The Sicilian Expedition

90 minute 'Drama on 3' for BBC Radio 3, written by John Fletcher and directed by Kate McAll.

A radio play by John Fletcher based on real events during the Peloponnesian war, with parallels to the contemporary Iraq war.

Almost 2,500 years ago, a confident young general persuaded Athens to launch an attack on Sicily. Alcibiades was a member of the Athenian baby boomer generation, whose elders had fought to give their children a society of justice, wealth and education.

The baby boomers explored every sexual avenue, took drugs to excess and became great consumers of highly exotic products. Then it all went wrong. Within two years of the defeat in Sicily, democratic Athens, the pinnacle of human civilisation, lay in ruins. Yet, as the city endured its death agonies, something new and wonderful was born: the Socratic idea of universal love.

The cast features James Laurenson (Socrates), Julian Rhind-Tutt (Alcibiades), Richard Nichols (Callias), Mia Soteriou (Theodote), Jonathan Nibbs (Nicias), Matthew Morgan (Taureas), Richard Mitchley (Agathon), Nathan Sussex (Spartan Soldier), Brendan Charleson (Bagoas), Jonathan Floyd (Mantitheus) and Christine Pritchard (Mother). Written by John Fletcher, director Kate McAll, music by John Hardy.

First broadcast Sunday 4th December 2005, repeated on Sunday 13th May 2007.