The Chekhov play (which is known as Platonov) starring David Tennant will premiere under the title Wild Honey on BBC Radio Four next weekend with episodes on both Saturday and Sunday.

David Tennant stars in Michael Frayn's adaptation of the riotous Chekhov comedy. When Wild Honey was first produced at the National in 1984 Ian McKellan played Platonov at exactly the same age as David Tennant is now. It's a rumbustious cornucopia of characters and themes covering sexual comedy, morality, melodramatics, the state of contemporary Russia and a hint of tragedy.

The play was famously discovered in a bank vault in 1920 which was sixteen years after Chekhov's death. The title page of the play was missing which lead to its rather varied history of titles. The original piece was nearly six hours long and Michael Frayn has managed to reduce it to two hours without omitting any of the vital details.

The description from the BBC website is:
'Platonov himself is half Hamlet, half Benedict. A sharp and witty tongue - but somehow incapable of decision. Comedic with an underpinning of the tragic.

"I love everyone - and everyone loves me. I insult them, I treat them abominably - and they love me just the same!"

Village schoolmaster Platonov has it all - wit, intelligence, a comfortable and respectable life in provincial Russia, and the attentions of four beautiful women - one of whom is his devoted wife. As summer arrives and the seasonal festivities commence, the rapidly intensifying heat makes everyone giddy with sunlight, vodka and passion.

Platonov - What's going to become of us all?
Anna - You seem just a tiny bit less married
Platonov - How are we going to survive our lives?
Anna - First of all by enjoying the fireworks.

And fireworks is what follows.....'

David Tennant voices Platonov in this production which was recorded in July 2017.

Wild Honey will be broadcast on BBC Radio Four at 2.30pm on Saturday (16th June) with part two at 3pm the following day (Sunday 17th June).

Both episodes of this play could be heard worldwide online on the BBC Radio Four website at the time of broadcast.

The full cast is
Dr Triletzky - Elliot Levey
Anna Petrovna - Sasha Behar
Porfiry Semyonovich Glagolyev - Christian Rodska
Sergey - John Hollingworth
Colonel Triletzky - Rupert Vansittart
Sofya - Eva Feiler
Marko - Nigel Cooke
Marya Yefimovna Grekova - Prisca Bakare
Platonov - David Tennant
Sasha - Olivia Darnley Gerasim Kuzmich Petrin - Ben Onwukwe
Osip - Forbes Masson

Director - Clive Brill
Producer - Clive Brill
Writer - Anton Chekhov
Adaptor - Michael Frayn

MP3 of episode one of Wild Honey (David Tennant's part starts at 12 minutes).
MP3 of episode two of Wild Honey.