are made and frowned upon, matters of honour
become huge stumbling blocks in lives, loves and friendship and the maintenance
of propriety in the face of increasing scandal is becoming ever more important
as it looks less and less likely that Lizzie will be able to keep her grasping
hands on the diamonds.
Stella Gonet – who possess one of the loveliest voices to listen to – is excellent
as Lady Fawn, constantly trying to manage the affairs of the lovers around her;
and there’s smaller but equally great work from Lydia Leonard as the forthright
Lucinda, Richenda Carey as an outraged aristo, Sam Kelly as a weaselly jeweller
and Malcolm Sinclair as the starched family lawyer Camperdown. Lucinda Mason
Brown’s original music which features much harp and cello is beautifully
written and cleverly utilised to work with the episodic nature of the
production and all in all, it has made a very successful piece of drama to which
to listen.
Labels: Alex Waldmann, Amy Morgan, Jamie Glover, Joseph Kloska, Lorelei King, Lydia Leonard, Malcolm Sinclair, Mark Bonnar, Nicholas Boulton, Pippa Nixon, Radio, Richenda Carey, Sam Kelly, Stella Gonet, Stephen Critchlow