1989

At last the full truth can be told. In a two part programme starting tonight (Saturday, August 26)  at 6.30 on ABC Radio National (5CL 729) Prince Belligerent, arguably the least known medieval nonentity since Monty Python’s Sir Notappearinginthisfilm, will be given his historical due.

For reasons which still remain clouded in mystery, the task of presenting Belligerent’s extraordinary story has been entrusted to ABC National’s Comedy Unit in Melbourne. Working from a script by Kevin Nemeth (this is his third radio work for the ABC) producer Bryan Dawe has spared no expense to ensure that only the best coconut shells are used to create the sound of horses’ hooves.

In describing the programme Dawe says, “It is about romance, torture, corruption and it’s not even set in Queensland.”

Prince Belligerent is a so virtuous he makes Galahad look like a juvenile delinquent .His parents, King Ignorant and Queen Demean, on the other hand,  are surprisingly unpleasant. But no-one is as truly repulsive as the villain in cow-horns, Eric the Mauve.

“Belligerent is a play in the Shakespearian-Chekhovian style with Viking overtones,” explains Dawe. By that he means there are more mortal woundings than Titus Andronicus and it is more Norwegian than The Cherry Orchard.

Recorded live before a flabbergasted studio audience in Melbourne last month, Prince Belligerent stars Francis Bell in the lead, with Rhona McLeod as Iron Lady Demean, Ross Williams as Eric, Denise Scott as Dementia, Margo Knight as Lady Prudence and Colin Betroni as Abbot Costello.

Recorded with galloping noises and Viking mumblings of uncanny clarity and authenticity Prince Belligerent is essential listening for anyone who wants to hear history in the making.

Murray Bramwell